"Friendships come and go, but memories last forever."
Blah, blah, blah. I'm not sure if it's a characteristic of this generation or if it has always been around, but high-maintenance friendships are so prevalent and oh-so exhausting.
Let me walk you through a scenario. You meet someone, you connect with them, and you establish a friendship. Over time, the friendship gets tighter and stronger, and, before you know it, there's a mutual understanding that you are each other's closest companions. Then, stress increases, school gets tough, work gets hectic, and you don't have time for those late night drives and early morning coffee dates. All of your free time turns into scheduled sleeping or homework times. You literally do not have a second to yourself, and it's exhausting to even think about how you have every minute planned out for your week.
Suddenly, your friendship weakens and the other person becomes distant and, quite frankly, a little rude. They say you don't have enough time for them anymore and that you've changed as a person and they begin to give you low blows to make themselves feel better about potentially losing you. And, alas, the friendship ends.
Here's the issue:
Friendships like these are high-maintenance. Sure, I want to spend as much time with you as possible, and sure, I wish we could hang out every day like old times, but there are physically not enough hours in a day for that to all happen. There is nothing that can be done about it. Frankly, I thought the friendship we established was one that didn't need watering every single day to make it grow. I thought we were at a great point where both of us could go our separate ways and not have to worry about catching up every night.
When you come across a high-maintenance friendship, it's bittersweet. Of course you want to salvage every piece of friendship left and try to make it work, but let's be honest. The combined stress of what you have going on and what they are asking of you is a lot for any person to handle.
Tip-toeing around a friendship like this isn't easy. It's exhausting, actually. If you can successfully balance friendships, a social life, work, school, and play, I commend you.
