To the guy who had the audacity to tell me the truth: thank you. Granted, I invited you to tell me exactly how you saw me and told you to be 100% honest with me. I asked you to give me your perspective, and you did. I said, "I need a guy's perspective on this," and you took the valuable time out of your day to sit down with me. I had had a difficult week and was dealing with a lot of inner turmoil. I needed the truth spoken into me from someone I respect, and that person was you. You were under no obligation to tell me what I need to work on and where my character is weak, but you did and that was (and still is) so important to me.

For the longest time, I was so sure of myself, so sure I had it right, so sure of the way I saw things. But you turned my surety on its head. You had the audacity to tell me that you think. You tore me apart in the most constructive way possible. Thank you for being a true friend and for bringing me to reality. I wish more friends could have the honesty that you have. You're a true inspiration for what it means to be a good friend.

To the people reading this, I suggest you surround yourself with friends who will not let you go down a destructive path. We all need friends who will grab our hands and tell us, "Don't do this!" We need friends who will urge us to do what is right, even when we don't want to. Those are the people that will always be there for you – the people that will for sure stick around when the going gets tough.

Don't just be the type of person who will take and never give. True friendship is a two-way street. You have to give more than you take. Always be willing to give more. This isn't to say that you should stay in an abusive friendship. For example, if your friend always says, "I'll pay you back," but never does, stop paying for that friend. We all need to suffer the consequences in order to learn hard lessons.

To the guy who had the audacity to tell me the truth: thank you. Thank you for taking a chance. I know a lot of people who say, "Be honest with me," but in reality, they just want to hear good things. They don't want to be told what's wrong with them and how to go about fixing it. We want to better ourselves and work on our imperfections, but we want it to happen magically. No one really wants to put forth the effort to change. Why? Because it's hard. But guess what? It's worth it and it's part of being human. So, thank you. Thank you for pointing out just a few of my many flaws that I can start working on in order to be a better person. I hope to someday help you as much as you've helped me. Keep having the audacity to tell the truth.