As you get older maintaining friendships becomes harder; and the tough reality of things is you will most likely grow apart from people. Different life experiences will happen and people change, now change isn't always a bad thing but its something that you have to adjust to. Through my own experience, I have discovered that biggest challenge for friendships is once you leave school and everyone start to do their own thing. You're not in an environment where you're ensured that you'll see your social clique daily so you have to put in more of an effort in order to see people. Here are a few well known but unwritten rules of friendship.


○  Kindness
Always be kind to one another, of course, we all have things we disagree on but learn how to overcome them and compromise. Remember that your friendship matters and how you treat each other is an indicator of how long your friendship will last.

○  Honesty
It's certainly the best policy; there isn't a nice way to tell someone something they don't want to hear. I've seen my friends sugar coat things in the past, but it only makes it harder when the real truth does come out. Of course, telling someone something in a respectful and thoughtful way is a must, but don't sugar coat just be honest.

○  Loyalty
Be loyal to your friends; a good example of this would be not going with a guy (or girl) your friend has previously been with or liked a lot. Loyalty equals respect. This one is pretty simple, just be loyal to your friends. Don't constantly change friendship groups, try to build something meaningful with the friends you have got. Trust me, it will work out much better down the line.

○  Effort
It's so important to make an effort with the people you care about. Everyone loves it when someone wants to be around them. Knowing someone is putting in effort to see you, taking valuable time to spend with you is a pretty good feeling. Friendships, like all relationships, will suffer greatly when effort in one sided. This needs to be a two-way thing, both sides must put in equal effort to ensure that no one feels unappreciated.

Friendships are hard to keep but so precious. I have lost friends in the past; of course at the time it hurt me but now I understand that it was not my fault. We all have issues and see things differently, but a true friend would help you through a situation or accept you for how you are. If your friend does not do this then trust me you're better off opening that place in your life for someone who would be able to treat you right and not take advantage of your good nature.
Do not forget that friendship is teamwork.



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