You love your friends. You know you can rely and trust them to be there in your time of need. In fact, you probably speak to your close friends on a daily basis and can’t imagine your life without them. However, lately you can’t help but feel yourself getting distant toward a certain friend or friends. You’ve begun to question their lifestyle choices and have wondered if their actions are impacting your life negatively.
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I’m here to tell you it’s ok to feel this way. I will also tell you that it’s more than all right to take a break from any friend or friends you totally aren’t vibing with right now. It doesn’t mean you are cutting them out of your life, it just means you are just taking a step back and seeing where the relationship goes without forcing yourself on it. You should never force anything, especially relationships and friendships.
Sometimes a friendship may have run its course. Why force something that isn’t meant to be? If you feel that your friendship is coming to an end, perhaps it is. You have two options, you can talk to your friend about it and see how she feels or you can just not be as involved and see how that goes as well. If she happens to notice, talk to her about why you’ve done a disappearing act. Don’t be accusatory, just be honest and let her know that you haven’t been feeling the way she’s handling certain decisions and life. That will leave the ball in her court and ultimately give her the decision as to whether or not she wants to improve your friendship. If she vanishes herself, you will have your answer.
You may also need a break from your friends to find yourself. Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in the lives of other’s that we don’t give ourselves the time we need to cultivate and enrich our own life. So if you’ve been feeling this way, then you should take a break from your friends. Spend some quiet time with yourself and reflect on where you want to be in life. Try out activities that don’t need a group of people. Perhaps you’ll pick up a new hobby while you’re on friend hiatus. When you realize who you want to be and how to get there, you can then integrate yourself back full force into the lives of your friends. If they notice you’ve gone missing and ask you, “what’s up?” just be upfront, and they should understand.
A break from your friends does not necessarily mean it’s a bad thing. Friendships have their ups and downs just like life. Sometimes friends also come in and out of our lives when it’s necessary. So if you have the nagging feeling to take that break, don’t ignore it and regret it later. Hopefully your break from your friend or friends will have made your relationship stronger and better than ever.
