Tough love. That's right, I said it. The kind of love that every parent and true best friend knows all too well.

Personally, I've never been the kind of person to lie to my friends about their stupid decisions or bad judgement calls. What good does it do to support decisions you know that are just going to blow up in their faces or hurt them in the end? I think most friends just try to be supportive every second they can, but best friends aren't afraid of telling you when you're being an idiot.

My go-to phrase when giving a tough love pep talk is "Look, you know I love you... but you could be better." I say this because I know my friend's potential, and I know when they are selling themselves too short. I know when they're about to make a bad decision and even though I think it's important to learn through experiences, why shouldn't I be honest with them? That's not to say that I'm somehow always right or being supportive isn't incredibly important, but when I realize that they could make a better decision I make sure to let them know.

Being real and straight up with somebody is something that too many people are afraid of doing. Tough love may be exactly that, tough, but if it were reversed wouldn't you want somebody to help you grow? Without your mom forcing you to grow up at some point and make your own doctors appointments or your best friend yelling at you to not text that boy back... we wouldn't be able to grow.

So here's to the ones that aren't afraid of giving tough love every once in a while.