How to Keep Friends

Do you know making friends and keeping them are not the same, do you also realize that it is one thing to make friends and it is altogether another ball game keeping them?, some youth and singles find it easy making friends but find it difficult keeping them. Therefore, what is the secret of keeping your new friends, what are the things that will help you maintain them and make the relationship last? This is exactly what we are going to examine in this issue.

Like I said in the last issue, that making friends is one of the most challenging thing that disturbs the youth and singles, but keeping them is more perplexing, why do we need to go all the way to keep these friends of ours, why do we need to stress ourselves that much to maintain our relationship with them?.

We are going to examine some of the ways we can develop and maintain our friendship with others. Although, these steps are simple, they take time to develop, so if you find out that you are not getting all that you wanted at a shot don’t feel dejected my dear, give it another trial before long, you will discover that you are already on your way to keeping and maintaining your friendship with others.

To make our friendship a lasting one, the following step should be carefully considered:

Follow Up: This is the first thing you should do when you have just found a new friend. You can give them a call or send them a text message to let them know that you are mindful of them. We humans generally loved to be remembered either in a little way or otherwise and we are also emotional in nature, so applying this to your friendship act will really go a long way to boost your friendship and make your potential friends become comfortable with you.

Constant Communication:
This is one the most widely used method of keeping friends; it’s very effective and powerful. Most singles and youth tends to miss out from this great opportunity often times without realizing it, because they expect the prospective friends to call or pay them a visit, not knowing that they are the ones that needed to open up the channel of communication, which should later be developed into a constant way of relating with their friends. One thing that we need to know is that friendship is just not all about receiving but also giving.

Now, one of the ways we can keep the constant communication is to either call our prospective friends on the cell phone or text-message them or better still, make an appointment for a time out where you can meet and discuss with them. Text messaging is my favourite, I love text messaging and this has indeed carved a niche for me in keeping a circle of friends, so discover yours and use it effectively.

Giving: I mentioned earlier that friendship is not just all about receiving but also giving. I discovered that most singles and youth want a friendship just because of what they felt they can get from such friends, probably money, fame, sex, security etc and had not really taken time to think of what they can give to develop the other person. This kind of friendship is a selfish and imbalanced, and it will eventually end earlier than expected.

Giving makes friendship stronger and solid, it create room of cheerfulness which is an opportunity for intimacy, it also create a sense of belonging and importance to your friends, because no matter how small your gift is, it will always be appreciated (If your friend is the type that value gifts, which I bet most does). This is sure way of keeping your friends.

Facilitating: One of the greatest ways of maintaining friendship is through facilitating. This means that you show concern for the needs of your potential friend and see to their welfare. This aspect of maintaining friendship is incredibly real to me, because I have experienced this so many times and it proved to be true. People naturally appreciate those that appreciate them, so they tends to stay close to the people they felt could help, encourage and assist them in the time of challenges.

Lots of youths and singles will then ask the question, “but, how can I give when I do not have enough money?” What we need to understand is that our life is not base on what we have but what we can give. Start with the little you have. Moreover, there are other things you could give your friends apart from money, your time, advice, keeping company would also go a long way to show your commitment and love for them. You can send text in order to inspire them with motivational words and sometimes give them a call to say hi. This act might be simple, but this goes a long way showing your affection towards your friends.

I sincerely know that incorporating this particular act in your friendship maintenance will surely guarantee you a happy and a healthier companionship, which might eventually metamorphose into a deeper relationship.

We shall be discussing how important are our friends to us, and ways they could affect out lives positively or negatively. Till then, remain strong and vibrant.