Listen to this article. Then listen to the poem below.
Have you ever heard people say that they don’t need people around or don’t need friends? I believe that to have total body wellness, you need people. More specifically, you need good friends that genuinely have your best interest at heart. Being connected with good friend relationships is a critical aspect of social wellness. This part of wellness can sometimes get neglected or adulterated by inviting lower quality relationships into one’s life, but quantity does not equate to quality.
Are Friends Really Necessary?
My friends have been the source of my laughter, comfort, joy, and insight throughout the years. So what about your friends? Do you have a circle you can trust: a place to turn when things start getting rough?
You also need people around you that can tell you the truth – in love and people that are not afraid to help hold you accountable.
Good friends are people you can be yourself around. You don’t want to feel like you have to fake who you are to satisfy someone else. My friends take me for my good, bad, and ugly. I wouldn’t be who I am today without my friends.
Watch the Company You Keep
The friends that you keep can make or break your success in life. There’s an old saying that goes: if you lie down with dogs, you will get fleas. This saying rings true for friendships. People tend to take on the characteristics of who they hang out with. If you hang out with friends that have no goals for their life or constantly have a negative view, you may begin to take on that mindset as well. At the very least, you will get tired of hanging out with that person and start avoiding them. We all go through things that may cause us to have sad moments and need extra support from our friends, but if your friend was negative when you met them and five years later they still have a negative, woe is me vibe, there should be some red flags that you should pay attention to.
Five Ways to Nurture Great Friendships in Your Life
Here are five things you can do to ensure your friendships stay in peak condition.
- Be the type of friend you want to have.
- Embrace quality over quantity. I would rather have a few good people that I can trust in my world and know that they can trust me than people I am constantly looking for with the knife in my back.
- Judgments are for the court of law, not your friendships! If you want your friends to trust you and come to you when they need someone to talk to, stay away from condemning, negative, and overcritical comments.
- Help your friends stay accountable. This does not mean you have to be the behavior police! When your friends share something that they’ve got going on: like wanting to lose weight or starting a business, they may need regular encouragement and check-ins on occasion. I know I do!
- Have fun together! If you can’t have fun with your friends, you need to find new friends! Some of my most memorable life events have been with my friends. We have laughed so hard that we cried together. I am grateful for the people that have blessed me with their presence. I hope I have given them the fraction of blessings they have shared with me.
So what about your friends? Reflect on your relationships and ask yourself if these are the people that you want to spend your energy on. If so, congratulations! If not, it may be time to seek out new relationships that will help you achieve your total body wellness.
