The very act of having friends can inspire confidence. You’re someone who is worth being around. Friends can bring so much more to your life, though.

You should be able to count on your friends for support. When you’re feeling low, they’re there to tell you about your good qualities and make you feel better about yourself. They can remind you of the times when you’ve lacked confidence in the past while telling you that they know you can bounce back once again. They can help you put it all in perspective and perhaps serve as a source of inspiration if they’ve faced their own struggles with self-confidence.

While it can be good to compare yourself to your friends for inspiration, you should never do so to the point that you start to feel bad about yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re friends with a Nobel-prize-winning supermodel; there is no reason to discount your own positive qualities by making unnecessary comparisons. Your friends shouldn’t make you feel bad about things that they do “better” than you, either.

If you read these descriptions and find yourself thinking that you have friends that don’t fit these qualities, you may want to think about the role of these friends in your life. Are they having a positive influence on you?

Are you feeling low on friends? As the years pass, we sometimes drift away from our friends when someone gets a new job, gets married or experiences some other major life change. It can be a blow to your confidence when you look around and realize that you don’t have as many friends as you once had.

First, if you have some friends you have drifted apart from but would still like to stay in contact with, don’t waste any time. Send an e-mail or make a quick phone call as soon as possible to let your friend know that you still want to stay in touch. Try to set up a time when you can meet for a lunch date, movie night or sporting event. It will take extra effort, but it may be possible to preserve a friendship that has started to falter.

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