Types of Friends You Must Have in Your Life
As we grow older, it becomes more & more important to reconsider our choices when it comes to finalizing types of friends.
The quality of our life, lessons & experiences depends highly on the quality of our environment. If we surround ourselves with the wrong influences by choice, it can entirely change the course of our life, & not for the better!
Being around the right people is essential if we want to make the most of our life. Our personality is shaped by the influence of our family, friends, mentors, & other people that occupy most of our life.
Amongst these, friends are essentially the ones we get to choose, replace, or stick around. Sticking around the wrong friends can leave you feeling unfulfilled, frustrated, & even unsuccessful in many ways. Personal growth can be left stunted under the wrong influence.
If you have always picked the people you befriended right from your childhood, you have most likely seen yourself be in a position to cut somebody off too. It is important to learn who you must allow in your inner circle through life.
More or less, it is about looking for the best in people & the magnitude of it in their personalities. As long as they are a good person, on the whole, they are worth holding on to.
However, you may feel the need to have a tighter circle & re-evaluate most of it, including yourself (which is pretty important as well). Doing so helps your circle be small but enriches your life (or should I say, ‘makes it large’)!
Let’s dive deeper into this! Here is a list of the various types of friends you must never avoid in your life:
Different Types of Friends You Must Never Avoid in Your Life
You might just be able to visualize a few of your friends in the following list, perhaps! If that is the case, happy friendship & a happier life to you!
Here are 8 types of friends you MUST have:
1. Friendly Neighbors
I like to put it this way: Friendship begins across the street!
There’s nothing better than having a friend right in your neighborhood who is reliable, trustworthy, & a good person. Suppose you go out & forget to lock your door back home.
It’s always better to have somebody dependable living close to your house who can lock your door for you. Or, would you rather prefer going all the way back home with a heart full of anxiety on the way? A friend in need better live nearby!
In today’s day & age, it’s less likely to find such friendships happen. People may have become more hesitant or reserved, or even more cautious.
Trusting your neighbor isn’t a rule. But you can always get to know them before moving forward. When you try, you know. Nothing needs to stop you from learning a bit about the people living around you.
You might just find yourself a best friend forever!
2. A Mate at Work
Typically, we spend most of our waking lives in an office or at work. When around 50% of your life is spent on working or thinking about work or commuting to work, it is very much a possibility to become isolated in these circumstances.
More often than not, isolation at work reduces the chances of you being happy & fulfilled at work & in life. Having the right people around you at the workplace is, if I may say so, a necessity of a sort unless a happy life is not your priority!
It can get difficult without a work buddy to survive 50% of your life working. This is a type of friend that will bring ease to your life. How? Well, this friend spends most of their time at the same office as yours, amidst the same environment, & is somebody who can relate with you.
They need not be a part of your inner circle outside work. But you never know, they might just be your type!
If you get talking with somebody at the water cooler in the office & hit it just right, you might find yourself a person worth sticking around even after work!
3. An Opposite
If you’re anything like me, you probably appreciate it when somebody helps maintain the balance when they are with you. If you have got a lot to say, they probably are a good listener. If you love heavy metal, they might be the Sufi kind.
Having a friend who may be able to introduce you to the other side of the world that your personality alone does not allow you to explore, is bliss & a blessing!
Contrary to popular belief, we need not feel at ease just with like-minded people. People who bring a different perspective to the picture, a different flavor to the mix, and a different color to your canvas (okay, you get the point!), can all very much be on your friendship radar as well.
Befriending somebody who is your polar opposite can be very exciting for you as well as for them, since the two of you may be able to happily complete the yin-yang of life.
4. A Wise Friend
Are you the smartest person in the room when you are with your friends, in your opinion? Well, if that’s always the case with you, you might as well pay more attention to the following:
- getting to know a new person &
- forming a new bond so that you aren’t always the smartest in the room.
Why? What’s so bad about it, you ask? That’s because smarter friends help you get smarter, intentionally or unintentionally!
As long as you’re a lifelong learner, there is no stopping you! And a smart friend can act as a catalyst to you leading a better life. This is a friend you admire & aspire to learn from.
This is a wise person who you can depend on for, perhaps, career advice, relationship advice, health advice, etc., & much more! No matter the subject of your conversation with them, you will feel the worth of it all along.
A friend who is there to direct you correctly & help you lead along the right path as well as who leads by example at the same time is a friend you need to cherish more than anybody else!
It’s this friend who will help you transform, heal & perhaps, change your life for the better. You will feel like a better person or a person on your path to becoming better when you are with this friend.
With a wise friend around, your life will be full of hope, inspiration, courage, & growth. Now, that’s a deal!
5. An Honest Friend
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been saved from a toxic relationship by a dear friend at least once in your life. There is always a friend who makes sure to shake you up with truth & throw light on your reality.
Whom do you go to with your deepest darkest secrets? Who knows you in & out? And whom do you know equally well? Which of your friends has the will & the guts to tell you the harshest of truths to your face?
If any of your friends pop up in your mind at the mention of these questions, you’re sticking around them for a good reason.
Being an honest person is just as important as having an honest friend’s influence in life. This is the friend who will not hold back from you any truths that you need to know.
Such a person adds value to your life by keeping it straight & simple. There is no space for insecurities or doubts. They do not leave you questioning the reality or questioning your interpretations of their words.
Honest people not only make great friends but also great people in general. So, if you know somebody who is utterly honest in life but isn’t your friend, it’s a great idea to connect more with them, since they can enrich your life in this incredible intangible way of truth.
6. A Loyal Friend
Well, loyalty is a priority, no matter what kind of relationship you intend to indulge in. When it comes to friendships, a loyal friend is a must!
It is the loyal friend who sticks around through the most mundane of days to the most absurd ones (basically, through thick & thin) because the two of you always have the urge to be by each other’s side in times of need as well as otherwise!
A loyal friend is mostly somebody you have known forever & have developed a stronger connection with, over time. Somebody who has had your back along the way as you grew from being one kind of person to another with time.
Your best friend might just be this person. If not, leave a little room for the loyal ones out there, because they certainly make the best friends.
7. A Loving Friend
To some, it comes easily. To others, it’s a struggle. We’re talking about love. And when I say love, I don’t just mean romantic love. I mean love of any kind at all.
Platonic friendships can be & SHOULD be full of love. Love, in any form, only adds value to life, undeniably.
A loving friend is the type of friend who accepts you for who you are. It does not mean they do not acknowledge your shortcomings or flaws.
A loving friend, upon acknowledging your shortcomings, will show you that it is human to err & divine to improve.
All along, this friend will support you, appreciate you, encourage you & shower you with enough love to sustain you through the difficult path of transformation or improvement.
If you find such a friend, then hold on to them! Such people aren’t easy to find these days.
8. A Friend Full of Life
No matter how true it may be for most of us that movies seem to set too high a standard for fun, some people just have it!
I’m not talking about partying & drinking when I talk about fun. Rather, a fun person is more often than not a person full of life.
Such people are easy to spot since they often stand out & embrace life to the fullest. Their will to live & have fun is contagious & you cannot ignore it.
A friend full of life is a type of friend you need if you intend to make the most of the mundane, the best of the waste & the pleasure of the pain through life.
A friend full of life can motivate you to see the good in your life as well. Their perspective can help you to be more aware of your life every day.
Such a friend does not have time for your self-pity or your boring persona. They will spread their lust for life & push you to live a fuller one.
On a parting note…
A friendly neighbor, a mate at work, an opposite of you, a wise friend, an honest friend, a loyal friend, a loving friend & a friend full of life- every friend is guaranteed to enrich your life & add happiness to it each in their unique ways.
But finding most of these in one person is the ultimate gift of life & you MUST stick around to such a friend for life!
