As we grow older, we may find our relationships with people in our lives have evolved drastically.
There are usually no hard feelings when distance and life experience test the endurance of our friendships.
But, sometimes, it's time to cut our losses.
Curious to hear how people's friendships were deliberately cut short, Redditor ionlyhaveme asked:
"What ended your relationship with your best friend?"
The following people realized their friends' conniving and manipulative ways were no longer worth their time.
Toxic Friendship
"Their negative as hell attitude towards EVERYTHING including pretty innocuous, normal problems."
"I couldnt handle how bitter they had become...it was toxic."
Lies And More Lies
"She made up a story about being pregnant by rape, being addicted to pain killers, and then miscarrying said pregnancy. also she said she wanted my boyfriend and manipulated me into feeling guilty for being with him. she was dating someone else at the time. she admitted she was lying about everything in order to 'test my friendship'. I walked out that day."
The Philanderer
"He cheated on his girlfriend, who I was close friends with before I ever met him, multiple times with multiple girls and was then bragging about it. So I told her."
Romance complicates things. These Redditors can attest to that.
The Girl Whose Heart Belonged To Someone Else
"The girl he liked told him she liked me. That was the start of it. He just got distant after that happened. Then he got together with another girl who convinced him to stop hanging out with the rest of us and now we never hear from him."
Love In The Equation
"I had Feelings for him. He knew. After 4 years I couldn't torture myself anymore and ended the friendship. 3 months after that he claimed he always loved me. Oof."
First Love
"I had my first 'girlfriend' when I was 17. I was a super awkward kid (and a f'king a**hole) who had never even kissed a girl, and she was my first. She was a friend of my best friend who set us up as dates for junior prom. Well, we only 'dated' briefly, I was completely out of my depth, and she broke up with me after less than two months. About 2 months later, she was dating my best friend who set us up. Well, he texted me about it afterwards to ask if I was ok with it, and I lied and said I was.
As I said, first 'love' and all that, awkward teenage drama bullsh*t. Well, I bottled it up until the night before graduation almost a year later, I went to a baseball game with a few friends, but without my 'best friend', and I for whatever reason decided that that was the perfect time to tear him apart via text message. I went off, called him a bunch of horrific sh*t, and called him a p**sy for not even responding. An overwhelming feeling of 'what the f'k have I done?' washed over me. Well, graduation happens, he was crying when I saw him and said nothing to him. That night, my 'ex' texted me, and I brilliantly doubled down. Well, eventually a year or two passed and we patched things up, but we agreed that we would never really be friends again. I run into him once every few years and we are cordial. This was over a decade ago. Easily in the top three biggest regrets of my life."
Teachers Describe The One Student That They'll Never Forget | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Every teacher has that one student, or two, that leaves an everlasting impact. While a good impression is one thing, there are some lasting impressions that...A friend doesn't have to necessarily harm you personally in order for you to unfriend them. Their actions alone can speak for themselves.
The Embezzler
"He stole $300,000 from the company we both worked. It was over a period of time and I'm the one that figured it out."
– Rmanager
The One Who Went To Prison
"My best friend went to prison and came out a nazi. I'm not equipped to deprogram that and can't be around that."
A lot of Redditors also mentioned time was a common factor resulting in friends cutting each other off.
When neither person is willing to make an effort to reach out to the other, both are complicit in the demise of that friendship.
I have friends with whom I can pick up right where we left off, no matter how much time has passed.
Sure, life gets in the way, but those are the friendships I should make an effort to hold on to.
The moral of the thread is, if you have that one person in your life you think of fondly but fell out of touch with, it's never too late to reach out to them.
Why wonder what they're up to when you can easily DM or text them, or better yet, give them a random call. Life is short.
@kileywrestling/Bluesky
