As the college years continue, friendships come and go. It’s a natural part of life that is sometimes necessary for individual growth. But how do you know when a friendship is ending or slowing down? I have compiled signs that you and your friend might be drifting apart, to better clarify.
- You stop making time for one another
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When it comes to this friend, you just never seem to have the time to do fun things together anymore. Either the friend is too busy or you’re too busy. Yet, with other people, it’s easy to just forget that assignment due tomorrow or sacrifice a night full of studying for a fun time (this goes for both ends). Making plans just come easier with other people and seems to be less of a hassle.
- You only talk about the past
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There’s no novelty in your conversation anymore. You talk about past memories instead of making new ones. Last year’s inside jokes remain this year’s inside joke and you don’t know how long it’ll be before the joke gets old.
- You forget how to act around them
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Before, it was easy for you to do random things in front of them and be your truest self. Now, it feels like you have to hold back some of your wackiness because you’re not sure how they will react to it anymore. Something about the vibe between you two is just different and you don’t know how to react to it. You probably haven’t met up in a long time, but instead of regaining that spark, you just feel tense. It’s like meeting someone all over again.
- They don’t act the same around you
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You’re probably not the only one who’s forgotten how to act. They don’t know how to act around you either! You’re not the same person you were last year or even last semester and they might not know how to react to the change.
- You stop inviting each other
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In the past, there wasn’t a place you two wouldn’t go together. But now, you make plans and easily forget about that person and vise versa. It’s not always on purpose, but it can slip your mind sometimes, or a lot of times, to invite them. You might think it’ll be awkward with that person and your new friends (vise versa). Before you know it, you get used to the idea of going places without this friend.
Maybe you’re not as good friends anymore and you two have now separated into different friend groups. That’s okay! That doesn’t mean that they didn’t play a role in your life when you were hungover after a party, studied hard together for that Econ class, or when you two went to the beach together the first time. Those memories remain and will always be there. It’s still good to check up on them sometimes and reminisce about your friendship.
