We encounter numerous types of relationships throughout our lives. Some relationships are insignificant while others have tremendous impact on our lives. Similarly, some relationships are temporary while others last lifetime. Friends are important in life because they often turn out to be our greatest support system during difficult phases of life. They build our morale and inspire us to deal with the challenges. When I think of a friend, the qualities that immediately come to mind are fun, caring, loyal, and honest. For the sake of simplicity, we can put our friends in one of the three categories which are acquaintances, social friends and best friends.

Acquaintances are also known as comrades and almost every one of us has friends who fall in the category of acquaintances. Acquaintances could also be considered as temporary friends because we know them for a while and then forget about them, thus, they do not remain part of our lives for long. Acquaintances are the type we come across occasionally and our interaction is usually limited to brief conversations at the maximum. Even then our conversations are mostly formal and we do not share our personal feelings or emotions because we do not expect any sort of moral support from them. Friendship with acquaintances can be pretentious because the relationship may be based on expectations of potential benefits from each other. As a result, this type of friendship forms and breaks on regular basis. When we lose friendship with acquaintances, we do not feel upset because we had made very little emotional investment in our friendship.

The second category of friendship is social friends or constituents . This type of friendship is not based on the personal characteristics of an individual but rather what needs or desires a particular individual may help one meet. As a result, once our social friends have helped us meet our objective, we simply move on. Social friendship is occasional in nature and can often be witnessed at places which are popular social hangout spots. Social friends are those with whom we enjoy hanging out or talking to and usually see when we are looking for a good time. Social friendship is also relatively formal in nature like acquaintances. Even though we spend considerable time with social friends, we take little interest in their personal lives and as a result, know little about them. Social media serves as a great example and as its name suggests, particularly promote this type of friendship.

The final category and the strongest and most reliable form of friends are best friends or confidants . This is the only type of friendship we can count on for lifetime whether good or bad times. Some also call such friends unconditional friends. Best friends are almost like family due to their unconditional love and devotion and no matter what we say, do, or go through in life, they are always there when we need their support. Best friends are sincere and have our best interests in mind, thus, they are not always concerned with being in our good books. This is why they always tell us what they think is best for us rather than what we want to hear. We also trust our best friends and share literally everything with them including our most private things and darkest secrets because we know they will not betray us. Best friends do not judge us and are the epitome of honesty, loyalty, and dedication. Not surprisingly, best friends are not very common but when we do find them, they form some of our most blessed and treasured relationships in life.

It is clear that friends are inevitable part of life and like most other things in life, all friends are not created equal. Thus, it pays to classify friends to better manage our expectations and relationships. While it may not always be clear immediately, most of the times we can recognize the type of friendship by paying attention to other people and the kind of interaction we have with them. Naturally, best friends are the most desirable but they are a rare breed. We need different kind of relationships in life, thus, the other two types of friends also play an important role in our lives.