Roles in Relationships

We all have different roles in our friendships.  Some of us are the ones who our friends come to for advice, whereas, there are those who go to their friends for advice.  There are those friends who our are talking buddies or walking buddies or those friends we are assured we'll have a good time with because they are social butterflies.

 

I often look at my own role; in some friendships, I tend to be more serious, whereas in others, I can be more silly and laid back.  A consistent role that I find is I tend to be the one who initiates the phone calls, get togethers, emails, etc.  I sometimes wonder what would happen if I stopped initiating: would the friend contact me or think something was off?  Or would the friendship fizzle out due to lack of contact?  I don't want to "test" my friendships, but sometimes I wonder what would happen if I stopped being the one to reach out, especially with those who rarely reach out to me.

 

What intrigues me is the roles we have, and how it can be so easy to stay in these roles once the friendship has been established. 

Think about it for a second: what role do you tend to have in your closest friendships?  Is there a common theme?  Have you ever switched roles?