Trust is an important ingredient in any friendship. But there are many aspects to trust.

We definitely want friends to keep our private information private. If we confide in them about what we think about other people, or stressful events in our lives, or embarrassing things we did, or our hopes, fears, or self-doubts, we want to know that they will hold those carefully and not turn around and blab about them to others.

Beyond keeping our secrets, we also want to trust that our friends will be kind to us, that they’ll be honest with us, that they accept us as we are and want the best for us, that they’re always on our side… We want to trust that our friends care about us and will support us when we need it.

That’s a long list of things we want from a friend. It’s a good list, but here’s the problem: we’re all human. It’s very likely that someday, somehow a friend will let you down. Maybe they’ll say........

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