The Value of a Friend

Being a Life and Busi­ness Coach has been an amaz­ing jour­ney, and I thank God each day I get to wake up and make a dif­fer­ence. The only prob­lem is that, when you focus so much on help­ing oth­ers, you often for­get to ask for help yourself.

Recently, I broke down and asked for help.

My dear friend Karen and I usu­ally try to walk together a few times a month, but the win­ter weather in Den­ver has sent us indoors. Instead of walk­ing, we chat over our favorite Star­bucks beverages.

Karen hasn’t been my friend for long, but our level of trans­parency with each other is remark­able. It is so great to know that I have some­one with whom I can share what is on my mind, even when it seems crazy. We are already the kind of friends who can eas­ily recon­nect when we haven’t seen each other in a while.

When I asked her for guid­ance, she jumped up from the table and wrapped her arms around me like a momma bear. It was a much needed hug that told me it was ok to share my troubles.

By the time I left Star­bucks that morn­ing, my head was clear and my heart was mended. Thanks for being my friend, Karen. I appre­ci­ate you so much. Our friend­ship is special.

The odds are good that you have at least one per­son like Karen in your life – and if you’re lucky, you have sev­eral. When was the last time you told them how much you appre­ci­ate them? Send them a card, send them flow­ers, or just give them a hug. Tell them why you value their friendship.

Offer to help that friend in any way that you can. And then, give them the gift of being there for YOU when you need it. If you aren’t vul­ner­a­ble enough to ask for help, you deny your friend the bless­ing of being the helper.

Remem­ber to thank God for bring­ing this per­son into your life….because with­out them, you have no one to talk to but your­self. And then peo­ple might start to think you are a lit­tle crazy!

What has a good friend done for you?  Share your story!