Are you surrounded by a great group of friends? Are you a great friend to others? These are questions which I believe that you should always be asking yourself because we need great friends in our life. Many people believe that knowing someone for a long time makes them a great friend, or that because you were friends when younger that this also qualifies a great friend, I am not sure I agree with either statement. I wanted to talk today about my good friend Tatiana Regan and what it is that she does which makes her such a great friend to me, you should always hold your friends to account and this is why I believe that Tatiana has set a great standard.
Value
Your friends should bring out the very best in you, they should understand what your value is and they should ensure that you never forget about it. I can remember just last year I was going to go for a job which would see me gain a promotion in the workplace, but I knew that there were better candidates for the role and so I decided against it. Tatiana was furious when she heard this and she told me that I should go for the job because I was good enough. I took her advice, went for the job and got it, I would never have done that had Tatiana not understood my value.
Whenever, Wherever
Being busy when you want to go out for a drink is fine but there are moments when you need your friends to drop everything and come and help you out, normally an emergency situation. I have only had to call on Tatiana a handful of times for this reason but every time she is there without fail, at all hours of the day. A friend should be there for you whenever you need them, even if it just means a 3am phone call.
Interests
You and your friend don’t need to love all of the same things but you should at least have a good number of things which you both enjoy. If you think about it why do we become friends in the first place? Usually because we enjoy the same things and we have similar personalities. If your personalities and interests change a great deal over time then you may have to address the friendship because they, or you, are no longer the person that they were.
Present
Don’t buy into this myth that you can not see a friend for ages and then speak as if you were together just yesterday. If your friend has been there for a long time, or if you haven’t been there for them, then you will have missed a huge amount of what has been going on in their lives and whilst you may be able to shoot the breeze like before, you will still have missed a great deal. Tatiana is certainly not this person and I am very grateful to have someone who is always present in my life.
