The older we get the more our friendships start to disappear and honestly, that can be a good thing rather than a bad one. While some people think that losing friends in their life means there is something wrong with them, or that there is a bigger problem – many of times, it just happens. Losing those friends that you used to be closest to when you were younger is actually pretty normal. Sometimes, life gets in the way and things change. The friends that are still around though in your life tend to be the most loyal and that those friendships are still very important and you know that friend will be there until the end.
1. If your friend has too much time on their hands and pressures you to ditch your responsibilities.
The older we get, the less time we have to spend with friends when we have school, work, and other priorities to focus on. A good friend will understand that as you grow up, sometimes you have less time to be wild and crazy and run around town. But, sometimes, your friends will get angry that you’re not around as much if they don’t have as much going on in their own schedule and they’ll try to get you to ditch your responsibilities – like class, work, meetings – so that they can have someone to hang out with. That’s not really a healthy friendship to be in. A good friend should be understanding about your life – not try to pressure you to do less, but push you to do more.
2. If your friend is single and you’re in a relationship and they make you feel guilty.
As we age, we look for that special someone to spend our lives with. Often times, as we get older, we decide we want to start a family and have kids. But, sometimes, our friends aren’t on the same page as us. Most of the time, when we decide to get in a relationship with someone and it gets serious – and our friends are single – they’ll make us feel guilty about not wanting to go out drinking and dancing all night, every single weekend. Now, we have someone else to take into account and they get angry you’re no longer their “wing woman.” Your friends should be happy for you for finding love, not jealous and angry.
3. If you’ve seen other friends treat you better and with more respect, while your friend treats you poorly.
We have those friends who have stuck by your side since the beginning and those friendships are the ones you want to keep. I always say that you shouldn’t compare any friendships or relationships to each other – but sometimes, when your friends are treating you badly, you can tell by the way in which other people treat you. If you feel uncomfortable or weird about how someone is speaking to you or treating you, it’s probably because they’re not treating you well. Don’t focus on friendships with people who treat you poorly, your true friends will always treat you well – no matter what.
4. If your friend lives in the past and you’re trying to build for your future.
As we grow up in life, our priorities completely change. Long gone are the days where we used to party every single weekend and neglect our homework or run from the cops when they raid a house party. Instead, we want to take care of our health and ourselves for our future. Sometimes we have friends who are stuck in the past and don’t want to grow up. They want to be young and careless forever, but, that’s not always normal or healthy. Eventually, everyone needs to grow up.
5. If your friend is going down a bad path and you don’t want to be involved in that kind of behavior.
You will have that friend that will continue to keep on making bad decisions and go down the wrong path, don’t feel like it’s your responsibility to fix that. Most of the time in life, people won’t change just because you tell them to. People need to learn lessons for themselves many times. You can’t bring yourself down to their behavior and try to fix things. Also, if you’re constantly with someone who has a bad reputation, it could affect your own reputation. In life, reputation is everything. It’s important to remember that you’re not them.
6. If you can’t trust your friend anymore.
If you get to a point in your life where you have to question whether or not you can trust someone, it’s probably not a good thing. In fact, if there’s any reason you can’t trust someone (especially a good friend) it’s a giant red flag. You don’t want to walk on eggshells with someone because you’re afraid of giving them “too much info.” on your life. That’s just toxic.