Monday, May 19, 2008

When Friendships Move On

I'm talking about when you notice a particular friendship is no longer the same as it was back in the day.

Nothing specifically bad happens, no drama, no man stealing, no ethical issues... It's just that you notice things are different. You have different interests. The spark isn't there like it used to be. You meet new people who spark another side of life in you. Maybe things that used to be fun and cute start to be annoying.

It's a weird transition. But it's one that we don't tend to talk about as much as say... when a romantic relationship comes to an end.

Is there a manual for when a friendship ends... or is starting to end? Should the friends acknowledge it? Have some kind of process for it to end? Just let it linger until you're gradually no longer on each other's radar?
fs

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Friends come and friends go. No need to refer to any manual because everyone knows when a movie ends. The credits roll and people leave the theatre. No need to stand in the theatre looking at each other. Smile, acknowledge how great the movie was or how bad it was (no need to dwell), throw the popcorn box and drink container away and leave!

Sounds simple, huh? We have to come down to one of those old sayings, "Some people are for leaf, branch or a root to your tree". Leaves fall, branches break, but roots keep you nurished. Branches hurt when they fall off though but the great thing is hey, new ones grow in their place and bring new things!

Sincerely,

Intuitive

Anonymous said...

thanks Intuitive and Fred. i thought about this same thing about a month ago. i guess in an ideal world those friends would give in to a fire-side chat to say farewell.

Anonymous said...

Wow, very deep Fred. I've had a combination of what you've just described, and also having the end of a friendship acknowledged in a huge dramatic blowout. And in the event when a friendship loses its spark, i find that it'll run its course for a while, but then somehow, that spark will come back. And like that one other commenter said, friends come and friends go. either way, you always learn something from the people you come across in your life.