There are many different types of relationships that we can have with people. Some of them are acquaintances others we call friends, but then there’s the term best friend that puzzles me. It’s not the idea of having good friends that you can trust, but rather, calling someone their ‘best’ friend. I’ve never been one to put labels on friends. At least not once I became an adult. The idea that I would have to put that kind of pressure on someone to be the very best is something that I would want to do. The other side of it is knowing how to determine who is a friend and who makes it to the grand list of best friend. That can be really complicated to do and can even hurt some feelings along the way. I wouldn’t want to hurt someone in such a way. Relationships can be hard enough. Making friends can also be difficult. So what is that we look for in finding friendship? Well, in doing a little research, I found twelve things that we look for to have lasting friendships. Think about how many of them you look for. I found ten of them myself.

The first of these qualities is finding someone who doesn’t judge us. It doesn’t matter what we wear or what kind of car that we drive, your best friend knows who you are and accepts you for being you. We look for people who are genuine, accepting, those who are trustworthy, and respect us. Looking for a friendship from a person that can be supportive of you is important. Other qualities such as someone who is forgiving, supportive, dependable, thoughtful, who is a listener, who shares in your humor, and accepts you as you are some of the qualities that brings a person to believe that someone is best friend material. Although I don’t think that I will practice using the term, I’m sure that there are those out there that do. Even if you or don’t choose to call someone a best friend, we can still look for these qualities in a person.

No one is perfect and that to me is better than having friends who try too hard to be the example or poster child for friendship. I tend to think that if you can be real with me and real with yourself, that’s a quality that’s hard to come by today. I tend to not look at the pictures on Facebook or Instagram to determine a person’s life. It’s filtered media that is created by the person posting.  There isn’t a requirement for how we choose our friends, just as long as it works for the person who is choosing. I find far and few people who meet every quality listed, but even if I can find a few of those qualities, that does work for me. I often look for a connection to take place. Having common interests and knowing a person’s heart is more important to me.

You can be assured that I’m not impressed by much of is on the internet because for me it’s a person’s actions in the real world that give merit. Finding the right friendship for me is as equally important as finding the right recipe for macaroni and cheese. The more bells and whistles, the better.