The Kindness of Friends Who Make You Feel Good About Yourself

"My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake."
~ Aristotle

I was talking to the mother of another teenage girl recently and she said that she tells her daughter that her friends should make her feel good about herself.  And that seems like very sage advice.  We all have holdover friends from our childhood who may or may not fit that bill.  But the older we become, the more it seems that it makes sense to have friends who make you feel good about yourself.  It doesn't mean that they will always agree with you or tell you what you want to hear, but it does mean that they will help you tap into the best version of yourself, that they will help you grow, that they will be with you during difficult moments and that they will be happy -- genuinely happy -- for you when you enjoy success.