Short messages on Relationships issues from Respect Yourself, the guidance site for young people to help make good decisions in life.
If you have been through a similar situation as your friend, ask if they want advice based on your past experiences – and respect their decision if this isn’t what they want.
Don’t change so people will like you; be patient, keep being your amazing self, and pretty soon the right people will love the real you.
A steady flow of distractions from other people may make us feel important, needed, or wanted, but feeling important and accomplishing importance are completely different things.
Relationships with others are good; constant streams of distraction are not. Learn when to power off your distractions. Focus on the important, not the urgent.
Walk your path confidently and don’t expect anyone else to understand your journey, especially if they have not been exactly where you are going.
The relationships that work well are the ones that make you a better person without changing you into someone other than yourself, and allow you to outgrow the person you used to be.
If a friend wants you to listen, listen to them without judgment and focus on giving them someone to confide in, so they can work through it.
Prove yourself to yourself, not others. The right people for you will love you for doing so, and they will appreciate all the things about you that the wrong people are intimidated by.
People need to tell their stories in their own time, especially if they’re going through a crisis. You may have opinions about their situation, but it isn’t always necessary to share that advice, especially unsolicited.
“Ask for and accept help. The biggest mistake people make is thinking they have to know all the answers, and thinking that if they don’t, that they have to pretend that they do.” – Simon Sinek