LIFE

Every friend group has its ups and downs, but it's *super* important to appreciate your friends and how much they add to your life! By understanding what kind of friend you are, you can learn how to better express love to your friends and how to strengthen your bonds even more. So what kind of friend are you? Keep reading to find out! 

The bestie 

If you have one BFF that you tell *everything* to, you probably have the type of friendship that you see all the time in movies: sleeping over at each other's houses every weekend, sharing food and FaceTiming for hours on end. You form deep connections with the people around you and like to keep your circle small— and that's great! One piece of advice for all you bestie dynamic duos out there: it never hurts to have more friends in your life. You guys can make even more memories with one another by introducing yourselves to other people: odds are, other girls at school see you too together and totally want to get to know you better. 

The group of 3 

This type of friend group just loves to have fun! If you and your two besties form a power trio, you all probably love going on spontaneous adventures with one another and are always texting in your groupchat. You always have someone to talk to in a group of 3, even if one of your besties is too busy cramming last-minute for that science test and doesn't check her Snapchat. One thing to watch: don't *ever* gossip about the third person in the group when they aren't there! It can stir up drama, and in a group of 3 someone will be forced to pick sides (which just causes more hurt feelings). 

The floater

Floaters have lots of different friends in lots of different groups. If you identify as a floater, you are probably really friendly and easy-going. You make friends easily because you are so approachable, and everyone wants to get to know you. You also usually feel comfortable in social situations where you don't know lots of people because you know it is an opportunity to spread your wings and learn more about new potential friends! The only possible downside of being a floater is that sometimes you might feel like people forget about you or that you don't necessarily fit in. In these cases, it's best for a floater to actively work on forming deeper friendships with a few of your closest friends to avoid becoming lonely. 

The boy—girl clique

If your friend group contains a lot of girls *and* guys, you are probably really laid back. You like to go with the flow and make an effort to surround yourself with different types of people so that you can learn more from them. You also have a wide range of interests and like to learn about a lot of different things (so you have just as much fun getting mani-pedis as you do going fishing at the lake!) Just keep in mind that boys and girls have real differences in how their brains work, so communication mishaps might happen every now and again if some people feel that something isn't as big of a deal as another friend is making it out to be. 

The sports team 

If you play on any kind of team sport, you know how quickly you bond with the other players. After all, you spend *tons* of time together and share a major common interest. Hanging out with your teammates outside of practice immediately gives you a friend group of 10-20 people that you know you get along with for the most part and that you can talk to about the things you love. However, make sure you aren't limiting yourself and that you make an effort to get to know people who are different than you. Learning about someone else's passions can make you a better friend and listener! 

Be sure to follow @girlslifemag for the tea on all things friendship, school and life! 

by Lexi Casazza | 11/1/2020