One in every of Franco’s key classes about friendship is that it’s deeply tied to our attachment model, similar to all {our relationships} are. Our attachment model is our distinctive means of viewing and being in relationships, primarily based on {our relationships} to our earliest caregivers in addition to different key relationships we have now rising up.
Identical to it may be scary to fall in love with somebody, and to not know if you happen to’ll be actually accepted or in case your wants will actually be met within the relationship, the method of embarking on a friendship with somebody will be weighed down with simply as many underlying fears, a lot of which will be traced again to previous experiences of relational ache or rejection.
Franco factors to an idea in psychology referred to as “threat regulation idea,” which holds that individuals first have to really feel assured in one other particular person’s constructive emotions towards them earlier than they’re prepared to threat connecting with and relying on them. Is sensible, proper?
“To spend money on a relationship, we want proof we received’t be rejected when doing so,” Franco explains. “Equally, if we would like folks to spend money on us, we have to make them really feel secure to.”
One key means to assist make our potential buddies really feel extra secure to get near us—and to mitigate that worry of rejection—is to be abundantly affectionate with our buddies, she says. For instance: complimenting them overtly, telling them you’re glad to listen to from them, greeting them warmly once you see one another, or smiling at them genuinely.
“We grant this safety after we present affection. We impart that we love, worth, and settle for somebody, to allow them to really feel secure to take the dangers of intimacy with us,” she writes.