Feature Desk : Friendships are one of the most beautiful relationships in the world. A friend is a support system, a mischief manager, and our partner in crime. They are the ones who are always there with us to support our successes, be out loudest cheerleader and also the shoulder of warmth to cry on when we are sad. However, not all friendships are healthy for us. Sometimes we stick around with our friends even after knowing that we are not respected and valued in that relationship. "Having a healthy social support system increases our sense of belonging, which helps to mitigate mental health issues. Because of the role friendships have in our quality of life, we must choose our friends wisely," wrote Relationship Coach Minaa B.

Minaa further pointed out the types of friendships that we should stay away from:

Bullies: We need to stop being in friendships where we are ridiculed, disrespected and not valued for being who we are. Often people insult us wrapped up in a joke and expect us to be cool with it - we should point out those friendships and find ways to get out of such relationships.

One-sided friendships: often friendships become one-sided over a point of time. Any human relationship demands work and effort from both ends to make things work. However, if it feels like that, we are the ones doing all the work in the friendship, we should know that it is unhealthy for us.

Fair-weather friends: All of us have some friends who are with us only in our good times. We should remember that a friend who turns up when we are in need is a true friend. Fair-weather friends find excuses to move apart in our difficult times but are always there in our happy times.

Competitive friendships: There are friends who are always trying to level up instead of celebrating our successes. We should refrain from keeping such unhealthy friends in our lives.

Source: Hindustan Times