How to Be a Better Friend - A Comprehensive Guide for Women

How to Make Friends as an Adult | By: Katie Lister

April 27, 2024

How can I improve my friendship? How do I make myself a better friend? What makes a good friend? What are the qualities of a good friend, and how can I develop them? If you are looking for a guide and tips on how to be a better friend, this article is for you.

Hi, my name is Katie Lister. I am a practicing Registered Nurse and the founder of Growth Gals. I lead personal development groups and coach women to live their best lives authentically. Growth Gals provides a safe space for women to connect with like-minded individuals, learn, and offer support to one another.

A big part of my work in these support groups involves creating safe spaces where women feel free to discuss various topics related to everyday issues that affect the everyday lives of women, such as mental health, emotional intelligence, finding your life’s purpose, personal development, and navigating relationships, including female friendships.

In this article, I will tell you everything you need to know about how to be a better friend.

Katie Lister

Written by Katie Lister, RN, BScN. An experienced Registered Nurse, Group Facilitator, Life Coach, and Community Leader. Read Katie's Full Author Bio

Introduction

If you are looking for information on how make friends and to be a better friend, you are probably doing so because you want to maximize the benefits of a strong friendship by making yourself a better friend.

The benefits of adult friendships or a best friend cannot be overemphasized. Having strong friendships in your life has many benefits for your physical and mental well-being. With the right friends, you enjoy a sense of belonging, it helps reduce stress, boosts your confidence, and makes it easier to go through tough times.

According to science, adults with a strong network of friends are less prone to developing mental health issues like depression, high blood pressure and even heart disease. Older adults with an active social life with regular in-person check-ins with their friends are also likely to live longer than older lonely adults.

To enjoy all the benefits associated with having close friends in your life, you need to know how to cultivate friendships and make new friends. This includes learning how to better yourself as a friend and how to identify high-quality friendships that are worth investing in.

Some of the benefits of having adult friendships include:

You experience an increased sense of purpose and belonging.
You boost self-confidence, happiness and reduce stress.
You experience improved self-worth and confidence.
You can cope better with hard times because you have unwavering support.
Friends encourage you to change for the better.
Friends make it easier to put issues in context.
You experience an increased sense of security.
Your friends help to relieve stress.
Friendships help you live a longer and healthier life.

Why don’t I have friends? Learn about the possible reasons here and what you can do about it.

Qualities of a Good Friend

Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote widely about friendships, including what they are and what good friendships should look like. He further said that a particular unique type of love exists amongst friends and is characterized by mutual caring and sympathy towards each other. Some of the attributes of a good friendship of women include:

Boosted self-esteem: good friends will boost your self-esteem and sense of self-worth. Good friends lift each other and give genuine compliments. When good friends surround you, you feel good about yourself and help them feel good about themselves.

Support for one another: Good friends are always there for each other. They show up in good and bad times and work to make each other’s load lighter to carry.

Celebrated differences: friends are also individuals with personal tastes and preferences. The right friendships honor these differences and support each other.

Mutual respect for boundaries: Good friendships honor individual boundaries and the need for personal space. If you feel your boundaries are disrespected, a good friendship encourages healthy speaking up and ironing out the differences.

Reciprocated connection: A good friendship is balanced. This means that all parties mutually support each other and have the same level of openness and vulnerability, which makes it easier for friends to offer support.

Why Being a Good Friend Is Important

As it is often said, everyone needs someone. A healthy friendship is usually a two-way connection characterized by mutual support and respect among true friends. When you continuously work on yourself and make yourself a better friend, you open yourself up to receiving the same from your besties.

Being a good friend means being reliable. Your friends can count on you for sound advice and believe that you will show up when you say you will. Being a good friend means being there through all life seasons.

Being a great friend is also beneficial to yourself because it helps you set the bar for what you should expect from your friends.

If you are willing to bring unwavering support, positivity and mutual understanding to the table to create a lasting friendship, you should expect the same from your friends. When you are a better friend, you are able to identify those friendships that may be toxic. This is because you are more self-aware.

Tips On How to Be a Better Friend

Become the person you want your loved ones to be

Take into account what you need in a true friendship, and invest a lot of time to become these things in your own life. If you want more respect, strive to offer more respect to your friends. If you want unwavering uplifting support, don’t be afraid to offer unwavering support to your friends.

Be a good listener

Like any other relationship, communication is vital when it comes to making friends open up to each other, and active listening is an essential part of effective communication. Active listening is about engaging with the words and information your friends communicate. It involves reading their body language to better understand how your friend feels. Learning to read nonverbal cues while listening to their words makes you a better listener and problem-solver.

Be open to addressing issues

Friendships are not perfect. There will be conflict and sometimes fighting. The key to being a good friend is to avoid sweeping issues under the rug. If there is a disconnect in your friendship, part of being a good friend is learning to have uncomfortable conversations about the disconnect. Being open to having effective communication about the issues in your friendship makes you a trustworthy and reliable friend.

Here is a helpful guide on what to do when you have no friends.

Regularly check on your friends

The thing about having friends is that it is easy to talk every day and still not know what is going on with your friends. Therefore, part of being a good friend is making it a point to check on your friends’ lives. This involves going deeper into conversations even on a phone call to understand what is happening in their lives and finding ways to get together and offer help and support where possible.

Be trustworthy and honest

Just like romantic relationships, the wellness of any friendship depends on the level of trust and honesty in the relationship. To be a better friend, you need to work on your level of honesty and trustworthiness. Your friends should feel confident enough to speak to you about anything without the fear of being judged or having the information leaked. Trust and honesty are the building blocks for a strong, mutually beneficial friendship.

Celebrate your friend’s wins

Jealousy and envy should have no place in your friendship. A good friend always supports their friends and is always ready to celebrate their wins. As that type of friend, you should encourage your friends to pursue higher goals and celebrate with them when they succeed. You should also expect your friends to celebrate with you when you win.

Express gratitude more often

Gratitude is one of the best ways to strengthen friendships and keep you more invested. Developing an attitude of gratitude in your friendships can go a long way toward enriching your connections and lightening the loads that come with everyday life. Do not miss an opportunity to find simple ways to appreciate your friends and express your gratitude for your friendship.

How Growth Gals Can Help You Become a Better Friend

To be a good friend, you must do some focused work and dedicate your time to becoming a better version of yourself. As a woman striving to become a better friend, having the right resources can make it easier for you to do this. Growth Gals is an online supportive network of women that offers relevant resources, information, and guidance to help women become the best versions of themselves.

Subscribe to our newsletter to access helpful guides and information relevant to women and learn more about how we can assist you as you strive to become a better friend.

The Bottom Line

Friendships are the glue that holds life together. Nothing compares to having a reliable group of friends in your life. From losing jobs to finding new ones, and even new relationships and divorce, good friendships keep you sane and make life worth living regardless of what you are going through. This article highlights some of the best ways to be a better friend. When you become a better friend, you ultimately start to attract better from your friends too.