It starts like this: you meet a person and you hit it off (or maybe you don't and it takes several meetings) and feel a fuzzy, warm feeling in your chest that you can be comfortable around this person and they are so fun to talk to and when are you going to see them again?
The warm start of friendship never fails to make me feel excited.
It is probably an extroverted thing, but I love meeting new people, getting to know them, and learning more about yourself through your interactions with them. The people we hold dear always say something about what we value.
Like Jim Rohn, a renowned businessman and personal development teacher, said you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and that means everyone in your life counts.
No matter how accurate that is or not, the people in our lives impact us significantly.
Being around people who motivate you and make you feel loved and supported allows you to flourish and be that person for other people. Friends who you look up to — for their successes, their ability to forgive or be kind, for their quick wit — are always going to make you a better version of yourself. On the other hand, being around someone who is not appreciative of your attention and does not seem as committed to the relationship makes you feel frustrated and helpless.
The key to all of this is to be critical of yourself — of your current actions, of your goals, of whether the two are lining up — and make changes in your life when necessary.
Do the people around you represent things you value?
Most importantly, do the people you are close to value you?
A one-sided friendship is simply a friendship where one side is making most, if not all, of the effort to be friends. From planning to communicating, there's just one party who is making most of the communication. Not all friendships are going to have an equal amount of communication, but if the communication is extremely slanted towards one person, then it may be a one-sided friendship.
When it comes to initiating communication, you are the one who always has to do it. The friend may talk to you when you do contact them, but have you ever noticed that they never initiate the conversation?
And to be honest, I get that. That is me sometimes. We are all busy. We all got things to do and places to be but if that is something that continues on and you can't remember the last time you had a good conversation, there is probably something going on there that you should confront or address.
Communicate! Sometimes, your friend may not even mean to be so one-sided, and by talking to them about it, they may change. If your friend cares, they will realize what they're doing and make an effort to balance things. If they get hostile, then you may have a bad friendship on your hands.
But, sometimes, you don't need to do it if you don't want to. It gets tiring to always be the enthusiastic and eager one when the audience isn't giving back the same energy.
No one likes letting go of a friendship, but the good part is that once you do, you will feel better.
