A real friend accepts you as the person you are. Great friends can encourage you to become a better version of you, but they also help you see the beauty in who you are right now. They don't get sidetracked by what others may say or think of you. Instead, they celebrate the you they've come to know.
Truly close and deep friendships are typically based on trust, mutual interests, and the time that was taken to get to know the other person. It can take weeks, months or years for one of these relationships to form, but they can become some of the most important relationships in life.
A fake friend is slightly different than a frenemy. What is a fake friend? A fake friend is someone who makes you fake it — fake liking, fake authenticity, or faking someone you are not, in order to be friends with them. If a fake friend finds out who you truly are, they probably won't be friends with you anymore.
Maintaining a lifelong friendship isn't easy. In fact, a 2009 Dutch study found that a large majority of friendships only last about seven years. Like any relationship, friendships take work if you want them to last.
They're genuinely interested in your life and are absolutely not judgemental. Genuine friends are ones who want to know 'what you're up to these days'. Not to judge you or compare their life to yours or to size themselves up against you, but simply due to an authentic interest in your life.
“Toxic friendships happen when one person is being emotionally harmed or used by another, making the relationship more of a burden than support,” says Suzanne Degges-White, author of Toxic Friendships. A bad friendship can increase your blood pressure, lower your immunity, and affect your mental health.
True friends know that judging is a way of making someone feel uncomfortable. You and your friend share a very comfortable zone with each other wherein you can speak to your friend about anything, and you will know that they won't judge for your situation or for what you did.
If you and your friend have trust, equality, compassion, honesty, and independence, you already have the foundation of a strong and healthy friendship. Even though it can be hard to recognize when a friendship is weak in some areas, it is always possible to improve yourself and your relationship with a friend.
The most significant factors in ending a friendship were discovered to be, broadly, selfishness, being more likely to end friendships with those who looked after their own interest, were not supportive of them, were dishonest, and were taking without giving, among the prime reasons.
Some friendships end with a mutual decision, some end with a disagreement, and some just sort of fade out. Each type of ending can be painful in its own way, even if you're the one who ended the friendship.
