Real Friendships Are Those That Move From Casual To Close

I’m sure you’ll agree that when you first become friends with someone, you enjoy spending time together. You are kind to each other. And you respect each other’s opinions and feelings.

And before you know it, you begin teasing each other about everything. You feel so comfortable being around each other that you feel free to talk about anything.  Your conversations go from, “Wow, you look great!” to “What happened to your hair? Are you trying to scare everyone around you?”

The truth is that real friendships move from casual to close. Once you and a friend reach the phase where you easily cross each other’s boundaries, you can take this as a sign that your friend really is your BEST FRIEND.

Here are the 12 stages of friendship:

Stage 1: The nice phase.

During this phase, you’re nice and give compliments to each other as much as possible. You’re careful not to hurt their feelings and you watch your behavior. For example, if they ask you something like: “How do I look in these jeans?”, you think twice before you answer them.

Stage 2: I just met her/him. Am I going to look too clingy or desperate if I ask them to hang out 2 days in a row phase?

During this phase, you’re wondering whether you’re bothering them with your frequent phone calls and messages to hang out. You’re trying to find out if this makes you look clingy and weird.

Stage 3: The secret is out. I can finally be myself phase.

In this phase, you feel free to text your best friend 30 times in a row. Moreover, you no longer feel embarrassed to show that you can sometimes get cranky and clingy when your friend doesn’t respond to your calls or messages.

Stage 4: The ‘couple’ phase.

This phase involves that awkward moment when you and your best friend behave more like a couple than you and your boyfriend/girlfriend. It may look surprising, but you go on more dates with your best friend and you often find yourself having more fun with them than with your partner.

Stage 5: The honest, oh no wait, the blunt phase.

During this stage, you feel free to tell each other what you really mean and what you need to hear. There’s no beating around the bush or feeling uncomfortable telling your best friend what they probably don’t want to hear. If “Admit it-he/she’s not into you” sounds familiar to you, know you’re on the right track and moving towards…

Stage 6: Feeling comfortable showing your psycho side phase.

That’s it. You can fly off the handle in an instant without worrying this may scare your best friend and make them think “What’s wrong with her/him?” You can have mood swings, be happy and relaxed one moment and flip out the next, let’s say, for example, if your boyfriend/girlfriend doesn’t answer your calls.

Stage 7: Feeling comfortable enough to get psycho at each other phase.

This is the stage when you don’t try to control your emotions anymore. You shout and yell at each other until you let all your anger out. You can even argue about the stupidest things. Yet, you can’t stay mad at each other for more than 3 hours because you have a lot of gossip to catch up on and there’s no a better person than your best friend you can share that with.

Stage 8: Getting comfortable planning hoe activities phase.

This is the stage when if you see your best friend drinking (more than they should), you simply don’t stop them – you join them. You’re best friends and you encourage each other’s hoe activities.

Stage 9: The private detective phase.

If you need to get some information about someone or something, you send your best friend to do some investigation. This stage involves spying for each other and finding out things which are usually private and supposed to be kept as a secret.

Stage 10: No convo is off limits phase.

In this stage, you feel free to show all your nasty habits. No more refraining – you’ve had it enough. You’re not ashamed to burp or fart in front of each other, or talk about going number one and especially, number two in the bathroom. You’re best friends and best friends talk about everything.

Stage 11: Showing your friend messages from the latest fight with your boyfriend/girlfriend phase.

You had a fight with your bae and if you still keep the texts in your phone, the next step is sending 20 screenshots of them to your best friend. You feel a lot easier and relieved when you share your love problems with them.

Stage 12: The typing up conversations for each other phase.

Okay, it’s official – there are no boundaries left. This is the phase when you type up your best friend’s arguments when she/he’s arguing with their partner. You know all their private problems and secrets, well, they’re actually no longer a secret.