Saying Good-Bye to Friends

For months on end, I've been reevaluating all of the friendships and relationships that are currently present in my life so it only made sense that I asked myself a ton of questions. "What role does this person play at this very moment? And is the role a positive one?"

"Does this person challenge me?"

"Are we in personal contact?"

If the answers were "Yes" to all three of these questions, I would keep the friendship as is. Consequently, if I answered "No" to any of these questions, I would start to further reexamine our current friendship because that one word answer speaks volume in itself. I guess one of the most heartbreaking realizations I had was when I reached that "A-hah" moment and learned that I had somehow moved on with my life and so have they. Although the move has been gradual, it has also been building up to this very day in which I have decided to look back only to see that everything has changed. Maybe it was me, maybe it was my respective friend. Either way, life took us to two different races and whether I like it or not, we're no longer working towards that same path.

I've been incredibly distraught and upset this entire weekend. At one point or another, these people would have been sitting front row at my wedding (If I were to ever get married, of course). It's fascinating that that it happened to such long-term friends of mine, but it is what it is. Truth of the matter is that we have all evolved and that evolution is just a part of a growing process that we can't avoid.  Of course, that sense of disconnect has bothered me (and it still does), but after talking to my best friends and Jonathan, I learned that it's okay to let go even if you don't want to.

When you think of successful people, you think of the sacrifices they've made in order to get to where they are at. You think about the amount of work and hour they've put into their craft in order to become masters of it. But let's take a different route and look at one of the most important things in terms of the road to success: who you surround yourself with. I've talked to so many people I've admired and they've all told me one thing--- keeping the right company will make all of the difference.

I will never trade my group of network for all the riches in the world, but at this point in time, I am learning how to say good-bye. Our plus number of years of friendship used to be a top priority of mine, but it isn't anymore. I cannot blame myself or them. The only real thing to blame is life. Life has decided that we were better apart than we are together so that's something we all have to learn to accept. With any loss comes gains. I've been fortunate enough to have some pretty incredible people entering my life so I cannot be one to complain.

To my friends, I wish them nothing but the very best and whether they know it or not, I will always look at our friendships in a beautiful light.