It’s never a good feeling to watch a friendship crumble and be broken beyond repair. You spend months, sometimes years building trust with, vacationing with, and opening up to a person that you think at the time is so much like you and will be your ride-or-die forever. Happy endings don’t always happen, but despite all the bad that might come from losing a friendship, it’s important to be thankful for the presence they held in your life and the lessons you learned from them.
Their Company
Life can make you feel alone sometimes, but with friends by your side, it’s not so bad. Be thankful for the times you made late-night fast-food runs, crashed parties, and even sat around doing nothing together.
The Memories
Inside jokes, stupid mistakes, and even public embarrassment are all things you share with your friends. Even if the friendship dissolves down the road, memories last forever. You have to acknowledge the fun times you had together.
Their Support
For all the moments they listened to you vent, cry, happy cry, wait around for your crush’s text, cyber-stalk almost everyone you knew, they were there. It doesn’t really matter so much anymore if you talk everyday or not at all. What matters is that at the time, they were there for you through thick and thin.
Their Family
Your ex-friend’s parents let you stay the night, make a mess, throw parties, and carpooled you around because by being their child’s friend, you were automatically family. You were invited for family dinners, vacations, weddings, and funerals. They were just as much a part of your life as you were of theirs.
The Lessons
You aren’t friends anymore for a reason, and it’s important to understand why. Everyone you meet in your life teaches you some kind of life lesson. Ex-friends teach you how to grow thick skin, not trust everyone, and rid yourself of the toxicity in your life (which sometimes is the friend themselves).
Losing friends is never fun. Sometimes it’s necessary, sometimes you drift away from one another. No matter the case, you must always remember to look at the glass half-full and be thankful for all the good they brought to your life, not just the bad.