“Let’s just stay friends.” You know, that’s such a wonderful phrase. I’m always in favor of people staying friends, no matter the situation or circumstances.
The Value of Friendship in Life
Let’s think about the topic of friendship between men and women. For me, the most important thing that gives me strength, energy, and motivation is my friends and close ones, whom I value more than anything in the world. Every person in my circle is someone to look up to! Surrounding yourself with such people, you’ll immediately feel how they help you move forward and grow.
I should point out that I see friendship as being genderless. It doesn’t matter if you’re friends with guys or girls. The key is to always understand the boundaries of friendship and not cross them.
For me, the concept of “friendship” is somewhat impersonal. I can be friends with guys, girls, people of different social backgrounds, ages, professions, nationalities, and more. To me, friendship is a union of souls. All other criteria don’t matter.
Why Male-Female Friendships are Normal and Healthy
There’s nothing unusual about being friends with the opposite sex. Here are some reasons why it’s totally normal for a girl to be friends with a guy:
- Guys are more balanced. If you call your friend at 3 AM, crying after a breakup, not every girlfriend will be able to calmly, logically, and objectively give you advice. Girls tend to mirror each other’s moods, meaning they’ll likely get emotional too. But guys usually don’t react that way.
- You can be yourself with a guy friend. Subconsciously, girls often do things for other girls or for themselves. This includes dressing up nicely, wearing makeup, and following etiquette rules to stand out in a “competitive” way among friends. With a guy friend, you can just be yourself – like eating a pack of éclairs at midnight and not feeling self-conscious about it.
- A guy friend will always tell you the truth. Girls tend to avoid hurting each other’s feelings, even good friends. They might give a compliment, hold back from saying something, or even sugarcoat the truth. For example, they might say a dress looks slimming when in reality, it makes you look bigger. Guys usually don’t do that. They’re more straightforward and aren’t afraid of offending you.
- Guy friends compliment you more often. Guys tend to notice when you look good. I don’t know how it works, but it’s true. They’ve got a sharp eye for it.
Let me also clarify what I believe doesn’t fall within the boundaries of friendship between a man and a woman: any kind of intimate relationship.
That’s pretty much where my list ends. Maybe that’s enough, or maybe it’s the only real boundary. Everything else is just communication, connection, and spending time together in a mutually beneficial way.
It’s also important to remember that friendship is only possible when there’s equality. A servant can’t be friends with a master, and an employee can’t be friends with a boss.
Understanding Different Types of Relationships
There are close friends, strangers, and those who are just walking alongside you in life without really influencing it, but they’re there for some reason. Some people come and go.
You need to clearly understand who you can be open with and who you can’t, who deserves your trust, what people breathe, and what their attitude is toward you.
You need to see people much deeper than they want to show themselves. That’s life, unfortunately.
You need to be sincere, but at the same time, control what you say. Know who you’re talking to. Be kind, but also someone who’s hard to hurt or break.
Value the people you can trust like gold, and don’t pay attention to those who are just passing through. People love to meddle in other people’s lives, but the key is your reaction to that. Can you keep doing what makes you happy without caring about others?
The modern romance of immaturity isn’t appealing to many women. They’re not willing to play the guessing game with men’s desires or deal with mood swings. This can be for many reasons: past experiences, age, personality.
Many aren’t willing to depend on a man, catering to his whims in exchange for what is essentially an illusion of well-being. If you’re just an element in his life, it’s only a matter of time before he replaces you with someone newer or fresher.
Many women aren’t willing to fake happiness, especially in bed, just to boost a man’s self-esteem. That’s a big issue, by the way. “Sex and the City” isn’t just about American women, it’s about a large portion of people we all know.
Authenticity and Trust: Keys to Deep Connections
I don’t understand men whose women pretend they’re happy. That kind of hypocrisy and imitation turn your one and only life into an illusion. There’s no value in such relationships. Don’t expect anyone in today’s world to make you happy. No one’s going to save you.
The only way to be happy is to do it yourself, and then maybe you can make someone else happy too.
In my opinion, it’s better to be alone than to have a chaotic personal life where everything is a mess and there’s no real person – someone who’s normal, who wants a family, kids, and to be together. Nowadays, a woman doesn’t need marriage just for the sake of it, for status, or a some other achievement. A normal woman wants a normal human relationship. And it’s certainly not based on quick sex. Friendship, communication, and emotional closeness – that’s what matters!
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