We all have had a friend at some point in our lives. A friend who you love being around; only like being around sometimes; someone who has hurt your feelings or someone whose feelings you may have hurt. A friend can be our parents, our spouse, our siblings, our peers, our pets…it can be whoever you’d like. It’s easy for us to see and feel what it is about our friends that we either cherish or despise – but what kind of friend are YOU?
In kindergarten we (I) learned about “The Golden Rule” : treat others as you wish to be treated. Then, later in our (my) teen years, we (I) was awakened to this phrase : karma’s only a b***c if you are. THEN we (I) learned that “what we give out, we get back multiplied” – Louise Hay. OK, so I’m talking about the progression of what I’ve learned, but I’m sure you’ve all heard this in some form in your life. It doesn’t matter whichever resonated with you best — they’re ALL TRUE.
It’s so interesting for me to look back on my life and think about all of the times I have had with friends. Conflicts, tears, laughter, and also really great times with people whom I no longer hangout with as well as the friends I hold dearest to my heart now. One of the things we all as humans can relate to is experiencing relationships of all types.
Relationships are one of the most constant, and sometimes difficult, aspects in our lives. It’s impossible to control how our friends treat us or how they act, but it is VERY possible to control they type of friend we are.
The type of true friend I strive to be & think everyone else should too:
- Love our friends unconditionally: forgive them for their errors and love them for their quirks.
- Don’t become stuck in stagnant friendships: just like bf’s/gf’s sometimes friendships run their course. It’s ok! Let them go with love.
- Support our friends!!! No matter if we want to engage in their passions with them or not, be their biggest support team!
- Be R E A L : there’s nothing worse than a friend who is one way with you and another way with other people.
- Don’t compare/judge!!! Please. Comparisons are literally the death of love. It doesn’t do us or our friendships any good, it causes tension and it’s just B A D.
- Be a good listener! This one I had to work on a bit : if you know me, you know I love to talk..a lot. Sometimes when friends are talking I get so excited or invested I feel I have to talk too…more times than not, they just want a listening ear.
- Don’t gossip about our friends when we aren’t with them. Find another type of release – maybe write down what’s bothering us or workout orrr etc. I have found that whenever I’ve gotten caught up in gossip I NEVER feel good after and usually didn’t mean what was said. Try to understand what’s going on and look at things from both points of view.
- Tell our friends we LOVE THEM!! Hug them! Write them love notes!
- Be honest with our friends in a respectful manner. If you’re true friends, you will both understand.
- Have FUN and let loooose! I love dancing and being goofy with my friends.
I love you, true friends 
XO,
Claire
Poppie's Perspective 