Monday, March 4, 2013

what kind of friend are you?


Last year, I kind of sort of raved over MWF Seeking BFF, not necessarily because it was the best-written book in the world, but because I felt like it was written to me, right where I was in life. Since then, I've been kind of obsessed with friendship: what it looks like, how I can make it better.

Then low and behold, through my web wanderings last week, I came across this article (now months old, naturally) detailing the six types of friends everyone should have.

The friend who's cooler than you
The friend who is up for anything 
The friend who you aspire to be
The friend who doesn't know any of your other friends
The friend who's painfully honest
The friend you've known longer than you know yourself

I love this concept -- it's one constantly touted in MWF -- because it takes the pressure off of finding one friend who's going to embody all of these characteristics. It helps me realize my friends all have different gifts (and yes, different personalities) they bring to the relationship. 

And when I look at that list of six, I see that yes, I have all of those relationships in my life. Maybe not in six different people, but in a few. (I've always been a "less is more" believer when it comes to my friendships.) I see, too, that I probably fill one or more of these roles for someone else. Someone else is relying on me to be a good friend, to be up for anything, to be painfully honest, to be dependable and reliable and long-term. 

So does this list make sense to you? Do you have these friendships in your life, or are you on the lookout for one person who fits the bill? In your relationships, which role do you fill? (I'm afraid I'm the painfully honest one, but I'm trying hard to be up for anything, and I have known a number of my friends for a pretty long time...) Is this stuff interesting to you, or is it just me?

4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Once a week a group of my friends get together. We spend a few hours talking about everything and nothing. I think we all fill those roles (well not the one about knowing other friends) at one time or another.

Personally I love this kinda of stuff. Very interesting!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE that list. It makes so much sense.

I can even remember times in my life when every single one of those six spots were filled. But I can also recall, and realize that I'm currently in one of those times when they're not...and things feel off. A little list to go by will surely help ;)

Anonymous said...

As a soon-to-be college graduate and then wife, friendship's definitely gotten my attention lately. I've LOVED living within a 5 minute walk to most of my friends and it'll be pretty sad when that is no longer the case. And then that makes me nervous that we'll fall out of touch and all that sad stuff. So yes, I've been thinking a lot about friendships and how to be a better friend lately, too. I hope it's not too hard after college & that I'm open to what having "grown-up" friendships is like.

Annie said...

I haven't thought about that before! I'll have to spend some time mulling this over to see if I have those kinds of friends.

I super love MWF Seeking BFF for the same reason and I recommend it just about only everyone ever who so much as mentions friendship in my direction.

I might be a little overexcited about it, even now... ;]