Added: 05/31/2007 |
There Are Many Different Friendship TypesQuite often we use the term friend very loosely. However, there are many different friendship types. We may call many people friends but how we view them differs from person to person. There are several ways in which we differentiate friendship types. Generally we distinguish friendships by the levels of trust and confidence we have in other individuals among other things.
An acquaintance is someone whom one knows casually. It is a friendship type but it generally is a relationship less intimate than friendship. Often an acquaintance is a person known less formally than a friend. For example an acquaintance is a person whom we know well enough to borrow from, but not well enough to lend to. In other words, an acquaintance is a person one knows, but who is not a close friend. These are people we see regularly but may not know much about. These friendship types can become more but often these are the people we see in certain places and only those places such as work and at the checkout counter at the local grocery store, but they are not the people you invite to your home for conversation or share person feelings and thoughts with.
There are other friendship types as well. Not all friends are good friends. I believe all individuals have experienced “fair weather friends”, the ones who are there for you when your life is good and you don’t need support just company. These types of friends tend to leave when things go wrong in your life. They are okay with being there for you as long as you don’t need anything from them. Generally, these friendship types only exist because they want something from you, not because they have something to offer you. This unfortunately is not true friendship but is quite often the easiest to find.
Of course there are friendship types that are quite the opposite. These are not healthy friendship types either. There are some people who choose to behave as a friend only when things in your life are not going well. It seems that there are those individuals who are comforted by listening to other people’s problems and giving advice but are uncomfortable listening to their friends speak about how great their lives are. Maybe this is a result of their own insecurity and the desire to feel needed. Possibly that is because being around someone with more problems than themselves makes them feel better about themselves and gives them a sense of importance to someone. Once that feeling is gone they no longer feel comfortable.
The ideal friendship type is a compromise between two parties. Though we use the term friend to encompass many types of relationships it is important to define what a true friendship is. A true friendship is a give and take situation. It is being able to spend time together discussing the things that are important to us without always having to agree. Part of being a friend is being able to listen to each other talk about the good things in our lives and the bad. Friendship is being able to be supportive of each other in good times and in bad as well. It does not mean that you will always agree, sometimes you will have to tell your friend things that they do not want to hear and you may have to hear things you don’t want to be told. However in true friendship you understand each enough that you can understand why disagreeable things must be said at times and being capable of forgiving each other when it is called for. True friendship has its ups and downs too. But this kind of friendship is not only healthy but makes you feel good to be around each other too.
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