Friends are gems in our world. They are our chosen families. They are the people who have our backs, stand by our sides, and are there for us during the good times, the great times, and the downright miserable times.
While not every friendship is meant to last forever, truly healthy friendships often do. This is because they create an environment and space for each person to nurture themselves, the friendship, and the other person in a compassionate and kind way.
Healthy friendships are a backbone of life. If you have an amazing friend, it can change the way your life unfolds.
I’m walking you through several signs that your amazing friendship is healthy, thriving, and loving.
You can be real with each other.
There is trust. There is honesty. This is the person you call when you need to vent, talk, gush, or chat.
You also feel like the level of honesty you two share is high. You feel like it’s a safe to call your friend out when they’re not acting like their best selves and you expect them to do the same.
You feel like you can trust your deepest secrets and darkest shame with this person. You know they won’t judge you and they’ll meet you with compassion.
You both create a space of growth.
Growth and healing looks different for everyone. You both recognize this and you create space for the other one to grow and heal in their own unique way.
While it may be difficult to sit back and feel like you’re watching your friend go through pain, it’s important to both of you to maintain nurturing boundaries that allows each person to discover life at their own pace.
You believe that, no matter who’s on what trajectory, that each person’s growth and healing leads to an amazing friendship that has room to expand on that growth and healing.
Healthy friendships are a backbone of life. If you have an amazing friend, it can change the way your life unfolds. Click To TweetYou both have boundaries.
Truly effective boundaries bring people together. Setting, keeping, and respecting boundaries is the norm in your friendship. They don’t feel like walls. Instead, they feel like guiding lights.
You use these boundaries to learn how to be a better friend and to get to know what your friend wants and needs from the friendship. They do the same with you.
You feel at ease and comfortable voicing your needs and opinions. You don’t expect your friend to cave to their boundaries or set their life around your’s and vice versa.
You feel empowered by them.
After every encounter, you feel much better than you did before it. You feel lighter, happier, and more joyful by having them in your life.
You like sharing your life with them and being present in their life. Your friend is as excited to watch your successes and chase your dreams as you are to go after them.
When you’re feeling down or having a bad day, your friend steps in to offer encouragement, kindness, and comforting compassion.
You’re both flexible.
Neither of you believe that you have to be attached at the hip for your friendship to mean something. It’s okay for a text to go unanswered for a day or two without a torrential emotional downpour.
You and your friend live separate lives. You both most likely have multiple different friend groups or hang out with other people separately and regularly. Neither of those situations causes jealousy. Rather, it’s an acknowledged and accepted aspect of each other’s life.
While you two enjoy each other’s company and presence in each other’s lives, there’s no expectation for one friend or the other to be the person’s whole life.
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