What quality do you value most in a friend?
There really are quite a few qualities that I value in a friend. Today, during a break in my third tattoo session I thought of a quality that I really do appreciate. I was originally going to say a sense of humor, or the ability to make me laugh, but this text from a work friend is better.
I love a friend that hypes me up! Who doesn’t love some friendly encouragement? For context, I had texted her a picture of the next phase of my half sleeve blue flower tattoo in progress. Today, my artist did the outline of the rest of the flowers. They go all the way up to the top of my arm and over the front, top, and back of my shoulder. They go far enough across my shoulder to reach a little past where my bra strap naturally sits. Tattoos generally hurt. I mean, you’re literally being stabbed repeatedly with a needle, it’s going to hurt. Some people on Threads have talked about falling asleep during their tattoos. I have a high tolerance for pain, but not to the point where I can sleep through it. And I have a lot of tattoos, but have never had any on my shoulder. Oh…my…gawd! It hurt! I would rate it past the level of pain from when he was working on my flabby underarm skin in previous sessions.
So when I expressed that pain to my friend and showed her how far up on my shoulder he went, that was the text she sent back. It hyped me up enough to sit back down and let the torture continue. I mean, I was going to sit down anyway, but I was encouraged and ready to grin and bear it a little longer.
My husband does that too. He is my absolute number 1 best friend and he always sends me encouraging messages like that. Last year when I was starting to go on job interviews and was preparing to leave my old job, he sent me the most encouraging texts before each interview I went on. He always let me know I was doing the right thing and he was proud of me.
Encouragement feels good, especially when it comes at just the right time. Friends know when you need it. To me, that’s an invaluable quality.
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