How to Be a Best Friend for Life
You can’t live a great life having just surface-level friendships & no deep connections. Having a best friend is imperative. However, forming deeper connections with your friends for your friendships to continue healthily & last forever may look like art to many. But, at the core of it, take it from Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The only way to have a friend is to be one.”
Friendship is about more than just hanging out & having fun. It’s about being there for each other, boosting your confidence & helping each other through tough times.
As John Grayson rightly said, “True friendship is when two friends can walk in opposite directions, yet remain side by side”. What distinguishes a friend from a best friend is quite a few levels of mutual understanding that build between you & your best friend with time.
To put this very thought in the words of Paulo Coelho, “Friendship isn’t a big thing, it is a million little things,” & we see the truth in this statement when we look closely at our best friends.
It is common for one to long for one’s best friend to stick around for life. However, not all friendships necessarily last. But can one ensure a special one does? Absolutely, yes!
Ways to Be a Good Friend
Strengthening your bond with your best friend could easily be the most desirable challenge you’ll ever face. Let’s look at a few things a good friend does right & you’ll know which way to go from here onward!
1. A good friend does not hold back their vulnerabilities
One’s vulnerabilities like embarrassing memories, awkward thoughts, failures, sorrows, etc., do not remain hidden in the company of a good friend.
There is an ease that a good friend brings to the bond by opening up exceptionally wholeheartedly to one’s friend. If you can be your vulnerable self without hesitation in front of your friend, you may be on the way to developing a stronger bond with them.
2. A good friend is genuinely interested in their friend’s vulnerable self
They do not judge their friend for the difficulties & sorrows the friend has to face, perhaps due to their personality or life decisions or circumstances. A good friend, without judgment, offers genuine care, support, & help. More often than not, a good friend’s presence alone brings along strength.
3. A good friend is a reassuring friend
They do not assume our stability of perspective toward them. It is quite common for us to lose track of our perspective once in a while. A good friend is there to walk us back on track.
They get us to see ourselves for who we are & make us laugh at ourselves, thus helping us build a stronger sense of self. They understand the value of & need for reassurance in any relationship & do not jeopardize a good one.
4. A good friend helps us understand ourselves
Often, our potential, our flaws, & our delusions, & our powers are discovered not by ourselves but by those around us. Light is shed upon our real selves by our real friends & we begin to see what we had never seen in ourselves before.
A good friend listens. They help us look at our experiences, our fears, our excitements, & our potential through the lenses that they bring along, in an attempt to show us who we are.
5. A good friend helps us think
Not always do we realize the significance of our ideas, thoughts, or actions. However, a good friend allows us to realize the potential in our ideas & actions that may have never occurred to us otherwise.
6. A good friend appreciates us in ways we might not be able to appreciate ourselves even!
Healthy friendships often help us strengthen our perspective toward ourselves as well as the world, & encourage us to like ourselves for parts of ourselves that we would rather not choose to focus on. A good friend’s point of view towards us always brings a better picture in view.
Signs of a Best Friend Forever
How do you know if your best friend forever is being a greatest friend? Here’s how:
1. You have a solid sense of who the two of you are
You have learned & found out a lot about each other & happen to know each other better than most others in your lives. There is not much scope for wrong assumptions, misunderstandings, or offenses between the two of you.
2. You balance each other’s personalities
Both of you have a sense of individuality & can respect your differences. However, you still fit in perfectly fine with each other, much like pieces of a puzzle that are all different from one another but end up creating a perfectly fine picture together.
This can be a wonderful sight, as you & your best friend might unconsciously often be able to choreograph easier times with each other with the help of your clarity in the understanding of each other.
3. You & your best friend are comfortable around each other
There is little to no reluctance when speaking to each other over rather difficult subjects. Your stupid, weird, awkward, embarrassing phases all feel bearable & fine when they are around you.
You can be your true selves & know each other’s intentions at the truest. There is a wholehearted welcome of what each other brings to the table, in the friendship.
4. You have fought & made up with your best friend
Disagreements & arguments over your friend dating the wrong person, not standing up for themselves when necessary, or choosing the wrong way in their career life, are all reasons that can cause a friend to become distant.
However, a good friend will make amends & slide back into your proximity either physically or mentally by choice. Friends fight. But best friends make up the best.
5. You trust them without a doubt
When you need an honest opinion on anything you doubt about yourself, you can turn to your best friend & trust their opinion at all times. You are sure that they want the best for you & will not lead you in the wrong direction. You trust their call.
6. You can call each other out
Regardless of how difficult it may be to digest, if a bubble needs to be popped, your best friend will pop it for you. Best friends do not need to hold back, because they understand that they will be understood for wanting your best, no matter the amount of risk an honest criticism carries. Honesty has the upper hand in your friendship.
7. You fit them into your schedule
The significance of time in your friendship does not fade away. Despite being busy with your individual personal lives, a best friend always makes time for you. Whether it be through social media, a phone call, a letter, a movie night, or a walk, a best friend knows how to include you in their schedule, & vice versa.
8. You’ve got each other’s back
Your tough times do not feel tough when you know your best friend is there for you. As they say, a friend in need is a friend, indeed!
9. You have plans together
However big or small you plan your future to be, you see your best friend in it.
On Closing Thoughts…
No matter how tough life gets, with a best friend by your side, you can conquer the world. And, if anybody asks you how now you know exactly how!
