How to Decide when a Friendship Is Over
Ask yourself if you like your friend., Think about how often you have conflicts with your friend.Do you and your friend often have massive, unresolved arguments and misunderstandings?, Do not tolerate hurtful friends., Recognize when you are not...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Ask yourself if you like your friend.
Sometimes people who have been in our lives a long time seem to acquire a kind of permanence, such that even after your lives have taken vastly different directions and have little in common, you still find yourself considering the person a friend.
If you feel your friendship has become stale or if you don’t feel any particular affection for the individual who you call friend, it is probably time to accept that the friendship’s dead.Evaluate the condition of the friendship.
Do you care about your friend? If so, does he or she care about you to an equal or lesser degree? How important is your friendship? Look for signs of a weak or waning friendship. -
Step 2: Think about how often you have conflicts with your friend.Do you and your friend often have massive
Do you constantly feel disappointed in your friend? Does he or she express similar frustration with or disappointment in you? If so, you should decide to end the friendship.
Friends don’t get along all the time, but you should be able to feel that basically, you and your friend see eye-to-eye most of the time. , If your friend is constantly criticizing you behind your back (or worse, to your face), it is time to end the friendship.
While we do not always get along with our friends, they should, on balance, be kind, thoughtful, and considerate of our feelings.
Deciding to end a friendship with individuals who are not is easy.
For instance, if you see a social media message that reads, “is such a dummy.
They don’t know anything!” you should not be friends with that person.
Hurtful friends might also share secrets with others who were not meant to know them.
For instance, suppose your parents are getting divorced and you told your friend about it and requested that they not share the info with anyone else.
The next week, several other people who are not your friends ask you about the situation.
In this case, your friend has clearly betrayed your trust and you should rightfully decide to end the friendship. , If you and your friend do not make time for each other, or only communicate when you see each other at school, at work, or in other convenient social situations, you can safely decide to end the friendship.Friends will make each other a priority, and will be there when the other is in need.
Conversely, friends who are not eager to spend time with one another, or who are only around when things are easy, are poor friends.
Exchange them for individuals who are more willing to put themselves on the line for you.
You can still be friendly to the other person, but think of them as an acquaintance, rather than a friend. , Narcissists think they’re the center of the world.
If your friend always talks about him or herself and never asks you about your day or what’s going on in your life when you spend time together, he or she is probably a narcissist.At the very least, they clearly don’t value your company.
Make the right choice and end the friendship.
A friend who doesn’t apologize after you two have a row is also a narcissist. , Sometime this is good, and sometimes it is not so good.
If you and your friend can change and grow together, and your ideas and attitudes remain in sync, great! However, if you and your friend grow apart, don’t pretend that things are just as they always were.
Allowing this “zombie friendship” to continue is futile for both you and your friend.
Your friends do not have to be clones of you, but if you do not share the core values and interests as your friend, then the friendship has little common ground on which to build. -
Step 3: unresolved arguments and misunderstandings?
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Step 4: Do not tolerate hurtful friends.
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Step 5: Recognize when you are not important to each other.
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Step 6: Avoid narcissistic friends.
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Step 7: Accept that friendships change.People change.
Detailed Guide
Sometimes people who have been in our lives a long time seem to acquire a kind of permanence, such that even after your lives have taken vastly different directions and have little in common, you still find yourself considering the person a friend.
If you feel your friendship has become stale or if you don’t feel any particular affection for the individual who you call friend, it is probably time to accept that the friendship’s dead.Evaluate the condition of the friendship.
Do you care about your friend? If so, does he or she care about you to an equal or lesser degree? How important is your friendship? Look for signs of a weak or waning friendship.
Do you constantly feel disappointed in your friend? Does he or she express similar frustration with or disappointment in you? If so, you should decide to end the friendship.
Friends don’t get along all the time, but you should be able to feel that basically, you and your friend see eye-to-eye most of the time. , If your friend is constantly criticizing you behind your back (or worse, to your face), it is time to end the friendship.
While we do not always get along with our friends, they should, on balance, be kind, thoughtful, and considerate of our feelings.
Deciding to end a friendship with individuals who are not is easy.
For instance, if you see a social media message that reads, “is such a dummy.
They don’t know anything!” you should not be friends with that person.
Hurtful friends might also share secrets with others who were not meant to know them.
For instance, suppose your parents are getting divorced and you told your friend about it and requested that they not share the info with anyone else.
The next week, several other people who are not your friends ask you about the situation.
In this case, your friend has clearly betrayed your trust and you should rightfully decide to end the friendship. , If you and your friend do not make time for each other, or only communicate when you see each other at school, at work, or in other convenient social situations, you can safely decide to end the friendship.Friends will make each other a priority, and will be there when the other is in need.
Conversely, friends who are not eager to spend time with one another, or who are only around when things are easy, are poor friends.
Exchange them for individuals who are more willing to put themselves on the line for you.
You can still be friendly to the other person, but think of them as an acquaintance, rather than a friend. , Narcissists think they’re the center of the world.
If your friend always talks about him or herself and never asks you about your day or what’s going on in your life when you spend time together, he or she is probably a narcissist.At the very least, they clearly don’t value your company.
Make the right choice and end the friendship.
A friend who doesn’t apologize after you two have a row is also a narcissist. , Sometime this is good, and sometimes it is not so good.
If you and your friend can change and grow together, and your ideas and attitudes remain in sync, great! However, if you and your friend grow apart, don’t pretend that things are just as they always were.
Allowing this “zombie friendship” to continue is futile for both you and your friend.
Your friends do not have to be clones of you, but if you do not share the core values and interests as your friend, then the friendship has little common ground on which to build.
About the Author
Joan Price
Writer and educator with a focus on practical practical skills knowledge.
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