Friendships are important in our lives. It is said that people who have stronger friendships tend to live longer and even have happier lives. We make many friends throughout our lifetimes from when we are just born till the last stages of our lives. Some friendships prosper whereas some do not. Is there a golden rule to friendship?
Let there be a golden rule or not but there are some factors that prosper friendships whereas some do not. Many people are not able to make many friends and there could be many reasons for it. It could either be a communication problem, or it could be that they are afraid to open up or both. People who are introverted tend to have lesser relationships in their lives. They tend to be happier with fewer friendships than extroverts who indulge in huge many relationships altogether. Introverts can also be said to form stronger and less superficial bonds compared to the bonds formed by extroverts, even though they may have fewer friends.
We will discuss what leads to forming more stronger bonds and lasting friendships and how some people have such good friends whereas others do not.
Trust
Trust is extremely important in any relationship be it romantic or platonic. For any friendship to prosper one must trust them with this bond. Many different levels run the trust; it could be the trust that someone will not betray or overlook you. It could be the trust that you will remain loyal and listen to the needs and demands of the other person in the friendship. You will not take advantage of them to fulfil your personal gains. The more the chances are for a friendship to prosper, the stronger we attain this trust. It takes time to build trust and we should not rush in such a process, people who can easily form trust in their relationships, have more friendships and stronger ones too.
Care
Caring for your friend turns out to be extremely important in friendships. Once you learn to listen to what they want to say, or what is causing them problems they need a lending ear for, it starts to build a nurturing environment. Your friend’s presence makes them feel needed and deserving of the relationship. He feels his problems and issues matter and there is someone to look out for him and they would in turn want to do the same for the other person.
Rapport
Friends should have a good rapport among themselves. The friends who indulge in frequent banters or jokes with each other tend to enjoy each other’s company more and they tend to stick together as well. Their happiness level increases, and they feel joyful to be around other people who understand them and like the quality time spent together. People tend to lose interest in spending time together and the friendships may lose their grip if they have fewer games to play with each other.
Giving space
Space is extremely important in any growing friendship. It allows the person to be themselves without any judgment. They can say the things they want to say if anything upsets them, or they are bothered about something whereas they may also gain confidence to act accordingly how they want without any humiliation or any kind of pulling each other down. Sometimes staying away from friendships is very important and with the ample space given to a person, it becomes important and easier.
Intimacy
Letting out things that are personal to us creates a bond. Intimacy between your friend increases. When you say things to them that you really mean and show them how important they are in your life, it makes both of you bolder and be however you want to be. The more intimate you become with your friend the more courage you gain as well as confidence to be yourself as you have somebody to believe in you.
These factors tend to be extremely important in forming friendships and due to them, they are stronger and even last much longer. There are different kinds of friendships some start early in our lives and those kinds are much closer to our hearts. Whereas there are many friendships that we build in the later stages of our lives such as when we do our job or even in our old age. The friendships we born at much earlier stages of our lives help us develop much more and we become fonder of each other.
The Power of Friendship
Friendships also help us in difficult situations in our lives, when we are going through a tough time and feel lonely it is our friends who might help us come out and make us stand on our feet again. We can bounce back much more easily once we have strong friendships, and we know that there are people behind our backs who care for us. Even at times when we feel lonely, it is our friends who make us feel connected and join us in various celebrations of our lives, such as birthdays, getting promoted at our job, or a marriage etc. Friends stay close to us at various stages of our lives and make us realize that life is thus not that miserable. They indeed become like our family and can be said as our second family.
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