Realizing

Maintaining

Kelsey couldn't ever keep a friendship. She'd always have fights with her friends, though instead of maintaining it, she would just let them leave. Not purposely, she and the one fighting with her both just could never apologize if they were the guilty one.

Most of the fights Kelsey was in were caused by her. So, now, Kelsey just tries to not do things that would start a fight. Though she accidentally ends up doing them anyways.

Bea also had trouble maintaining friendships. She would always drive people away. It's part of the reason that she hated herself. The friends she made were amazing and she hoped that they'd be friends forever. Or at least until High School anyway.

Though for some reason, she could never keep friendships for long periods at a time. Sometimes, their friendships would cut short and then started back up again. Bea always blamed her friends leaving her as her fault. She hated the fact that she seemed to scare away everyone she met. "Maybe I'm not friendship material?" she'd ask herself.

Kelsey recently got into a fight with Bea. Though, this time when they both thought they were finally done talking to each other, Kelsey quickly got her phone and texted Bea that she loves her and can't have her leave. After this, Kelsey felt so weird. She never tells her friends that she loves them, let alone comes back to them after a big fight.

Together, Kelsey and Bea decided to write down some tips for themselves and others that deal with this. How to maintain a friendship:

-Give Advice: Whether you understand what your friend is going through or not, always try to put yourself in their shoes and give ideas on how to help their situation.

-Stay Positive: Make everyday conversations happy, and try to avoid being sarcastic or troublesome towards your friend.

-Always Be There: You never will know when your friend gets called a name, or when they lost their phone, or when their pet fish died. But when these things happen you always have to be there for your friend. Even if you're having a bad day too, it would be easier to get through it together.

-Stick Together: Friends will always stick together. Whenever someone is picking on or doing anything to physically or emotionally hurt your friend, stick up for them. Your friend will always be there for you, so return the favor and be there for them when they need you.

-Set Good Examples: Whether your the older friend or not, your friend will look up to you. The advice you give to them, you must follow yourself.

-Be Serious: Everyone knows that laughter is the best medicine, but sometimes your friend will need you to be honest towards them. When your friend is feeling down or frustrated, the best thing to do for them is to be serious.

-Solve Your Problems: Every healthy relationship may need fights to see if you friends can overcome the fights with you or not. Avoid arguing but don't avoid the situation, just talk it out without blaming each other for the cause of the problem.

-Don't Fight: The last tip doesn't mean you should purposely let fights happen, always handle things maturely with your friend, even with others. For example, if your friend was fighting with another person, don't add to it and help you friend, break it up. This will help stress that would get added to your friend's life, and you never know if after your friend is done fighting with the other person, they may take their anger out on you.

-Show That You Care: Showing that you care about and for your friend is one of the most important things you need to do to maintain a friendship. Even little things like complimenting them randomly can show that you really care.

-Be Grateful: You should always be grateful to have the friends that you do. Friendship is having someone to talk to when you're sad. It's being there for the other person when you're needed most. A friendship is an unbreakable bond that cannot be replaced. Treat it as the treasure that it is.