The importance of honesty in friendships

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I have had many different types of friendships over the years, and all my friends have different skills and talents. However, one thing that I have noticed time and time again is that the friends that I am most close to are the ones that are honest and value honesty. Whilst it is not possible to be 100% honest all the time, honesty is an important quality to have, and my close friendships have made me realise the importance of honesty in a friendship. In this article, I discuss why I think honesty is so important in friendships.

Honesty in a friendship is not as simple as always telling the full truth 100% of the time, and it is inevitable that you will sometimes tell white lies and even outright lies depending on the situation. However, honesty in friendships is quite a general and broad term, and involves being able to communicate freely and openly to each other, as well as keeping promises made. It does also include a conscious effort to tell the truth whenever you can. More specific examples of honesty include being able to keep secrets, and owning up and apologising to mistakes when made. Furthermore, honesty in friendships also includes telling the honest truth to someone if there is something you don’t like or think is wrong, even if the other person doesn’t like hearing it. Having said that, telling the honest truth is dependent on the situation, and won’t always be the best option.

The reason why I consider honesty as a must have trait in a meaningful friendship is because meaningful friendships are one where there is trust and loyalty. Trust is something that takes a while to build, and is something that you have to usually build from scratch. As mentioned in the first paragraph, being honest with each other allows you to communicate freely and be open with each other. This helps build the trust in the first place and continuing to maintain honesty helps maintain trust over time. Moreover, friends that you trust a lot are usually the ones you consider as loyal, and loyal friends are ones that you know will always have your back. Surrounding yourself with loyal friends is great, as they are the ones that will give you positive energy and help you become the best version of yourself.

Furthermore, one thing that I particularly love about my friendships is that we help each other grow. Having honesty as one of the key aspects of a friendship can help you and your friends grow. I always appreciate the friends that can tell me the honest truth, even if I don’t like hearing it at the time, as that means that I can learn from my mistakes and become a better person. I also tend to tell the honest truth to my friends for the same reason. Even being honest when it comes to talking about things you like about your friends, or things that they have done well helps your other friends grow, so it is not just restricted to being brutally honest on things you don’t like or mistakes that have been made.

Another good thing about maintaining honesty in a friendship is that it helps resolve conflicts when they happen. Conflicts and arguments happen in nearly every friendship and it’s rare to be friends with someone for 5 or more years without any conflict or arguments happening in that time. However, if you have honesty as a key part of your friendship, then you can resolve these conflicts quickly and efficiently when they happen. As mentioned before, honesty is related to open communication and being truthful when at all possible, and honestly also leads to trust. If you have a friend that either isn’t very honest or values honesty that much then you won’t be able to trust them when conflicts and arguments happen, which means that things could get very messy. Note that honesty in a friendship will not make you immune to having conflicts and arguments, and it is normal to have arguments once in a while with your friends.

There are other benefits of having honesty as a key aspect of your friendships that I haven’t talked about in this blog. Note that the vast majority of what I have talked about in this blog is relevant when having relationships with your family or your other half. I hope this blog was useful and I would love to hear your thoughts, so comment on the comment section below!   

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Published by nirajshah2003

A lifestyle and mental health blogger that aims to help others by writing blogs :)

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33 thoughts on “The importance of honesty in friendships”

  3. This definitely is a relatable and valuable post. I too think honesty is important for any friendships to bloom. I can relate that it’s not always practical to tell the truth, but vibrating at the frequency of honesty most of the time is what builds trust in relationships. I liked reading the post, I think you wrote very well… BTW, thank you for following my blog. I really appreciate your support ❤️

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  8. I absolutely agree that honesty is necessary and essential in your friendships. I believe that if someone can’t be honest with me or vice versa, it’s not a real friendship. I recently had who I thought was a friend stop talking to me after I told her the truth about a toxic relationship she’s been having with a family member of mine. That moment made me realize that we weren’t as close as I thought. Instead of accepting the truth and beginning to do the work to make changes, she chose to mistreat me instead and remains in the toxic environment and weird relationship. It’s so sad, but life does go on!

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  9. I enjoyed your post! We agree – honesty in friendship is a true gift. Like you said, if your friend can be upfront and true with you – it’s much easier to trust. When there is any doubt at all, suspicion creeps in and ruins what is good about calling someone ‘friend.’

    Friendship truly has the ability to elevate us or bring us down to the level of their own living. Who we choose to spend our time with – and invest our hearts in – says so much about us. When we surround ourselves with friends who want what’s BEST for us – even when it’s tough to say – that’s true friendship. Love is the solid foundation.

    Thank you for sharing this. I hope you enjoy true friendships in your life. We all need them and should value them when we have them! ❤

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  11. I agree. Honesty and trust are important in friendship…I felt it yesterday. If it’s not there it’s not friendship, I felt it yesterday and can easily connect with your thoughts. Thanks for sharing…😊

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  12. I completely agree! Honesty is so so important. I can tell when I’m super close with a friend because I’ll tell them outright how I honestly feel about something and I know that they’ll accept it for what it is!

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  13. Honestly is so vital in a good friendship. I have had to cut some friends off because of their constant lying because I just can’t trust a person who lies. Great post!

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