Go through your repertoire of friends. Take a quick look. Now describe a few. When asked to do this, more often than not you’ll describe them in how they are as a friend to you and classify them according to how they respond to you as an individual.
If I take a look at my friends I could probably divide them up in the following five categories:
1) The Listener: If you’re the kind of friend who ends up hoarding secrets it’s probably because you are the listener. Your friends trust you and open up to you about their dark secrets and even guilty pleasures. This shows that you’re not only trust worthy, but also that you are highly accepting of people and because of this others see you as a confidante. You not only listen well but also reciprocate appropriately, knowing when to be supportive and when to give them an ear full.
2) Lets-Get-Retarded: This kind of friend is crazy. They drag you out of bed at 2 in the morning just because they feel like taking a walk. They are the ones still dancing when everyone is tired and make you laugh just by the way they talk, and to top it all off, they don’t care who is looking. Though they can be exasperating at times, but you admire their eccentric outlook on life. They push you into things you would never dare to do yourself and it is liberating to say the least. If you’re this kind of friend remember to not let your impulsiveness take over common sense. Understand when your friends might need a break from the craziness you welcome so ardently.
3) Soul sister: This is the friend you haven’t met in months, even years but every time you do the time gone by never seems to factor in. There is none of that awkwardness one feels after meeting someone they haven’t in a while. With them things just fall into place every time. Let’s face it; no one can be this type of friend to everyone. But if you have this with someone, you are indeed very lucky.
4) The Mirror: This friend shares your interests and beliefs. You trade books clothes and even have similar taste in movies. They are sure to update you about all the latest in things that you both enjoy. And even though your conversations are peppered with a lot of “You too! I thought I was the only!” it never gets monotonous or over bearing.
5) The Opposite: This friend challenges you. You have strong views, they do too. They question your beliefs and in doing so cause you to explore your own thoughts, motives and attitude further. If you are such a friend the one thing to keep in mind is to not get too offensive while giving your own opinions as this can cause you to lose friends rather than hold onto them.