16 Stories That Prove Sometimes You Need to Let Go of a Friendship Even If It’s Painful

As we grow up, we meet nice people with whom it is easy to start friendships. But we also meet others whose actions towards us are so unjustifiable that it is impossible to relate to them. The best thing to do in such cases is to sever this unequal bond.

• I couldn’t remember the last time they contacted me first. It’s a small thing, but it definitely makes me feel like they don’t want to talk to me, so it’s better to take a step back. © satisfiedwhisper / Reddit
• When I wasn’t invited to the wedding and found out via social media. We had been friends for over a decade. I wouldn’t probably even have gone if the concern was to keep it small, but I would have at least received an announcement to send a gift and congratulations. I figured it was time to end efforts in the friendship. © jenneschguet / Reddit
• When I realized that she only ever got in touch with me when she wanted something. © AnyQualityStreetLeft / Reddit
• She didn’t seem as interested once I wasn’t as sad, I got a boyfriend and started a degree. I felt only good to her to make her feel better. Anytime we did meet, she would try to put down my achievements. © spanglesandbambi / Reddit

• My “best friend” asked me to be a bridesmaid, and I was so so excited about it. Weeks before the wedding, I saw the other bridesmaids getting their stuff on Instagram. Concerned me, texted and asked what was going on. Her response: “He didn’t want me to have a lot of them, so I had to take you out. It wasn’t my choice.” I was literally heartbroken. © Odd-Project-3539 / Reddit
• It was her birthday, and I had a gift for her. I texted her that morning, “Happy birthday, I have something for you!” She replied in the evening that she was home and I could drop by.
  I knocked on her door, gave her a hug and her gift, and saw that she was setting up for a party I wasn’t invited to. So that didn’t feel great. She realized what she’d done and gave me a weak, “I didn’t think you’d want to come.” And I was like, that’s so thoughtful of you, have a great time. And I left. © rf-elaine / Reddit
• I overlooked my friend getting married and not even telling me, let alone inviting me, because I don’t like his wife at all. But now, apparently, they have a second child together, and I wasn’t even told she was pregnant. We were friends for 10 years, and even occasionally, I’ll get a message from him, and not once does he bring up his wife being pregnant. © greenkyber / Reddit

• I was making efforts, but she just straight ignored me for months after I stopped paying for a subscription to her channel. She only reached out to tell me she was pregnant and sent a list of stuff she needed for the baby... Well, after I sent a gift, she has not talked to me since. She only thought of me as an ATM. Really, she only reached out when she wanted money. © buttonsaretheb*b / Reddit
• I know I’m being petty, but when they were down and had problems. They looked for me, I was their clown and their listener. But when I was pushing people away, none of them came forward to ask if I was doing ok. It went on for months.
  And the first text I received after several months was them asking for help. I gave the benefit of the doubt still. But last week, I texted them again, and the response was just a nail in the coffin. I should’ve ditched earlier as I realized, they exhausted me, and my energy. © mmightea / Reddit
• Went to lunch to “catch up”. Spent two hours listening to her complain about her life. Never once did she ask a single question about my life. Realized that it had been this way for a few years and thought it was definitely time to move on to the “somebody that I used to know” part of our friendship. I haven’t regretted it. © Cynic_Picnic / Reddit

• She stopped wanting to hear about my life— anything I said would get turned back around into something about her, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt. Then she ghosted a party she asked me to throw and was completely unrepentant about it. I told her how taken advantage of I felt, and she told me she didn’t care. This was a 20+ year friendship. © hisnameiselim / Reddit
• She was insanely competitive with me, and she’d be angry about anything I did well. She even asked our male friends, ’who is more attractive, me or her?’ I found out she deliberately stopped inviting me out with all our friends and told them to keep it a secret from me. They told me.
  I cut her out totally. Best friend of 10 years. Funnily enough, she tried to break into my industry, and had we still been friends, I’d have done whatever I could to get her in (high-end publishers where it really helps to know someone). She probably knew I was there. She must have hated me even more then! © Iworkinfashionblah / Reddit
• When I realized that every time we hung out, I had to go to her, she’d pretty much never come to me. And we always had to do what she wanted to do. Everything was on her time, her schedule/what was convenient for her. If I ever asserted myself, she didn’t like it or would get upset with me. I’m very glad I left that friendship behind. © sundayriley222 / Reddit

How did you realize that it was better to stop contacting a friend you loved but was hurting you? What do you think is necessary to have a healthy and lasting friendship?