No one enjoys conflict – even if you categorize yourself as a confrontational person. When you sense yourself growing away from a friendship, your first initial response is to fix everything and move on quickly. But even when you find yourself repeatedly arguing with a friend again and again, everyone wants to hold on until the very last minute. When you’re in college, growing apart from a friendship can actually be healthy. It seems counterproductive, but knowing when to gently let go of a friendship can save you a lot of time and heartache in the future.
It’s completely normal to move away from friendships, especially if you and your friend are moving at different paces in your life. This doesn’t mean that you can only be friends with people who are doing similar things compared to you in life, but knowing when it’s time to invest less time is important.
It’s important to know how to appropriately move away from a friendship in life. Obviously, you never want to just text someone, “We’re moving apart.” What you can do however, is slowly pace yourself from the relationship that is causing you toxicity. Maybe you don’t respond to every text, answer each message, or go out every time they ask. A lot of times, these drifts occur naturally, and we panic and try to fix them. If you sense yourself drifting apart from someone in your life, maybe it’s best to just let it happen.
In the end, you are the only person that you have to answer to. You should always consider other people’s emotions and this is never an excuse to be rude. Next time you sense a drift, maybe it’s best to let it happen.