What Is A Good Friendship?

What is a good friendship?

If you’re trying to make new friends and want to keep the good ones, you should definitely know which qualities are the best with a close friend. I feel in today’s society, we are all too accepting in having anyone we can have a conversation with as an acceptable level as a friend.

However, while it’s nice to have acquaintances to share your stories with, this can lead to having some not-so-great people around your circle. People may seem nice at first but when you get to know them, their true colors usually come out and it may be unpleasant.

Although we can never know what we get when we allow people to be our friends, there are various qualities that are common in good friends. And that is what we will be talking about today in this post.

But first, let’s answer the question…

What is a good friendship?

A good friendship has many valuable qualities in a friend that may be hard to find in someone. It involves a variety of positive traits including trust, loyalty, and a willingness to be honest and transparent with you when needed. However, a good friend will support you through your hardest times and want to see you succeed. All of these traits will result in a good friendship.

In this article, I’ll go over what is a good friendship and the 7 unique qualities you’ll want to look for in a friend. Seeing these traits will ensure you have a friend that you can rely on and want to keep. Never let these friends go!

Without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Loyalty

The first and in my opinion, most important quality in someone that ensures a good friendship is loyalty. It’s easy to find people who will “abandon” you when you have a different opinion than them, or when people are looking down upon you. But it’s pretty difficult to find a friend who will stick by you when you’re not in your finest hour. With the latter, a good friendship is someone who will not leave your side, especially when you are going through hard times. This is why loyalty is hard to find, and that makes it easy to spot a good friend as well because of how hard it can be to find a loyal friend.

Now there’s a difference between blind loyalty and genuine loyalty. Blind loyalty is a friend that agrees with everything you do, no matter how egregious of your actions you take. That is not something you want, because blind loyalty is not loyalty. Because if it’s so easy to earn your loyalty, who’s to say how easy it is for that friend to jump to the next person? That is why you want someone who is loyal, but also willing to question you sometimes. Which leads me to my next point…

2. Honesty with you

To me, a really good friend will not only be honest with you, but they will be honest even if it doesn’t make you feel good. For example, if you’re doing something wrong, they will be more than likely to call you on it. And it’s not because they want to one-up you or to put you feel down (that would not be a good friend), but they genuinely want to see you do the right thing. A good friend brings out the best in you, and if it means being honest in all situations, then that is a good friend you’ll want to keep.

You don’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of friends who agree with everything you say and do. Not only does it break the rule of loyalty, but it doesn’t leave you room to grow and change to be a more attractive person. How can you become a better person if your friends are not honest with you? Are your feelings not getting hurt more important? You want a friend who always brings you down but also wants the best for you. Try to strike a balance between the two.

You probably heard of this one before. And it’s true; having trust in a friend is very important. Not only do you want to confide and trust your friend with your vulnerabilities and personal life, but you also want to feel like you trust your friend in being sincere and honest with you.

3. Wants you to succeed

One of the most important traits in a good friend! While your friend doesn’t need to be your mentor or personal coach, they do need to have a natural desire for you wanting to succeed. Whether that’s earning more money in your profession to finding the best relationship partner, a good friend wants to see you accomplish all that.

Unfortunately, things such as jealousy or insecurity can prevent some people from expressing empathy for their friends. These things can often lead to friends bringing each other down indirectly or even sabotaging them in extreme cases. In either case, you don’t want a friend who doesn’t want to see you succeed. If you feel a friend is trying to bring you down, then that is not a good friendship. You need to find a friend who wants you to be successful in all endeavours of life.

4. Trust

Unfortunately, trust is something out of your control. A friend can be trustworthy and untrustworthy; it really depends on your friend’s personality and the decisions they make. You can always observe the people around you and make a judgement if they’re trustworthy or not. I would recommend observing not what a friend says, but what they do. If they are congruent with their actions and follow through in what they said they will do, then they will more than likely be someone you can trust.

5. Respect

There is a difference between liking someone and respecting someone. A good friend will ideally like and respect you, but do not confuse the two as being the same. Because a friend can definitely like you but not feel any respect for you.

For example, if you happen to be the “clown” in the group of friends, then your friends may not be laughing with you, but laughing AT you. As mentioned previously, a good friend wants to see you succeed. Having “friends” who belittle you are NOT good friends. That is why having respect from friends is incredibly important for a healthy relationship.

Respect can hard to quantify and it’s something I will touch upon in future posts. But in general, a friend will want your best interests, even if sometimes they don’t like what you do. Again, being liked is not the same as being respected.

6. Integrity

In my experience, you want friends who have integrity. While not all people are unethical are bad people, it make things difficult when you’re dealing with someone who isn’t living life ethnically.

Someone who stands by their principles is someone that is easier to trust and understand. It’s also easier to build rapport and relate to someone if they’re following a system of integrity. With these qualities make a great friend.

7. Someone you can talk to

Last but not least, a good-quality friend is someone that will listen to your story, your accomplishments, your struggles, your beliefs and so much more. You need people who are willing to emphatically listen to you and hear you out.

Being a great listener is one of the best traits you can have for being a friend. But having your own friends that will lend you an ear is essential to a healthy social life. If a friend isn’t willing to listen to you, then it’s hard to build a relationship with them and build trust with each other. Listening to each other and being there for one another is sign of a high-quality friendship.

Summary

To summarize, here are the 7 qualities of a good friendship:

1. Loyalty
2. Honesty with you
3. Wants you to succeed
4. Trust
5. Respect
6. Integrity
7. Someone you can talk to

And there you have it; the answer to what is a good friendship! I hope you found this post helpful.

While there are many other traits to look for in a good friend, I believe these 7 qualities are the most important.

Which of these 7 qualities resonate with you the most? Let me know in the comments below!