Friendships Among Women - A Giver and A Taker

This is our final post on friendships among women.  Today is the 5th way to improve your friendships.  So just to recap here are the five ways to improve your friendships:

1. Don't expect one friend to meet all your needs.
2. Be a happy and positive friend
3. Be a genuine sounding board 
4. Be a trustworthy friend
5. Be a giver and a taker kind of friend

 Being a giver and a taker in friendship
True friendship as with most relationships should be a give and take of emotional support, practical support and camaraderie.  If you are in a pinch, asking a friend to help should be easy and comfortable.

A friendship will occasionally become lopsided now that then to to circumstances and need but the regular flow of a healthy friendship should be one of give and take. 

Unfortunately, there are friends who will drain you - some call these emotional vampires - they come to you for support, favors and everything else without ever offering the same in return.  These type of friends will take advantage of your kindness and never stop to offer a helping hand when you need one.  In fact, they will make you feel as though they are inconvenienced if you ever ask them to help in the smallest way. 

We never should keep score in a friendship but it is NOT acceptable to always be the one who is giving and it is NOT acceptable to always be the one who is taking either.  There should be a healthy balance for a friendship to truly be a friendship worth investing into.

We need to look at ourselves and make sure we are not guilty of taking without giving and of getting so involved in our own lives and trials that we forget to reach out to a friend that is going through something.  On the other hand we also need to be a friend that can receive without feeling like we have to do something in return.  Like everything in life it's balance and that is when a friendship is at it's best.