7 Signs It's Time to End a Friendship
If a friendship is unbalanced and you realize you’re giving more than you’re receiving, it may be time to think about whether it’s actually worth it. Here are 7 signs it’s time to end a friendship.
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Making the decision to end a friendship can be a roller coaster of emotions. However, when you think about it logically, you’ll realize that a breakup can be the healthiest choice.
As you go through life, it’s natural to meet new people and bond with a few chosen ones. Sometimes it’s best to pay attention and be careful who you let into your circle of friends. Remember that it can be hard to have to end a friendship, even if it’s really bringing you down and isn’t helping you grow.
You shouldn’t be ashamed of distancing yourself from people who aren’t good for you. After all, people change and you can end up on a very different path from your friends. Of course, this can be a very painful situation. However, if you notice any of the following signs, it may be time to end a friendship.
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7 Signs it’s Time to End a Friendship
1. Your friendship is one-sided
When a friendship is out of balance and you can’t find a way back, your friend probably doesn’t appreciate you as much as you appreciate them. Constantly pursuing a friend is rather tiring and can end up hurting your self-esteem.
Have you stopped contacting your friend but they haven’t done anything differently to change the situation? It might be best to stop using up your energy and wasting your time with a person who has lost interest in you.
2. Your friend manipulates you and tries to control how you act
You should end a friendship when you feel like you can’t see who you really are and you aren’t being authentic when you’re together.
A healthy friendship is about both people sharing their inner selves without taking advantage of each other. If this isn’t the case, reevaluate the relationship and think about if it’s worth continuing.
3. They are dragging you down with them
When you start feeling responsible for your friend’s behavior because they’re behaving in a questionable manner, it’s possible they might be dragging you down.
Remember, it’s normal for people to believe that birds of a feather flock together. This means that if your friend has a negative image, others will see you the same way. Even worse, you may even start acting like them.
Keep in mind that human nature means instinctively imitating the people around you to fit in and survive. That’s why you should probably end a friendship that is affecting how you behave in a negative way.
4. There is jealousy, envy, and competition between you two
Feeling the need to constantly prove that you’re better than your friend can be exhausting. A friendship that is not based on mutual support and happiness for their personal growth is negative for both parties.
Friendship is about finding a way for both people to grow and be better together. Likewise, it is not about one person being the star and the other the supporting actor.
5. The best part of the friendship is in the past
You may want to end a friendship if you are hanging onto it just because you associate it with a good time in your life. Live in the present. People change and you and your friend may not be the same people you were when you met. Likewise, you may be living a different life than you did then.
The last thing you should do is stick to a relationship that was good in the past, but now isn’t anything more than history.
6. Your friend doesn’t contribute anything positive to your life
It’s important for you to be able to pick yourself up when you’re low, but you should end a friendship if all it does is drown you. This is where you need to respect yourself and let that person go.
Friends should be a natural extension of your life, just like you should be in their lives.
In other words, you should be encouraging each other and inspiring each other to be happy and healthy. The important thing is that you contribute something positive to each other’s life.
7. They hurt your self-esteem
True friends provide a crucial support system, especially when we’re talking about dealing with the stresses of modern life. Any time you have a problem, difficulties, or questions, your friends should offer moral support and build up your self-esteem.
It’s never easy to end a friendship, but if all the relationship is doing is lowering your self-confidence and making you doubt yourself, it may be time to reconsider things.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
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- Requena, F. (1994). Redes De Amistad, Felicidad Y Familia. Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas.
- Requena. (1998). Género, redes de amistad y rendimiento académico. Papers Revista de Sociología. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/papers.1952
- López, C. B., & Rodríguez-Cárdenas, D. E. (2014). Percepción de amistad en adolescentes: El papel de las redes sociales. Revista Colombiana de Psicologia. https://doi.org/10.15446/rcp.v23n2.37359
