When I was out last night with my best mate we had a conversation about how both of our feelings have changed towards each other. We both felt that our friendship had shifted slightly, and we can only attribute it to the night I phoned her for support. Even though we have been best mates for a few years now, that was the first time I had asked for support straight away instead of waiting. She knew how much it took for me to do it, to allow myself to be vulnerable and trust someone enough to see me in that state. She said she felt even closer to me because of it. On my part, it showed me that I am capable of trusting people when it comes to my emotions and that I trusted her not to laugh at or ridicule me.

So, it seems that honesty changes friendship for the better and allows them to be built on a more solid foundation of trust and mutual support. 5 years ago

I keep trying with this and sometimes I have been able to be honest about how I feel about things. However,I haven’t always been able to tell the person I should be telling. A lot of the time this is either because I’m worried I will hurt the other person, or because I’m scared about their reaction.

I’ve been able to be more honest about smaller situations and this seems to be going well. At work I’ve been able to ask colleagues for support when I’ve needed to (I work in mental health, so this is really important). The main people I need to be able to be honest with are certain friends and family members as these are fairly big issues. I’ll keep trying, I must be able to build on the smaller successes! 5 years ago

ask a friend for support when I needed it. I was upset about a situation and instead of isolating myself and not talking to someone, I called a friend and went over to talk to her. As this was my best friend and this is the first time in the three years we’ve been friends I have actively called and asked for support there and then, instead of waiting for several days, I think this is a big step forward.

I still have to be honest with the person that upset/confused me, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to do that. 5 years ago

and it’s something I MUST improve on because it gets me into stupid situations that don’t have to happen. I’m fine telling people about the positive stuff I feel, but the negative and scary feelings? Really uncomfortable with it all and on the times I do say something, I then minimise it all by saying it doesn’t matter and that I’ll be fine.

So many reasons why I do this, but I really must try and improve. 5 years ago