When To Call Time on a Friendship

a reason, as season or a lifetime, sure.. but how do you know when it's the end?

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

This post started on one topic and became another - isn’t that just exactly me?

Years ago, a friend told me I was doing too much. I forget the reason why my schedule being too full was so bad, I’m sure there was a ‘because’ but it escapes me now. Perhaps it was faux concern for my wellbeing in the moment, that I wasn’t getting enough rest or nurturing my hobbies (hobbies! ha!) but whatever it was, it wasn’t that.

A few times I have allowed someone else to get in my head about the way I live my life. I’ve made actual changes based on their ‘advice’ and lived to regret them. With some distance I know with absolute certainty that neither of those people had my best interests at heart. One was an outright liar (narcissist is so overused but .. that) and the other? Well they took me longer to suss out.

You know that feeling you get when you see someone succeeding at something you’re interested in but have made little to no effort to explore? It’s the pang of jealousy when you see someone mediocre on a talent show or when you hear someone at work got a job you didn’t even know was available. A glimmer of ‘wish I’d done that'!’ followed by a feeling of being left behind and a, ‘must try harder’ hangover from school.

This was that friend