Before a friend vents, ask: “Do you want advice or do you just need me to listen?” Then do that one.

Half the friction in helping comes from solving a problem someone only wanted witnessed. Advice given to a person who needed listening lands as being told they handled it wrong. Listening given to someone who wanted advice feels like being left alone with it. The only way to know is to ask, and asking takes one sentence.

Ask before the next vent, and then commit to whichever they pick. If they chose listening, keep your fixes to yourself, even the good ones.