Your best friend is there for you through think and thin.
They’re the cheese to your macaroni, the yang to your yin, and the one who is sitting next to you when your ass ends up in jail.
A best friend is important because they let you know the cold, hard truth when you need it. They’ll help you out of the hole you’ve dug yourself into, and they love you to the moon and back. Best friends are simply the best because they help you keep your head on straight.
However, if they see you following a few patterns and doing nothing about it, they will make your head spin faster than a revolving door with their criticism. These are the main things a best friend will not let you get away with.
1. They don’t let you complain about how much you hate your job, but refuse to do anything about it
Friends have a certain level of obligation and hopefully support when it comes to listening to your problems, but everybody has a limit. Sooner or later they’re going to tell you to sh*t or get off the pot.
If you hate your job than quite. If you feel you deserve a raise then talk to somebody about it. You can’t sit and moan while you refuse to take any action about your life. Friends are good for talking you off a ledge and delivering the cold hard truth other times while they yank you from the ledge.
2. They hold you accountable for falling off the face of the Earth when you start seeing somebody new
Of course your bestie is going to happy for you when you start to date somebody new. Love is a beautiful thing that everybody deserve to experience.
They will, however, be pretty pissed when get up and disappear without warning to the cave of love for weeks on end. You still have other obligations and platonic relationships to attend to, and your best friend will certainly hold you accountable to those.
3. They challenge you when they catch you in a bold-faced lie
Do you ever catch yourself telling a lie for no apparent reason about something really dumb? Once, I lied to a stranger about my family having a swimming pool growing up. She said her family had a pool and I said, “yeah me too,” even though it wasn’t true.
Fortunately, my best friend was there to look me blankly in the face and say, “no you didn’t.”
It was a stupid lie and I’m not entirely sure why I told it, but we have best friends for moments like these. They keep us in line when we want to exaggerate a story and they tell it like it is, even when we don’t want them to.
4. They let you know when you’re dating a complete jerk
From a distance, they can see it. Up close, you are blind to it. He or she has treated you like garbage and made you cry, yet you continue to go back. Your best friend can’t sit around and watch this. They will wipe away your tears for you, and then snack some sense into you.
A best friend can’t sit around and watch their own best friend fall apart. It’s the job of the bestie to keep you in line and let you know when you’re in an unhealthy relationship. They’re the person in your life that metaphorically says, “get out now, the call is coming from inside the house.”
5. They talk you out of doing something really effin’ stupid
You found an add on Craigslist for somebody in Brooklyn looking for a roommate. You can’t actually view the apartment in person but it’s really cheap and the pictures were fantastic. Despite the fishyness, you’re so stoked you’re ready to sign the papers with no farther questions, your honor.
There’s a reason this room is so cheap and they don’t want you to see it. Just because the pictures are nice doesn’t mean the place doesn’t smell like sweaty gym socks.
This is where your best friend steps up and says, “hold the phone.” They know you better than you know yourself and they’re there to let you know when you’re doing something you might regret.
6. They stop you from being a party pooper
We all have those nights when we want to “Netflix and chill” alone with ourselves. Our best friends don’t want us to grow old and boring alone and they certainly don’t want to go out to the bar without you.
For this reason, they will drag your pajama-clad ass off the couch, make you put on something skin tight yet age-appropriate and drag you out with them for yet another “best night ever.”
That’s what besties are here for.
[Featured Image Credit: teenagefashionxo via Tumblr]