It took many years of painful thoughts and guilt until I realized that friends, are not a ‘burden’ you carry on for the entirety of your life. You do not have to feel guilty if you no longer keep in touch, or fit, with the people you used to hang out with in college or in high school.

People that I’ve met for only a few hours have made a bigger impact on me than people I’ve spend years of my life with. Long term friendships with the ‘wrong’ people feel like a one night stand; they give you momentary pleasure and sometimes chlamydia that take effort to get rid off!

I used to envy people that had lots of friends. People whose phone constantly rang on their birthdays. People who I thought they had it all. Now, I kind of feel sorry for certain of them. True friendships are measured in difficult times. Everybody is happy when you go along with their needs. When you never say no. When you’re a pushover. But, what happens when you start to say ‘NO’? What happens when you stand up for yourself to the people who knew that you would tag along with everything they suggested? How important are you to them?

After a certain age, I realized that the people I want around me, are the ones I have argued, fought, cried, felt blue and of course, laughed with and made it out alive and stronger!

Next time a person you call a friend, makes you feel uncomfortable or pushes you to do something you don’t feel like doing, stand up for yourself! And if after that you end up with one friend less, consider yourself lucky, because that person was probably not for you. In the long run I’ve reached to the conclusion that friendship is not about quantity… It’s about quality!