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In the movies and on TV, we are often told that life revolves around finding the one, your soulmate, your other half. There are a lot of messages out there telling us the key to happiness is in a romantic partner. In reality, it isn’t as simple as finding one person to make your whole world complete. We have many important interpersonal relationships in our lives, and one we should cherish is the relationship we have with good friends.
Romance is a nice part of life, and it feels great to find your special someone. But remember, relationships are not all about romance. We have many different kinds of relationships in our lives that are not romantic; these could be family, professional relationships, and friends. Even the category of friends is very broad! You have your close best friends, casual acquaintances, work friends, people you have mutual friends with, and the kind of friends you know through social media but have never actually met in real life! All these friends are important for different reasons.
The thing about relationships is that we need lots of different kinds of them. This is because different relationships fulfill our different needs. It is a big misconception that your romantic partner should be your other half and has to be the person who gives you everything. It’s a lot of pressure to put on one person to expect them to fulfill all of your needs!
While your romantic partner will be among the most significant relationships in your life, they can’t do it all. For one thing, they have their own life and needs to meet, too, so it’s not like they can sacrifice everything just to meet your needs! As well as this, they aren’t some kind of therapy superhero who can satisfy everything you want. They are one person who has their own traits. No one person can solve all your problems.
But the good news is, as we learned earlier, there are different types of relationships! We can fulfill different needs with different people. You’ll have people you engage in casual small talk with, friends you share hobbies with, work colleagues you focus on professional business around, and possibly therapists or doctors who can help you with more complex problems.
We need a variety of relationships in our lives to provide us with different outlooks, outlets, and points of view. Relationships come and go over time, but they all fulfill different needs in your life. Our needs change over time; we may have certain needs throughout the day and over different stages of our lifetime. When you are a kid, you need different things from friends than when you are an adult. The types of support we need evolve over the years, which is why it is important to have a multitude of people to share our life with.
One of the reasons it’s important to have good friends is because they know you well. If you’re having problems, they can help you out because they know what you need to hear. When you have good friends, you have a support system, and studies have shown good friends have a positive impact on your mental and physical health. Your shared bond with those close to you has been built over time. Particularly significant are the friendships that began before your romantic relationship, as those friends know who you were when your partner fell for you, so they know your best side.
Sometimes we need our friends to save us from ourselves too. They know how we are when we are irrational and going through a difficult time. Sometimes our friends know us better than we do in difficult moments. Our good friends can bring out the best in us and help us make sure we are the best version of ourselves.
When things get difficult in your relationship, you need support, and that comes in the form of your good friends. No matter how much you love your partner, there will still be difficult times and rough patches. This is why it is important to have a support circle of people who want what is best for you. When you need advice and a new perspective, your good friends can offer that.
As well as that, sometimes our partners will annoy us. If we spend enough time around someone at some point, there will be friction. This is why time away from each other is important as well. Friends can act as people for socializing outside of relationships and people to vent to. It’s not worth discussing every negative thing with your partner, as this can cause issues. You can share some of your needs with other close confidants without exhausting your relationship.
It’s all about balance, and having good friends as well as a romantic partner helps you balance out who you spend your time with. And research has shown good friends lead to higher levels of relationship satisfaction.
As great as good friends are, bad friends are terrible. Having bad friends is toxic and draining, and they will cause you more problems than they are worth.
For one thing, some people are just incredibly negative. It turns out that negativity does a lot of damage. When we are exposed to constant negativity, we are more likely to get sick due to our immune system getting weakened. And when we have toxic bad friends, we are exposed to so many negative thoughts and words. You know, the kind of person who just can’t let somebody else be happy? They always have to say something snarky or rude and can’t just let you have fun! Whether it’s backhanded compliments, lies, talking about you behind your back, or just generally sucking the life out of you, bad friends are bad for you.
You may feel like any friends are better than no friends, but really you are better off enjoying your own company than spending time with people who drain you. Bad friends have a negative impact on your sense of self-worth and your self-esteem. Having bad friendships can lead to many other problems too. For one thing, you may find it hard to identify when a friendship or relationship is actually good for you later in life! If you are used to being around bad friends, you may come to believe their bad behavior is acceptable, or conversely, you may start to expect too much from future friends. You will be so scared from the bad experience that any negativity sets off alarm bells in your mind.
There are many signs of a bad friendship. For one thing, bad friends can never be happy for you and will often slight you to put you down. They will also make conversations revolve around themselves. You can spot a bad friend if they only get in touch with you when they need something from you. Basically, if a “friend” doesn’t like you for who you are, doesn’t want what’s best for you, and doesn’t treat you with respect, then they are most likely a bad friend.
Remember that an important part of a romantic relationship is friendship. While it’s great being in love and having physical intimacy, you also have to like your partner as a person. Really relationships are much better if the person you are with is one of your best friends. It can’t all be romantic dates; being in a relationship means doing real-life boring things with each other, which is much more fun if you are doing them with your friend!
Remember that your romantic partner is like a very special friend you share your life with. This means you will share good times and bad times, and that balance, once again, is important. It is necessary to communicate about problems and the things in your life that cause you stress. It is also important to share good times and have fun. If a relationship is just constant swings between intense romance and drama, it is unrealistic, and you will get burnt out. However, if you can share nice times together as friends, then your relationship will be much more fulfilling.
Remember, love your partner, love your friends, but also love yourself. It is very important to show yourself kindness and be nice to yourself. Afterall, you can’t really give your all to a relationship if you don’t love yourself.
Speaking to yourself in a positive way is good for your brain and will boost your confidence. In addition to this, if you love yourself, you are more likely to value yourself and know your own worth, and so can commit to better relationships.
Sometimes we hope that friends and partners can fix us, but really we have to care for ourselves too.
Romantic relationships are complex, but having good friends helps us along the way. Good friends know you and the support you need and allow you to vary the people you socialize with. Good friends make for a good life.
