Friends are incredibly important people in our lives. Some are with us for decades. Here are some tips to remember if you're processing the loss of a friend.
Sometimes things just don't work out.
In fact, people, on average, lose about half of their friends every seven years. One of the most common reasons those relationships end is that they just fell through the cracks. Things didn't work out. Nobody really wanted the friendship to end, but people got busy and didn't intentionally maintain the friendship.
Make the unsaid said.
Sometimes, in friendship, people don't make the unsaid said. And because they're never directly addressed, people get to a point where they want to end the friendship before actually addressing the problem. Actually, if they had intervened sooner, they might have been able to save the friendship.
It's normal to feel grief.
When a friendship ends, there is a grieving process. Allow yourself to feel those emotions and be patient. Instead of pushing yourself to cheer up, try thinking like this, "Of course I'm upset. This is a natural part of intimacy (亲密关系) and loss. I lost someone I'm very close to.
It's important not to blame yourself and be mean to yourself for not getting over the loss of a friendship. Just because this happened like this doesn't mean more friendships will happen like this. Allow yourself to have a fresh perspective when you enter new friendships. You don't want to go into a new connection fearfully.
A. That means I love them deeply.
B. Be kind to yourself along the way.
C. Find ways to enter a new friendship.
D. Small things can kind of accumulate.
E. Losing friends is a regular part of life.
F. But not all of them can stand the test of time.
G. When a close friendship ends, the reasons are complicated.
