Over the past couple of years, I have been blessed with many friends and with many friend groups. This happens in college – you start out with a group of friends, and then you meander over the months until you find the group that is ultimately your family. Through this meandering, I have, consequently, come to know the heartache of losing friends. This process of gaining, keeping and losing friends has taught me what is important in a friendship and what type of friends to find.

Find the friends who share triumph in your success and hold you close at your weakest. The friends who are jealous of your success are detrimental to you. As are the ones who are only friends with you when you succeed and not when you fail.

Find the friends who are intellectually passionate and excited for life but not afraid of failure. Make your company consist of those who do not degrade your beliefs, experiences, ideas or actions. A friend who speaks ignorantly on any subject, especially one that lies close to your heart, is no friend for you. Stand up for yourself, especially among friends. And possibly, more importantly, stand up for your friends whether they are present or not in hopes that they would do the same for you.

Find friends who empower you. You deserve that. A friend is someone who respects you. You choose the company that you keep, and you choose who to cut out of your life. I never thought it was that simple, but it is. I said simple -- not easy. This is a difficult decision to make and to follow through with, but the most important ones are often the most difficult. You need to be selfish and escape any person who causes you pain. They are not worth another minute of your time.

You might be walking alone for a while. Soon though, someone will come. They will take your hand and help you climb the next mountain. You might part ways in the middle of the journey or stay strong to the end. Remember to be thankful for any contribution they had to your life; don’t regret loving them for the time they were with you.

Make friends who know the path to your soul and take no advantage of harming you with that map. There are those out there who will seek to destroy your heart and mind once they know how to. They find your weak points and use them against you. Remember you are beautiful; all of you is beautiful, even those weak points. Find friends that love those weak points because isn’t that ultimately what friendship is about – loving the entirety of a person? Find the people who love your entirety, the ones who you do not have to hide anything from.