Strengthening Friendship
- How can you strengthen the bond of friendship?
Identifying Fake Friends
- How do you know if your friend is fake?
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The benefits of friendship are endless. A good friend can help boost your mental and physical health, comfort you in times of need, and help reduce stress.

Friendship is not just a subject that makes TV shows and movies more attractive, but it also adds immense vibrance to our lives. The true benefits of friendship cannot be easily put into words because its real beauty can only be experienced.

A true friend is important for innumerable reasons that include:

Sharing your experiences: Spending time with close friends and sharing news and experiences, whether happy or sad, always makes life feel more exciting than traveling alone.
Boosting your confidence: A friend helps you acknowledge your strengths and virtues and realize your true potential, which helps make you believe more in yourself.
Overcoming stress: The best cure for reducing stress is a hearty laugh with a loving friend, as well as having someone to vent your worries and anger. Reducing stress can ultimately help regulate your blood pressure.
Improving lifestyle habits: Friendship provides opportunities to learn from each other, as such a good friend helps you include good habits in your life. Studies have suggested that positive social support may help people give up bad habits, including smoking and doing drugs.
Improving mental and physical health: By sharing your sorrows and helping you inculcate healthy habits, friends help you improve both your physical and mental health.
Helping in making decisions: A good friend helps you make the right choices in times of confusion and doubt. Seeking a friend’s advice is always helpful.
Helping you recover from grief: The uncertainties of life have perhaps never been so obvious as during the current pandemic. Almost everyone lost someone they knew or loved. In the face of serious illness, having comfort from a friend helps you overcome the grief of losses of any type. Be it a loss of a job or breakup, all problems seem small when you discuss with a friend. They show you the greater purposes of life, helping you move on.

How can you strengthen the bond of friendship?

A healthy friendship, like any other relationship, requires effort from both parties. To strengthen the bond of friendship, follow these simple but significant tips:

Give each other space
Communicate openly with each other
Never lie or cheat on your friend
Be there when your friend needs you
Appreciate in public but criticize in private
Keep the promises you make
Practice transparency
Be kind toward your friend as you are to yourself
Do not judge your friend or what they share with you
Be a good listener
Do not break their trust
Do not be controlling
Appreciate your similarities and differences in opinions

Friendship is as strong as it is fragile. The most important virtues in friendship are genuine care, respect, and trust. If you are true to each other, your friendship will stand the various tests of time and still prosper in its full strength.

How do you know if your friend is fake?

Fake friendships immensely harm your career and health. Few important signs of a fake friend include:

They are authoritative.
They do not listen as much as they speak.
They make you feel less worthy.
They are rarely available when you need them.
They do not encourage you to make healthy choices.
They are only available when they need something from you.
They exhibit signs of jealousy.
They do not appreciate your achievements.
They make you feel drained or low.
They do not keep your secrets to themselves.
They speak ill about you behind your back.
They do not respect you.
They do not encourage you to achieve your goals.
They are seen in your good times but disappear in hard times (fair-weather friends).