Letting go of a friendship can be hard, especially when you’ve been with them for a long time. You may have been like Naina and Aditi of Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani (2013) at one point in time, but now your friendship is not how it used to be. It is better to walk out of a drifting friendship than to stay and suffer. Here are some of the signs that show it’s time to break up with your friend.
Signs It’s Time Let Go Of a Friendship
1. Keep Secrets
If you couldn’t get yourself to tell your friend about the next trip you are planning with your family, it means there are trust issues that have grown between you and your friend. Or maybe you notice that your friend has started to keep secrets from you. All this is proof enough that your friendship is balancing on the shaky floor of trust that will break and fall apart soon.
2. No Personal Space
If your friend wants you to be available 24×7 for the minor inconveniences in their life and if they think you have no other responsibilities but to be their friend, you must cut them off. If they want you to share small details of each and everything even when you are not comfortable sharing it with them, understand that their friendship has become toxic.
3. No Common Interests Left
We all grow as individuals as we prepare to play a new role in the next stage of our life. Most often than not, we drift apart from our school friends as we find there is nothing left in common to talk about. Research proves that two-thirds of our childhood friends are lost during the first year in Middle or Upper Primary School (6 to 8th class). As our desires and interests in life change, things we look for in friends change too. To bid goodbye to such friendships is better than trying to force conversations.
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4. Not Supportive
If your friend doesn’t celebrate your small wins, such as a promotion, it is high time you bid them goodbye. If they are constantly critical of you and guilt trip you, it means that the friendship has to end. True friends are always there for you, no matter what. If you fall, they hold your hands to keep you moving. If that is not the case with your friend, you must cut them off.
5. Leave you Drained
After you are done interacting with that friend, you feel all your peace and mental energy is drained and sucked out of you. Negative emotions start to take over you, and you don’t feel like doing anything. True friends are meant to make us feel good and motivated. If the opposite happens, it means your friend has become toxic. To maintain your peace of mind, you must stay clear of them.
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Conclusion: Let Go Of a Friendship
It is okay to break up with a friend. Toxic friendships are as bad as toxic relationships. Look for new friends after things don’t work out well with the old ones.