Five tips for good friendships

Wolfgang Krüger recommends a self-check: Do you tell the person that you won 30 million in the lottery? Do you tell her that you are sabotaging your relationship? And does this person support your biggest life dreams? “Good friends offer unconditional support without judgement”, says Krüger.

Even best friends argue from time to time. If disagreements are to end peacefully, Krüger explains that it’s important to also mention what you like about your friendship. “You could say, for example: ‘Karin, I enjoy spending time with you and think you’re wonderful, but the fact that you’re always half an hour late drives me up the wall’.” And at the end of the conversation, you should ask yourself how you want to handle things in the future.

There are difficult phases in every friendship, says Krüger. But: "If you feel worse after talking to someone than you did before, the friendship has no future." Even if friends constantlycriticize or take advantage of you , you should reconsider the friendship and end it if necessary.

That’s why Krüger recommends asking yourself honestly how much you value the friendship: “Often you can tell beforehand that something isn’t really right anymore.” In most cases, your gut instinct will be consistent with your decision to end a friendship – and you are possibly even relieved that the other person has essentially done the unpleasant stuff for you.

Krüger says you should write down all the things you have done well every evening. Over the course of 100 days this will increase your self-confidence and you will feel more confident approaching other people.