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Friends are so important!  There is so much research out there that having close meaningful friendships make a huge positive difference in your life.  I think the most important thing to do in a close friendship is to give each other a level of authority in your life and allow them to challenge you.  When you allow someone else to be open and honest to you about yourself, it will create a closer deeper friendship and if that person is a good person with your best interest in mind it will help you become a better person!  

With the goal to make each other better and work through our shortcomings friendship can be a powerful thing. Without that part, a friend is simply someone you get together with to have dinner or drinks, or just hang out with.  Although this is nice, and needed in life, we also need to be pushed towards being better and to push others towards something better in this world. To not allow each other to become stagnant and lifeless, but to urge each other on towards something greater.  

Stronger Together

If you can take this step in a few close friendships with people you trust I promise you that it will make a difference in both of your lives, and it will also draw you into a deeper friendship with much more meaning.  Think about a thin rope, by itself it is not really that strong. However, when you add several more stands of the same thin rope and weave it all together you get a much stronger rope that can hold so much more than the original thin rope by itself.  To gain that strength you have to be open and honest and let your lives intertwine. Talk to each other about things you struggle with, things you worry about, and things you want to change in your life. Be open and honest and don’t hold back.

Push Through The Awkwardness

I know this can be a very difficult thing to do but if you push through the awkwardness you will see a benefit.  Once you go to a deeper level of friendship you can start to challenge each other and hold each other accountable to meet the goals you have in your life.  With the friends I have given this authority to I have no problem with them calling me up or telling me face to face if they see me doing something that does not align with my goals in my life or the person I want to be.  I have given them the authority to call me out and challenge my behavior, to remind me of who I want to be and what I want to do with my life.

This might be really hard if you are a defensive person, or if you are someone who does not think there is anything that needs to change in yourself.  Let me tell you that every single one of us needs to change in several ways. There are so many rough edges on all of us that we all need a good dose of reality sometimes.  We walk around as if we have it all together and put on a smiley face to the world but inside so many of us are hurting and alone. Open up to someone trustworthy, let them help you become better and put aside your fear and doubt for a little while.  

Give Your Friends The Freedom To Challenge You

I know for sure that It has really made a difference in my life.  Allowing a few guys to have the authority to call me out has made me a better person and helped me achieve many goals that I may not have been able to achieve in my life.  Without others surrounding me with encouragement and challenging me to finish the race I set before myself it is so much harder to succeed. I encourage you to take this step with a few friends that you can trust and that are living the kind of life you want to have for yourself.  Give them the freedom to challenge you and fight your inborn urges to be upset when you receive any criticism. It is worth it in the end to gain the strength of more than one working towards the same goal.  I promise it will make a difference and it might just change the trajectory of your life!