Understanding why friendships are important is key to finding the healthy friendships characteristics you want to see in others. In this post, you will learn how friendships compare to flowers and insights into what it means to connect with others.

Growing up, I wasn’t a fan of flowers. I didn’t like the idea of taking something from nature and placing it in your home only for it to die in a week or so.

As I began to develop meaningful friendships with others, I noticed there was an interesting correlation between friends and flowers. In fact, it’s been said that friendships are like flowers in the garden of life.

For this reason, fake friendships can never help you develop into your true potential. They appear to have blossomed into something more, but will never change as you continue to grow in life.

Why Friendships Are Like Flowers

Flowers are a great reminder of what it means to live a simple life. Not only are they beautiful, and some are quite rare, but flowers remind me of the importance of inner peace and beauty.

Most importantly, flowers remind me of friendships. To work on inner peace, you need to work on all the things that don’t allow you to grow.  

Like a flower planted in a garden of weeds, you’ll never know your full potential until you clean up around you or are picked up and moved to a different location.  That’s where friendships come in handy.  

Friendships compare to flowers in the sense that both need to be nurtured and take time to develop. Like when you meet someone, you begin to plant the seed in your relationship.

Asking the right questions is like that random seed in the dirt. You wait and observe with time to see how the situation will continue.

You can nurture it and spend as much time as needed to see how it develops, or you can give up on it and let it die.

There are many reasons to understand why do friendships change, but in time you’ll notice those friendships were there to help you continue your path. You may not have the same flower you thought planted in the beginning, but the memories of how hard you worked on helping it grow will remain with you throughout life.

The same goes for the times you gave up on that flower in the past. You take with you the reasons why you let go and learn healthy friendship characteristics to look for in the future.

Some of the characteristics found in healthy friendships with others include setting boundaries, being accepting, respecting their decisions, trusting the person, forgiving when need be, and actively listening to their concerns.

Setting Boundaries

The reason I started with setting boundaries is that not a lot of people understand what it means to do so, and it often answers the question of why do friendships fall apart with time. It can be simply explained as someone didn’t set boundaries in their friendship and now the other person has repeatedly crossed the invisible that was never drawn.

Believe it or not, people prefer knowing there are limits in your friendship ahead of time. Being honest from the beginning with those you care about is important. This helps set the tone in your relationship and lets the other person know you have limits.

Being Accepting

Learning to accept others can be tough in the beginning, but you can grow with time by understanding their differences. Being accepting just comes from getting to know them better, and learning about their background.

Like the random seed that was planted, you get a better understanding of what it takes for that flower to grow. Does it need more sunlight? Maybe less water during the week?

Whatever it might be, you’ll need to be more patient as time goes on.

Respecting Their Decisions

When you learn the value of respecting someone’s decisions, you are making it easier for the friendship to develop. Friendships compare to flowers in the sense that if you don’t accept their needs then nothing will come from the efforts or lack of efforts.

Once you know there are boundaries and you’re respecting their decisions, then you will be able to see the beauty in what’s developed with time.

Trusting The Person

Trust takes time to build, and it requires consistency. When you know that you can discuss things in private with someone without them sharing it with someone else, you will notice a change in your connection with that person.

Much like a plant that has been neglected, it’s not easy to blossom again. Patience is key in this portion, and it will take time to grow again.

Trusting that person with your thoughts can be tricky, as it can be misinterpreted — much like playing telephone. By the time it gets back to you, there are missing parts of the message and it’s nothing like what was originally said.

Forgiving When Need Be

How you approach forgiveness can be subjective. For some, being forgiving when you need to be is less about what happened and more about how the situation made them feel.

At times, when the situation is addressed soon after it has happened, forgiveness is easier. Emotions can be discussed together and you can forgive the person for what has occurred.

In the sense of a flower that has been neglected, you can try and bring it back to life by nurturing it right away. If it’s been too long, it will die.

Much like a friend who takes too long to apologize or see the wrong they’ve caused, the connection is no longer there.

Actively Listening To Their Concerns

People appreciate it when you are actively listening to their concerns, and it shows the person that you genuinely care. Like caring for a flower, you notice what their needs are you and you act on them.

This can be part of why friendships end cause and effect since it can make the other person feel misunderstood or ignored with time.

Not All Friendships Compare To Flowers

If you’ve ever cared for a fake plant only to find out it wasn’t real then you understand what it is to invest your time and energy into something that wasn’t going to develop. Fake friendships can hurt personal growth.

Regardless of how much effort you put into helping someone else, there will be a point when you’ll need to turn to yourself. When you look at the efforts you’ve put into helping the other person, you’ll notice how much you’ve invested.

The time you’ve put into the other person can never be replaced, but the lessons you take with you last a lifetime. Like caring for a fake plant, you’ll know what to look for the next time you buy one for your home.

Friendships In Adulthood

Not many people realize how important friendships are in life, more so as an adult. Most people focus on having a significant other, and how much happiness it would bring them. That’s a false sense of happiness.  

True happiness comes from within, and friendships can show you the way.  With time, you learn to nourish your soul, become one with your roots, and understand where your heart longs to be.

Friendships in adulthood teach you that it starts with you.  If you’re kind to yourself daily, then it’ll be easier for you to accept the kindness of others.  

These friendships in your adulthood also come with growth. Like a flower that is learning to spread its roots, it won’t happen overnight.

That’s the beauty of how friendships compare to flowers. Each day is a step closer to where you’d like to be, and most importantly, where you need to be.

As an adult, you use self-growth to move forward from whatever may be hurting your happiness. Sometimes it’s the wrong friendships.  

Connecting with others in your adulthood means having the right people by your side. This is how you’ll find the strength to open your petals and blossom. 

This is how you learn to remain confident in yourself and your potential. Don’t worry about what other gardens are sprouting. Your petals are amazing because they express inner beauty, and the wonderful struggles you embraced to reach this point.  

Like flowers sprouting in a garden, your friendships can help you stand tall. 

What To Do When Friendships Fall Apart

Time will tell if someone is with you for the long-run or just for the moment. Once you get a better understanding of what you want and need in life, so will those around you.

Have you ever seen a flower garden with different flowers? It’s possible, but it’s not always seen.

The person you don’t see different flowers growing in the same garden is because like attracts like. If you want that garden to grow, you need to have similar needs and wants to blossom into your full potential.

When you mix flowers in your garden, there will be buds that don’t grow well and others that do. Those that don’t will try and feed off the other flowers to help them grow.

In life, differences teach you important lessons. Oftentimes teaching you when it’s time to hold on tighter or whether it’s time to let go.

Over the years, you’ve probably noticed a change in your circle of friends. Most circles decrease in size while increasing in value.

You always need to look for the reasons why certain friendships cannot remain the same. It’s part of growth, and each connection has taught you a valuable lesson you’ll keep with you for days to come.

Understanding Long Distance Friendships

Some of the toughest friendships to keep are the ones that you’ve created over the years because people and places change. However, when you find people you can connect with on many levels, it’s almost impossible to break that friendship.

Since moving to South Florida, I’ve had a tough time building the same type of friendships I made growing up in North Jersey. Those are based on the characteristics I mentioned above and they hold a special place in my heart.

Although I may not see them often, social media and text messages are the best way for me to connect with long distance friendships.

At times, it feels like I need them with me. More so during the holidays or my birthday — and theirs too!

When I miss them, I always remind myself of the times we’ve had together. The memories are what help me relive those happy moments with them.

Sometimes I’ll send them a text about something random that happened when we were together and it’s nice to just discuss those times. They often lead to laughs and honest talks about things in life.

Below are long distance friendship quotes for those who miss an old friend:

Online Friendships vs Real Friendships

One of the ways I’ve been able to connect with others throughout the years has been through online friendships. These have developed more from having a blog and attending events as well.

Some of these friendships compare to flowers because they have blossomed within months of nurturing our connection. There are a handful of these women I’ve met through my blog that have inspired me to do more, and I do the same for them.

It’s a beautiful connection between my online friendships that have become true friendships in real life. However, there are online friendships pros and cons that will make people think twice about creating these types of connections.

For starters, online friendships can be tricky. The person behind the screen may not be who they are in person.

It’s a scary thought to connect with someone and later find out they aren’t who they said they were, but this happens often with online dating. It’s no surprise to see it happen between friendships as well.

There are warning signs to look for when chatting with someone online in hopes of building a friendship. For starters, anyone who seems too interested in your personal life should be a red flag.

As in any friendship, you need to set boundaries and make sure that the person respects them. Another downside to online friendships is you can’t always tell the emotion of the other person unless they use EMOJIs or such.

There are times when a message can be misunderstood by someone online and it may cause issues in your friendship. Being clear in your messaging is always a good way to deal with this.

Of all the online friendships pros and cons, there’s one thing that can be said about friendships in general. Whether they are in real life or through a screen, there’s a sense of connection that makes you feel understood.

Every friendship is unique. Like flowers growing in the garden, they need to be cared for and shown appreciation for them to blossom with time.