It's Friday night. Earlier in the week, you and your partner got into a ridiculous squabble about an insignificant incident, and now you both have decided to give each other the silent treatment. You call your amigo for sound judgment, but instead you're advised to, "Just let break it off.." You're left wondering how a fight about forgetting to pick up milk ended up with your best friend advising you to leave your significant other.

It happens when you forget that your relationship is your relationship and that sharing every little incident, especially the bad, isn't as healthy as you may think. It ultimately drives a wedge between the only two people that matter in the relationship - you and your boo. The more people you involve in the decisions, desires and difficulties of your relationship, the more complex the relationship becomes. Aren't relationships hard enough without having your feelings and actions dictated by the the perception and advice of others? It only leads to stress that could later manifest itself as discord in the relationship.

The only people who truly know what is going on in the romance are the two people involved. At the end of the day, what happens between the two of you is no one's business. That includes your mama, your hometown homeboy and your bestie since 6th grade. It's noted that these people love and care for you, but it there's something admirable about a couple who knows the sacredness of privacy. Without privacy, your relationship becomes a open book for all to provide commentary about -- whether you like it or not. Before you call your girlfriend or go to the bar for a beer with your buddy, here are the top three reasons why you should be cautious of friendly counsel. Time to zip your lips, and learn why you need to keep your friends out of your Kool-aid.

1. Selfishness

Many of us have friends that we have weathered the storm with and that... are going to be a little bitter (admittedly or not) when someone else comes in your life taking up time they're used to spending with you and infiltrating the closeness you both shared. This type of loyalty should be recognized and appreciated, but not when it immaturely turns into selfishness.

The selfishness of a friend are often hard to recognize because it's delivered in a passive-aggressive package. What you hear is, "______ has you on a ball and chain, what makes him or her think they can take up most of your time," instead of how your friend really feels, which is "Let's hang out and go to the gym like we used to." Yes, your buddy loves you, but allowing your friends to plant these type of self-centered, negative seeds leads to a trip down Breakup Boulevard.

2. Bias

No matter how much Keisha says she loves your new boyfriend, when something goes wrong, her "like" for him goes out the door. This is because your friend's loyalty lies with the person he or she knows on a deeper level. There is an already established bias when you let your friends know the problems in your relationship, and it blocks them from seeing the whole picture. You further block them from offering any good advice when you only report the bad events. So even when you are more at fault, you will hear, "It doesn't matter if you ________, she/he shouldn't have ________." What they see is pain and frustration, and their need to defend you often prevents them from remembering that there are two sides to every story.

3. The Unreliability of "Personal Experience"

In no way do we advocate that you trust your significant other of a few months over your best friend of 20 years. Just be wise enough to know that not your friends don't witnesses every laugh, tear and intimate moment shared in your romantic relationship. So the issue isn't on whether or not to trust your pals as much as whether or not to trust their advice -- especially suggestions pulled from their own personal experience. Persuading you with conviction that they can relate to your situation because they've "been there, done that" isn't reason enough to let them in your relationship. Their opinions will always be rooted in what happened to them, versus really understanding what is happening to you. So when she doesn't pick up her phone that one time, it may not be wise to listen to Tyrone when he states matter-of-factly, "She's cheating, bro." Trust that while certain issues may be similar, all people are different.