Connecting U: To Friendship

Summary: We welcomed Christina Hensley, Mayra’s best friend, for a discussion on how and when to invest in friendships. You will encounter many different levels of friendship in life, and they will be good for different things. How you define friendships can show you things about yourself, such as trust issues and communication styles. Understanding what season you are in can help you realize the kind of friendships that you need. Some people are in need of encouragement, others are in need of fun, others need hard-hitting questions. 

“You have to decide what you want to invest in, because it’s going to return and either hurt you or heal you!”

Key takeaways:

• What friends offer you, such as words of encouragement, doesn’t necessarily have to be the same thing you offer them. Depending on the season, it just needs to be that what you can give is aligned with what they want to receive, and vice versa.
• It’s possible to be way too trusting or not trusting enough. Find your balance in the middle with healthy boundaries that still allow you to feel close to others.
• It’s important to find friends with similar values who can form a community with clear expectations.

Things to think about:

• Who you are around is who you become. Friends should inspire something in you that is who you are called to be.
• When you befriend someone, you are signing up to invest or impact who they are as a person in ways you may not even know. Everybody has something to offer others, even if you need to ask them what they need.
• Friendship should make you feel seen, known, and loved. As you get older, you may have to choose to fight for certain friendships through longer conversations.

Tune in to Season 3: Friendships of the Connecting U Podcast for insightful discussions and practical advice on making meaningful friends. Subscribe to remain connected to God, yourself, and others. Follow us on IG and FB @ RemainConnected. TikTok @ ConnectingUPodcast. Hosts are @ Em.Robinsonnn and @ Mayra_Richards_ on IG.