26-year-old woman wonders how to successfully terminate a friendship after she got too demanding: 'Expecting to be chosen over other friends / my boyfriend, always needing to plan our next meet up asap'

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  via Kelly Sikkema

  A visual representation of what a friendship breakup can feel like

• How do I end a friendship?

  
  via Whoaknowsa3
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  via Whoaknowsa3
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  via Whoaknowsa3
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  via Swello

  A model representing the friend calling to make plans and grant unwarranted advice

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  via Whoaknowsa3
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  via Whoaknowsa3
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  via Whoaknowsa3

• Sometimes affection is unrequited, plain and simple. And other times it’s just a matter of love languages: one wants to see the other all the time, and the other doesn’t. I personally don’t think these things can be resolved through talking. I know it’s a controversial take, but not everything is solved through talking. If, in order to just exist in the relationship, we have to accommodate huge parts of our personalities and make great efforts, then it’s just not meant to be. Of course, we have to compromise sometimes, and it’s normal to do that in friendship and in romantic partnerships, but it can’t be all we do. If an issue is so fundamental, it's best to just let that connection go. Life has a way to put the right people in front of us later, and in front of them. We should let them be free and go find their perfect match asap. Anyway, I’m avoiding the question. How does one do it?

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  via Whoaknowsa3
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  via Vitaly Gariev

  A representation of the two friends breaking up

• People in the comments advise her to disappear little by little. I dissent. That can send the friend into a pain spiral, and given her characteristics, I think it’s better to be blunt and assertive. I don’t mean saying she has a problem or anything; that part can be avoided. Just saying that right now you don’t feel like continuing the friendship, that you value her, but you find yourself in a place that blablabla. I would advise against calling her out on her presumed defects; it’s besides the point, and also, they’re just an opinion, they don’t matter because you don’t want to continue the friendship. Maybe there is another person who will appreciate her for who she is now. It would be an ‘It’s not you, it’s me’ situation. I don’t think this is the right strategy for every friendship breakup, just for her, because she seems to need strong boundaries to understand. What do you think?

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