We all have that one person we can tell everything to. Whether it's your boyfriend, girlfriend, close friend, dad, mom, aunt or dog, we all have (or should have) someone. This person is the one person we know will be fine listening to our rants after a long day of school or work. They will not tell you that you are wrong to have the feelings you have either. All they will do is listen and be supportive of you. They are your best friend. But a big part of this relationship with this person is mutuality.

Mutuality is the concept of reciprocity. Since you are able to tell this one person everything, you have the expectancy that they will tell you everything. For goodness sakes, if you are spilling out your deepest thoughts to someone, you would think they would try to do the same.

In the book Trust in Technology: A Socio-Technical Perspective, they claim that mutuality is a must in a healthy relationship.

"This refers to the level of responsibility each party is expected to accept for the benefit to be derived by the other party and for protecting the other party form any harm associated with breakdown or misapplication of the conversation" (p. 54).

You become scared that they don't trust you as much as you trust them. Especially if this person is your best friend or your boyfriend, you would expect them to be able to talk to you about their day and their thoughts.

It is a stressful concept to think about that the person who is your best friend doesn't think of you as their best friend. A best friend is someone who will be there through everything and vice versa. Even if you are not in the same physical place as that person when stressful or exciting life events occur, you would expect them to come to you when they have good news or bad news.

You tell them about your day: the funny jokes you can remember, the people you ran into and the events you witnessed. But despite the fact that you are telling them all of this, they are unwilling to tell you about their day.

From these experiences, it is important to let your best friend know that you are willing to listen to everything they have to say. Even if it is not exciting news, you just want to hear about what they think about. You want to know if they tried some new, but disgusting food in the dining hall; you want to know of their opinion on the political debates. Anything that will create mutuality is vital. Just as long as they are well aware that you are willing to listen to them.

Remember, it is all about trust and knowing that this person will be willing to hear all that you have to say and love you no less.

Make your best friend aware of this if they do not know already.