Not all friendships are meant to last. It's sad to think about, but just like other types of relationships, they sometimes break up or fade away. Sometimes we try our very best to fix the problems in a friendship, but find that we just can't do it. It happens to everyone.

People change
As people grow older, their interests, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors begin to change. These changes can have big effects on friendships. Maybe you started hanging out with someone because you both like skateboarding, but now you've moved on to other things and he hasn't. Or maybe the changes are much bigger, and have to do with the way you see the world or your attitudes towards life.

Friendships should be flexible enough to survive certain types of change, but if you find that the changes have created differences that you can't get past, it may be time to let the friendship go.

Friendship should be good for you
We keep friends because they make our lives more fun, more meaningful, or easier to deal with. Friendships are not all about rainbows and laughter-- we should stick by our friends in bad times as well as good. But if a friend causes you nothing but trouble, stress, and grief, or you find that the friendship is a lot more work for you than it is for the other person, then you might consider ending the relationship.

Difficult friends AREN'T better than none
As hard as it may be to believe, sometimes it's much better to spend some time without a close friendship than to hang on to a painful one. Most of us don't like to be alone, but someone who fills your life with hurt and trouble isn't really a friend. It may be time to walk away and concentrate on finding friends who will be true to you.

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife
Copyright © 2005 CastleWorks, Inc. All rights reserved.