“Skillful, loving honesty that takes the long view, the wide view, the view that may or may not have you cast as the hero, is a gift beyond measure.”

In a recent Medium post,

kelly corrigan

reminds us that in a real friendship, hard feedback and kindness are sometimes the same thing—with the tough stuff, yes, but also when it comes to less weighty decisions. We’re all going through enough as it is; do you really want to be the downer who reminds your friend what happened the last time she tried to give herself bangs? Or who listens to the story of a dumb fight and says that actually, it kind of sounds like their partner was the reasonable one? Well, yes: In the moment, bursting the bubble of someone you care about feels bad on both sides, but in the long, wide view, it can reveal itself as an act of love.