Platonic 5/4Ls
I have feelings too
“Do you believe your friends have love languages?”. I asked this question and she was like “ugh! why would you decide to bring this up?”
In that moment, I didn’t have an answer, I just knew it was necessary that we had that conversation. She would agree to meet up with one of her male friends, and the poor guy would get stood up with no defined reason. It’s crazy cause she’d say, “ he isn’t my boyfriend, I owe him no explanation”. Ah! Hello aunty?!🤦♂️ he has feelings too.
That’s quite a cliché example but it happens. Do you realize, that is the fear a lot of people have with platonic friendships?
A platonic friendship can be very close and meaningful, but it does not have a romantic element. You might love this person in the same way you love a brother or sister. — An excerpt from Regain.us
Platonic friendships are much more important than many people perceive them to be. Many a times, people ruin the friendships they have because of lack of understanding of each other’s feelings.
We are humans and no matter the circumstance, we would want to be loved, respected, and cared for. Those are some criteria of good friendships. Being able to understand that our friends would equally want to be loved and cherished as humans, would go a long way to improving most friendships.
My understanding of the four friendship languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, and Acts of Service. The very last one is the ‘physical touch’, but let’s leave that for those in romantic relationships.😂😉
The four friendship languages are quite crucial in platonic friendships.
Words of Affirmation: If you have a friend that probably isn’t as confident as you are but you know, that he or she has so much potential. Hype them up! You might be the drive they need to improve themselves.
Now, I didn’t mention that you should lie.😂 I stated, “hype them up”.
Make them see their hidden potential. Be a driving force for your friends. Show them some love.
Quality Time: Spend time with your friends. Create memories, and hangout. Some friends love to spend time together, some don’t. Understand your friends and relate with them in their friendship languages.
Receiving gifts: I definitely fall under this category. Once it is a thoughtful gift, I would appreciate it. It doesn’t have to be extremely expensive. I don’t encourage insensible spending. Don’t spend your fortune on buying gifts. Work within your capacity.
Acts of service: Be intentional about your friends. If you have a friend that has a start up company or business, show some love. You may not have the money for patronage, but advertising your friends’ company or business, is an act of service. Helping out with small tasks is a conscious way to show love to your friends.
Be intentional about every one of your friends. Understand their friendship languages and speak in those languages. Consciously try to show some love to your friends.
Love doesn’t have to be romantic to be pragmatic
-SHESPEAKSHERMIND247
Show some love to your friends today. Check up on that friend that you haven’t seen in a while. Remember, they are humans too.
You can check up on me in the comments or via email, I would be glad to respond. Stay tuned for the next piece on friendships.🥰❤
