It is such a luxury and achievement to have a loyal friendship with a great group of people. You’ve been the best of friends since high school, and carried your friendship up until this point. But sometimes, things can take a turn for the worst when you’re stuck in the middle of a friendship battle where two or more of your friends are at a disagreement. You hate seeing this happen, but there are ways that can you can cope and still retain a friendship with both of the friends at stake.
One of them might feel like you’re paying more attention to one than the other. In this case, it’s important that you let both of your friends know that you still see them as the friends you had before everything went wrong. Remind them of past memories, late night phone calls, and class shenanigans that made you all the friends that you all are now. This might encourage them to cherish the friendship they used to have, and lead to forgiveness and a better future.
Also, try to avoid being the middle man or the messenger. If things are said about the other person, try to refrain telling that person what they said. With that being said, don’t “choose sides”. That will only make matters worse and add more fire to the flame. Staying neutral is the best you can do. All this does is instigate and makes matters worse. You don’t want to be looked at as a fake person, that acts a certain way when a person isn’t around. Try to avoid bringing up that person as much as possible to avoid any harmful things being exchanged.
Bringing them together for a sit down may not be the most beneficial thing to do. For one, they may not both cooperate with one another, and that could lead to even more problems. They aren’t ready to see each other just yet. You should let them deal with their problems at their own rate, and not go against the flow of the universe.
If things don’t get resolved at all, that isn’t to say it won’t change in the future. Time heals all. With due time, and reflection, the problem could either be forgotten or solved. Keep in mind things like this do happen. If everyone is friends like they say they are, they’ll let this dilemma go away and proceed in pursuing the same friendship presented. More than likely, if things aren’t resolved, they’ll keep their distance away from each other. They’ll remain civil with less prevalent animosity. If they don’t forgive one another or feel like the friendship has run its course, you’ll have to accept that decision. Of course, it’s not what you wanted to amount to, but trying to rekindle something that is already died out won’t help either.
One last important thing to remember is that you can still be friends with both of them! You aren’t the reason why they have a disagreement, so don’t feel as though you’re being punished. You want nothing but the best out of the situation. Things like this are unfortunate, but you can still appreciate the friendship you have with each of them individually.
