friendship

Advertisement

Closure is a funny thing; it’s never entirely clear to us what we are trying to find when we’re looking for it. Oftentimes we want to express our side of the story before we let go of the other person completely; other times, we’re secretly hoping to reignite a friendship or a past love affair; but every time it’s a

Man wonders if reaching out to an ex-best friend for closure is worth it after three years of no contact: ‘I feel like doing that might help me finally let her go completely and close that chapter on a good note’

Friendships are something most people want, yet not as many people make an effort to find and maintain them. It’s a tough subject because socially, we assume it's something people should naturally know how to do, and I’m starting to think many people fail at it because it doesn’t come as naturally to everyone.

Man wonders whether people are putting less effort into maintaining friendships, or whether people don’t want to be around him: ‘They always say “we need to hang more”/“we need to do this again soon!” and then they never reach out to set something up’

Advertisement

I never thought baking delicious brownies could be implemented as a revenge tactic. Being 100% honest, I don’t even think the people who ate them understood it as such, but I’ve now got to a way deeper realization: Maybe the only one who needs to feel the revenge worked is the one who did it.

Student cooks delicious brownies as revenge against annoying teammates: ‘Even years later, I occasionally get a message from a group member asking for the recipe. I ignored them all’

As we get older, we realize that being part of a group often costs money. We have to go for drinks, we celebrate birthdays, and we have dinner parties. On birthdays, we buy gifts, drinks cost money, and dinners are expensive, even if they are hosted by a friend of ours. For some people, it’s very hard to assume you don’t have that much money, and they’d rather fake it ‘til they make it.

Man exposes friend who always expects someone else to cover her bill during dinner parties: 'Before ordering, I quietly asked if everyone was okay paying for their own meals. Everyone agreed'

The much-feared group projects Back when I was in college, I had to work in groups all the time, and many of these things happened to me. And I suppose they happened to anyone who went through any sort of formal education.

College student is forced to do a group project in which nobody does anything so she decides to get revenge: 'I let the excruciatingly silent seconds drag on every single time, looking slowly to both of them with each question and taking my sweet time'

Advertisement

This story is the final proof that no absolute narrative exists; two people can have two opposing interpretations of what happened, and most of the time there is no use in trying to convince one of them otherwise.

Woman thinks her best friend of ten years is in love with her, friend says she is not and she doesn't believe it: 'Now, years later, I still question myself. Was there something I was unconsciously feeling and suppressing?'

Weddings are life-altering events; when we’re getting closer and closer to them, our opinion changes, new fears arise, and we might feel called to call it quits.

Man was supposed to be a groomsman on his 22-year-old friend's wedding until he cancelled it and ran away with another woman, now he wants to request reimbrusement for his investments: 'I want my money back for everything I put into HIS wedding'

Introverts and extroverts speak different languages. The same event can be experienced in totally different ways depending on whether the person experiencing it is an introvert or an extrovert.

26-year-old leaves a hangout early because her friend didn't tell her she was bringing another friend, and now she questions her reaction: 'Later she went to chat with a table of pilots, and again I felt left out'

Advertisement

Luckily, most of this intense drama happens in high school and stays there. Still, years later, we find out we’re paying the price to this day with numerous insecurities and sensitivity around certain topics.

Best friend of six years dates the guy her friend liked in high-school, leaving her questioning if the friendship was toxic or if she is viewing everything from the lens of her own hurt: 'Was this friendship unhealthy from both sides?'

This character flaw is rather hard to live with if a friend has it. You do your best; you tell them reunions start an hour before they actually start, so if they arrive one hour late, they are actually early.

Woman is always more than 40 minutes late to every event and friend doubts if she should confront her about her chronic tardiness or not: 'It's getting worse but at the same time I don't think she does it on purpose and I don't want to hurt her feelings'

There’s a fine line between helping someone and enabling them. I’ve been in situations myself where friends of mine acted stingy with their stuff. In those cases, helping out wouldn’t have been a way to enable me, but I understand everybody draws the line in a different place. This woman seems puzzled about the way she acted towards a friend of hers.

31-year-old woman refuses to offer her spare bedroom to her friend who's being kicked out and becoming homeless: 'I do feel bad, however I don’t feel responsible to offer my spare room'

Advertisement

Oftentimes, we normalize the way we naturally act around friendship and never stop to think: Am I being a good enough friend? This is precisely what this Redditor started to do after she noticed most of her friends cancelled on her at the last minute. My take on the topic is that her friends doing that doesn’t necessarily mean she is a bad friend; it might even mean she has bad friends lol.

28-year-old woman wonders how can she become a better friend after all her friends cancel on her last minute and thinking her being a bad friend is causing that: 'I feel like I should be a better friend so people would actually want to spend time with me'

friendship bad friend wedding party wedding planning wedding drama bridesmaids friend drama engaged engagement bridezilla Weddings - 45955589

Bride-to-be asks her best friend of 17 years to be a bridesmaid, tells her it will cost $4700 and gets offended when the friend can't afford it: ‘[I do not] want to spend the next year managing other people’s limitations’

Giuliana Tiscioni

Nobody else but us can say what’s important for us in our friendships and in our lives. When we constantly feel somebody else doesn’t listen to us, it’s ok to listen to that feeling, but sometimes we get glimpses of something else that might be going on. It’s always ok to try to have an honest conversation with ourselves, or with a forum on the internet lol, and see whether we are exaggerating through our pretensions or not.

Guy constantly feels unheard and overriden over "little things" but refuses to be more direct when they happen: 'If I did the same things he did, to my own mother, she would get incredibly angry'

Advertisement

Big events have a way of bringing everything into light. Those days, when our feelings are exacerbated and expectations are high, old dynamics we’ve gotten so used to that we stopped noticing them show themselves again at full force. The resulting feeling is bittersweet; we see something clearly now- which is in itself a blessing, but what we see isn’t beautiful at all.

Bride abruptly ended a 10-year friendship with her maid of honour after what happened on her wedding day: 'Eventually I asked her for honesty and closure. What I got back shocked me.'

friendship new girlfriend friends trip relationships ex wife divorce boundaries trip pet sitting relationship drama Relationships - 45947653

Ex-husband refuses to let ex-wife dog-sit at his house while he’s on a couples trip with his new girlfriend, friends cancel over pet-sitting drama: 'If the roles were reversed, I'd do whatever it took'