“She was my best friend, but I was probably not hers.“
Last year, my best friend of two years blocked me out of the blue. This was after months of her ignoring my message asking if she was okay and what was wrong. She was going through her third separation from her husband, and I assumed she needed space. This separation seemed permanent this time because she had moved in with him and then broken a lease to end her relationship again a few months later.
She was what I always wanted in a best friend. We connected on our shared beliefs about how fascinating the world is, how everything is connected, and how society is warped by pride and selfishness. We talked and bonded for hours over similar childhoods, regrets, and loneliness.
I met her near the tail end of my seven-year-long relationship with the one I thought I would spend my life with. I met her after she had been separated for the second, and according to her, final time with her husband. Meeting each other at that time helped us bond over our growing self-respect and helped us cement what we wanted out of life and our partners. She was my best friend; I loved her with all my heart and wanted the best for her. Yet, looking back, I did not know what a good friendship entailed. That was my first mistake.
Growing up, I had few stable and meaningful relationships. I was the outsider wandering from friend group to friend group, exploring different people’s backgrounds and ideas. I found this more fascinating than talking to a set group of people about pop culture, politics, celebrity news or video games. Not that those are bad topics, but they are not for me. I always favored conversations about a person’s views on culture and society or their version of the meaning of life. I soon discovered that most children, teens, and young adults are indifferent to these topics. This is where my best friend differed; she loved these topics as much as I did, and I clung to her. That was my second mistake.
I wanted close friends, but they were few and far between. I developed the belief that I had to over-give to get love back. I did this to anyone that I liked and felt a connection with. I would drive them anywhere they wanted with whoever they wanted. I would buy them drinks, meals and tickets. I would plan day trips without reciprocation. I would drop everything to help them if they were struggling. I did all this with love even though it was exhausting because I was happy to have someone willing to be around me.
This dynamic also manifested in other unfavourable ways. I would ignore poor behaviour because I was eager to have company and a good friend. I would accommodate friends who cancelled on me at the last minute to hang out with others. I was the “therapist” friend who let others talk for hours without them asking anything about my life for weeks. I would plan hangouts only for them to add their friends and become the third wheel in a day I had planned. I would have people invite me to hang out and then tell me that they expected me to pay for them. It would take weeks for friends to message me back, and then they would pop up again and ask for a favor, and I would do it. The issue was that I would do it all with a smile because I cared about them, and I thought that was how you show love. I had always been a good friend to people who had abused my kindness because I cared and loved them.
Going back to my best friend, she would often cancel on me at the last minute. She sometimes stopped responding for weeks only to pop up to ask for a favor. She often cut our hangouts to less than an hour because she had other people to see and other things to do. It was common for her to only talk about herself and rarely ask about me. I had to plan the outings, and I always had to go where it was convenient for her. She was my best friend, but I was probably not hers. Near the end of our friendship, she pulled away and stopped answering my texts until weeks later. To this day, I do not know why she pulled away and then blocked me, but I have my suspicions.
I think back to our last conversation about how she was ending her relationship with her husband for the third time. For months, she was upset about how her husband was not interested in getting to know the “new her”. But, that week, he offered to get to know the “new her” by taking her on a first date again. I excitedly told her that was an improvement, and she should take him up on the offer, but she did not seem pleased with my response. She said she had given him time to do that before, but now it was too late. I told her to give him a chance one last time, as he was now trying to get to know the “new her” for the first time. She seemed displeased with this answer as well. I believe she wanted me to have the same point of view, which I was now denying her.
It may have been a mistake, but I told her I was finally happy after she had told me about her impending separation. I had a new loving boyfriend and great new friends. I had also started exploring the surrounding areas, which I had always wanted to do. I told her this because we had spent years hyping each other to build our dream life with the people we wanted. I thought I had finally done what we had discussed for years, but this was probably my insensitive mistake. Maybe she felt invalidated; maybe she did not like that my life was getting happier while hers was getting worse. I do not know, nor will I ever know, because that would be the last time we would speak. She cut our hangout to under an hour because she was not feeling well. I texted her a day later, asking how she was, and she never responded again.
My best friend ghosting me was devastating. I may have faults like everyone, but I had always prided myself on being an over-giving, accommodating, and loving friend. It angered me to know that this was insufficient to warrant a conversation about what I was doing that upset her or why she needed to end our friendship.
Her leaving ended my over-giving and tolerance of hurtful and disrespectful behavior. It also prompted me to examine other unfavorable friendship dynamics. If friends were going to leave regardless of what I gave them to my detriment, I might as well respect myself and have good, loving friends back. This meant some other friends had to go too.
I quickly noticed that I was almost always the first to message friends and plan fun hangouts and activities as I did with my best friend. It kept me exhausted and made me feel like, without my effort, the friendships would die. I stopped being the first to initiate conversations and hangouts with two good friends and waited for them to text first for once. Those friendships have now fizzled out because they never texted me back first. That was a painful lesson, but it is a lesson I am grateful to know now.
I also realized that another good friend only messaged me when they needed a ride and someone to keep them company while they did errands. I would plan day trips and activities for us, but they would save their plans and day trips for other friends. I ended that friendship formally. Within days, they bad-mouthed me to acquaintances who no longer invited me to hangouts. It was upsetting knowing that someone that I cared for would lash out like that to hurt me and my relationships with other people.
I was heartbroken because in six months, not only had I lost my best friend, but I had lost three close friends. It made me realize that friends will come and go, and nothing is wrong with that. Maybe they did not feel as connected to me anymore. Maybe we grew apart, and I was clinging onto them. Maybe they were pulling away and building friendships with other people, and I did not notice. Whatever their reasons are for no longer wanting to be friends, I would no longer be a doormat who over-gave to those I loved. I felt free.
Removing my old close friends opened me up to the possibility of new friends. In less than a year, I have made two new close friends. With these two new friends, the friendships feel equal; we mutually care and ask about each other and take turns planning hangouts. It has been great. Even though the friendships are newer, I feel less exhausted compared to my old friends. I now have the friends I have always wanted and who I love being with because I am no longer putting up with poor behavior in the name of love.
About the Author Madison Mussio
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