Friendships protect mental health

When it comes to relationships, keep in mind that friends offer emotional support that family members cannot. Friends help you view life from a less emotional viewpoint.

Having good mental health requires you to have people to share your frustrations with. Family members can make stress intensify. Your relatives may see your life as a reflection of their own, so they can drain your emotional bank account by judging you, making demands and shaming you.

Having too few friends or no close friends means you’re left to work everything out on your own. It’s critical to have three or four people you can talk openly with. Ideally, they will listen and not judge you unfairly. They will offer options when you feel backed into a corner.

Friends are those special people you choose on purpose. You select them to take a seat at your inner circle of life because they add comfort, strength and joy.

Finding the right friends, however, takes a conscious effort. Keep these tips in mind:

• Your friends should share your morals. While it’s good to have people in your life with varying interests and personalities, never choose friends who don’t share your views on knowing right from wrong.

• Your best friends will address problems like you would. For example, if you believe in speaking up about bullying, your closest friends will as well.

• No friend will agree with you on everything. That’s good, however. Seeing life through someone else’s perspective helps you review your own choices carefully.