Is This Friendship One-Sided?

From our article “5 Signs of a One-Sided Friendship (and Exactly What to Do About Each)”: The difference between a friend who is busy and a friendship that only runs one way, and what to actually do about each.

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Think of the last three times you two saw each other. Who set them up?

Count it properly. Memory flatters whoever is doing the remembering.

All three of them, me.Mostly me, but they've reached out this year.Genuinely mixed. Neither of us keeps score.Mostly them, if I'm honest. I've been the quiet one.

When something big happened to you recently, what did they do?

Big in your terms, not objectively big.

Nothing. I'm not sure they know.Responded, but late, and I noticed the gap.Showed up, in whatever way they could.I never told them. That part is on me.

How would you describe the last six months for them, honestly?

A rough patch and a pattern look identical from the inside. Time is what tells them apart.

Ordinary. Nothing that would explain going quiet.Genuinely hard. New job, new baby, something heavy.Busy for both of us, and we've handled it fine.Mine were the hard ones, and I withdrew from everyone.

If you stopped reaching out entirely, what do you think happens?

The question the whole thing turns on.

Nothing. It would just quietly end.They'd notice eventually. It might take a while.They'd call and ask where I'd gone.I already stopped, and I'm the one wondering about it.