How to maintain a friendship?

How to maintain a friendship: Busy lifestyles, simple communication, false intimacy, and even neediness make it harder to evolve and keep real friendships in this digital world.

If you have the right friends who improve your life, get you positive energy, and boost your well-being.

How to maintain a friendship:

Make time to connect

Developing durable friendships means building a solid foundation, resolving misunderstandings, and showing appreciation for each other’s presence in your life. All these need to stay in touch with your friends, not just online but offline as well.

Staying connected includes random calls and online chatting. It also means making time to meet face-to-face, which is key to creating and maintaining a close bond.

Respect boundaries

When your friend is going through a tough time, let him/her know how to reach you for support. If you answer calls during certain hours, respond to text messages during the break, and inform him/her about these habits. Likewise, don’t call your friend at odd hours or expect an immediate reply from him/her.

Constant complaining can damage the long-term viability of your friendship, no matter how close it is. While showing your frustrations and disappointments to good friends is healthy. 

Communicate mindfully

Communication is a two-way street. If you repetitively ask your friend a lot of questions and sit quietly, do not show yourself, or have no response to her stories, the relationship can feel like an interrogation rather than a conversation. Checking your mail, watching your text messages, or being distracted might seem acceptable when you are with good friends, but it can keep them away from spending time with you. If you are interrupted and need to attend to something important, explain the reason to your friend and re-direct your focus as quickly as possible.

Keep them accountable

Healthy friendships are built on respect and equality, not co-dependence. Hold your friends in high regard and hope they keep their promises and act in alignment with their values and ideals. 

Also Read:  How do friendships improve your life?

Get to know them 

If you want to keep good friends, show up at their celebrations, including parties, weddings, and baby showers. Even if it is just for an hour, your putting in face time at special events will be memorized and appreciated. You get to capture photos and make lasting memories of a shared experience and occasion.

Give them space

Being too clingy can drive good friends away. When your friend does not call you back, return your messages as quickly as you would like, and don’t make it into a big deal.

Good friends have their lives and personal responsibilities to handle, so don’t be surprised if their world doesn’t rotate around you. 

Build trust

Disclosing your likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, and failures and successes inspire your friend to return and build a true connection with you. When a friend shares anything personal with you, consider it as a step further into developing a genuine friendship, not as a means to gain the benefit, content for gossip, or social power. Practicing transparency and honesty, keeping confidence, and showing genuine interest in their well-being is key to establishing trust. Do what you say. Keep your promises.