One of the purest and truest forms of love is friendship. Making friends is like learning how to speak. We usually start as a toddler learning to play and share with others. Our siblings and cousins are our first interactions with building bonds until school-age when we then hung out with only who we like. We can’t really remember when we learned the art of friendship, but, in most cases, it came naturally. However, going into adulthood, each friend has an active or passive role that they play in the social aspect of your life. You can consciously identify that role by learning the type of friend they are. With that in mind, let’s get into looking at the top seven different kinds of friends, shall we?
Party Friends ?
Do you have a party animal in your clique of friends? The one who’s always ready to go to a party and, most likely, they already know where the party is at? That’s the party, friend. This type of friend always knows how to have a good time and will carry you along. Anything to do with party, they’ll never disappoint.
Unfortunately, we can’t party 24/7. Therefore, a party friend is more like an acquaintance. The only real one on one time you’ll ever get to spend with this type of friend is at a bar, in a bathroom bar, or when you are navigating your way through the party. So a party friend can sometimes become toxic if their party becomes an unhealthy habit. As a person who went to parties to keep in shape, it helps if you also remembered that life is about balance and maintaining a sense of responsibility.
Formal / Colleagues / Work Friends ?
As much as we don’t like to admit it, work friends are just that: WORK FRIENDS! That includes the work wife and/or the work husband too. These types of friends make the work environment bearable. You go through the same struggles, training, and leadership interactions together. But outside of work, there is not much talk about or connect on. Sometimes work friendships will evolve into more than just team meetings and work events but you will have to define your friendship. For instance, does it transcend beyond the workspace or not? Also, be sure to take your time to understand why the two of you are truly friends or became friends in the first place. Sometimes our work friend could very well be a competitor in disguise.
Shopping Friends ?️
Shopping friends are fun-loving, and they know the latest stores in the area. They always have a few extra coins on the side for shopping sprees. Shopping friends will most definitely give you the best shopping experience of all time. But, as I said earlier, life is all about balance.
With that in mind, don’t get carried away into shopping for items you might not necessarily need. Whenever you go out shopping, also ensure it’s a well-planned affair inclusive of a budget. That’s because you can easily get carried away and end up in an impulse buying frenzy.
Travel Friends ✈️
Who comes to mind when you think of road trips, vacay, and long walks on the beach? In your clique of friends, that’s your go-to travel buddy. Travel friends have an insatiable love for traveling and will always be available for any trip.
Such friends already know the best places to go to and when. More importantly, all they talk about when they get rich is how they’d love to travel the world. In most cases, travel friends can fit into different categories, including best friends, party friends, or general friends.
School Friends / General Friends
Finally, there are our wonderful school friends who transcend to general friends. These are the guys and gals whom you attended middle school, high school, college, university, technical, language, or vocational studies. These friends don’t necessarily fit into one single category. But they were right there during a specific phase of your life as you continued to evolve, learn something new, change careers, partners, or even spouses. Not all school friends or general friends become really close. Some only remember a prior ‘version’ of you that may even be non-existent and it may be difficult to connect. Or you may find yourself visiting each other from time to time to hang out or sharing a glass while reminiscing about ‘interesting’ tales. And part of the reason why is because their role in your life keeps changing. General friends can become close or family friends, and sometimes, they are party friends. In short, general friends can overlap all of the above categories to include the final one below.
Family Friends / Best Friends / Close Friends
This type of friend is close to your personal life much more than anyone else. They know about your family. They may become temporary roommates, you may have argued with them because they want what’s best for you and refuse to lie to you. Additionally, they know all or most of your secrets and will never trade them for anything. There’s a high chance that they also met or spoke to your parents at some point.
In case of an emergency and no one can reach you, they will likely call this type of friend regarding your last whereabouts. On top of that, it feels like this friend is like your sibling. Best friends are typically the coolest type of friends to have around because they understand you better. They encourage your growth, success and support it!
There’s a thin line between a close friend and your best friend. In most cases, a close friend can also be your best friend. But in some instances, a close friend is only someone you can talk to. Close friends are people you are really comfortable talking to and telling all your secrets without fearing any judgment. Obviously, this friend is also a keeper.
Categorizing your friends is not necessary but it is an excellent way to improve your social skills and better understand the people you surround yourself with. Take the time to learn more about your Social Circle of friends so that you can appreciate the connection you have with them. It also helps when establishing boundaries and maintaining realistic expectations when you know what kind of friendship you really have with people.