How Hard Should You Fight to Keep Friendships Alive?

True friends will stand by you regardless of whatever happens

Photo by Elevate on Unsplash

Holding onto friendships throughout adulthood seems to become increasingly more difficult the older you get. As new life chapters come into play — such as moving to a different city, career changes, marriage, and kids — priorities often begin to shift in tandem. And with the start of those new chapters, our once thriving friendships often times unintentionally fall by the waist side.

All of a sudden, we make decisions that take other parties into consideration. We pull back the reigns on impulsive yeses to last minute plans that typically led to late nights out and instead, we divvy up our time more wisely and far more conservatively in an effort to make room for everyone in our lives— ourselves included.

But, what do we do when we realize that our once fierce friendships that used to burn so brightly begin to fade and lose their momentum? What do we do when we find ourselves incapable of making space for all the friendships that we once prioritized? And how much of ourselves should we give to others despite the fatigue that comes with constantly trying to please people?

I’ve been finding myself in this exact predicament quite often as of lately and it’s been a struggle to find…