By Jasmin Acosta,
Healthy Planet Staff Writer
Throughout our lives, we meet people who become our friends, often impacting our lives in significant ways. Whether it is a friendship from childhood, a friend for a few months, or even years. As we grow and evolve, we often forget that our friends are evolving too—sometimes in ways that we could have not foreseen. Then there are moments where we question if we truly knew them at all. Yet, the foundation of life is built on constant change even if that change brings loss.
Friendships exist in a state of constant evolution, as we evolve as people and so do our friends and we watch one another change as time passes by. But sometimes a friend becomes someone that we no longer recognize no matter how long we have known them. This change can reveal a clash on values, it could be betrayal, or differences in personal evolution.
These transformations can be particularly painful when they are not simple differences, but fundamental distinctions where these changes actively hurt others. Within these moments, our grief is mixed with disappointment and even moral outrage. Oftentimes, we question how someone we trusted could change so much as a person to the point where they are unrecognizable. Then in hopes of finding answers we question ourselves to see if we might have missed warning signs that were always there.
Faced with such drastic changes could cause us to sometimes romanticize the past while clinging onto the good memories to avoid grieving. Since with grief we would be having to grieve the friendship, the person we once knew, and the bond that was once shared since those memories are no longer our current reality.
Grief is a natural part of life, just as growth is. Friendships drift apart and it is important to note that we are not bound to friendships based on the acknowledgement of time.
Our grief despite its difficulties shows us our ability to love deeply, the wisdom to recognize when the love is not reciprocated, and the strength to be able to honor our worth. Allow your grief to be proof of how deeply you cared — not a chain held down by nostalgia for what once was. This space left behind is not emptiness, but it is space for new relationships and for love that deserves to stay.