Sadly, there will be times in our lives when we have to let go of a friendship. Rather than holding onto the friendship, we will have to walk away. Some friendships over time are simply not good for our mental or emotional health. If you are wondering if it is time to let go of a friendship, here are five signs to look out for.
1. Your Friend Is Not Supportive
The first sign to look out for is if your friend is not supportive of you. If your friend is consistently not supportive of you, it’s time to let go of the friendship. Letting go of friendships can be hard, yet sometimes it is vital to distance yourself from the other person.
When a friend is not supportive, it can make you feel bad about yourself, or it can cause you to doubt yourself. True friends are always supportive of one another and kindly help each other when things go wrong.
Whether you have gone through a breakup, a job loss, or the death of a loved one, your friend should be supportive of you. If your friend is unsupportive, it’s a good sign you should distance yourself and let go of the friendship.
After going through a breakup, a job loss, or the death of a loved one, true friends would be supportive and walk with you through the pain. They wouldn’t leave you to suffer alone in the heartbreak and pain, nor would they make you feel guilty or tell you the situation is your fault.
If you have found that your friend hasn’t been supportive of you during these hard times, take time to reassess the friendship.
2. Your Friend Lies to You
A second sign it’s time to let go of a friendship is if your friend lies to you. All friendships need to be based on trust. If your friend has consistently lied to you, it’s a good idea to let go of the friendship.
If your friendship is not based on trust, then it is based on lies. Lies are going to destroy the friendship in time, even if you don’t let go of the friendship right away.
If a friend lies to you, you will have a tough time trying to decipher the truth from lies. In these twisted mind games, you need to approach your friend and address his/her behavior.
Trust is something that is hard to earn back in relationships, and we need to be mindful that we always speak the truth.
Once a person is known to lie to others, many people will not trust the lying individual anymore. If your friend has been lying to you, it is a sure sign it’s time to let go of the friendship.
3. Your Friend Is Jealous of You
A third sign it’s time to let go of a friendship is if they are jealous of you. Has your friend ever become bitter after you got into a relationship, graduated from college, or had a job promotion?
If you have seen that your friend easily becomes jealous of you rather than being happy for you, it’s a sure sign it’s time to distance yourself from the friendships.
True friends would rejoice with you when they learn you are in a healthy relationship, that you graduated college, or had a job promotion. Our friends should be our biggest cheerleaders, as we should be our friends’ biggest cheerleaders.
Friends who are jealous normally will ghost you or act bitter after something positive has happened to you. This is because they are jealous rather than being happy with you.
When friends are jealous instead of being happy for us when something good happens, it can make us feel crestfallen or upset that our friend isn’t happy for us like we would be for them.
You deserve to have true friends who rejoice with you rather than being jealous of you. There are true friends out there — it just might take some time to find them.
4. Your Friend Makes You Feel Bad about Yourself
A fourth sign it’s time to let go of a friendship is if your friend makes you feel bad about yourself. Friends should never make each other feel bad about themselves. Sadly, I have experienced this trait in many friends that I have had to let go of.
Rather than being supportive and helpful, many of my friends made me feel bad about myself. When I opened up about struggling with depression, anxiety, and anorexia, they judged me and made me feel bad about myself rather than extending compassion and kindness.
Whenever a friend makes you feel bad about yourself, it’s time to go. Allowing others to make you feel bad about yourself will only allow self-doubt to grow in your mind.
From my perspective, it is best to surround yourself with friends who are supportive, encouraging, and kind.
It is never okay for a friend to make you feel bad about yourself because if they were a true friend, they would have never had the thought to rise in their minds to say a hurtful comment or to do hurtful action towards you.
5. Your Friend Starts Rumors about You
A fifth sign it's time to let go of a friendship is if your friend starts rumors about you. A true friend would never start a rumor about you. Similar to the importance of a friend not lying to you, if a friend starts rumors about you, they are not to be trusted.
Those who talk bad about us behind our backs can never be trusted because if they have done it once, they will do it again. While it is kind to give others the benefit of the doubt, one also has to exercise caution in their friendships.
Rumors are destructive and can tear a person’s reputation down to the ground. If you have been the victim of rumors, you know how bad it can get.
I, too, have been the victim of many rumors that made me feel horrible about myself and caused others to look down on me because of the rumors.
Long story short, true friends will not start rumors about their friends. If your friend has started a rumor or rumors about you, it’s time to walk away from the friendship.
Leaving a Friendship
It is always difficult to leave a friendship, but if they have not been supportive of you, have lied to you, have been jealous of you, made you feel bad about yourself, or have started rumors about you, it’s best to let go of the friendship.
True friends do not do these things to their friends. In fact, they will do the exact opposite. True friends will be supportive of you, be honest with you, be happy for you, make you feel good about yourself, and never start rumors about you.
Finding true friends is difficult, yet when you find true friends, you will find that they are well worth the wait.
In our own friendships, we also need to make sure that we are not engaging in these toxic behaviors toward our friends. Friendships should always be built upon trust, kindness, and compassion.
True friends are always there for their friends and will always stand up for their friends. We need to make sure we are also true friends who speak truth, love, and kindness into our friends’ lives. The Lord wants us to have healthy friendships with others and with Him.
For further reading:
How Do We Show Love to Toxic People?
5 Proverbs for Friends When They Disagree
What Does the Bible Say about Choosing Friends?
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