The Development of a Friendship

My best friend, Stephanie, and I met through a mutual friend. We have had to make a lot of investments to get to where we are, and it took a while for us to reach the level of closeness we are at now. Investments we have gone through include all that have been mentioned in the chapter. We both invest time, effort, thought, and feeling into building our relationship. We usually try to spend our free time together, or try to do activities together, even if it means studying. We both put in the same amount of effort and try to ask each other when either of us are free to catch up. If we are unable to physically meet up, we often text one another or chat online. When one of us is feeling down, the other tries to be there to listen, sympathize with, or offer support. We are also both very thoughtful and like to surprise each other with little things like surprising each other with coffee and such. The way we communicate trust is by establishing what we want the other to keep confidential. Through time, we have seen that we are both able to honor the confidentiality and from there, became more comfortable with opening up to one another. The effort and disclosure has grown to become mutual and we are able to confide in one another openly, without fearing rejection or being judged. We know we can both count on each other if one is in need and are at the stabilized friendship stage, where we assume the friendship is ongoing and will continue seeing each other in the near future.