Have you always felt guilty for not always being present for your friends?<\/p>\n
Maybe you haven\u2019t replied to them right away, or maybe you declined a plan for a hangout, or maybe you just needed some time alone. Suddenly you\u2019re out questioning whether you\u2019re being an awful friend or not.<\/p>\n
In a world that glorifies constant availability and quick replies, choosing yourself can feel selfish, even when it\u2019s necessary. However, the truth is, needing space doesn\u2019t make you selfish, cold, or distant. <\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t make you a bad friend\u2014it makes you human. And those friends who are truly real will understand you. <\/p>\n
With the rise of social media and fast modes of communication\u2014rapid replies and immediate \u2018seen\u2019 receipts\u2014have reshaped how we view availability. This has also reformed how we view friendships\u2014with availability often being equal to being a good friend, and slow and distant replies meaning being a bad friend. <\/p>\n
There is always a pressure to respond, to always be around, and to be present and available just to prove that you\u2019re a good friend. However, this is not always an easy task, especially in the world of adulthood. It’s hard most especially for people who are struggling with mental health, for people who are introverts and find peace in their solitude, or just for people who are busy navigating through adulting. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s important to remember that needing your own space doesn\u2019t equate to being a bad friend. While catching up often with your friends is important, constant communication\u2014or the lack thereof\u2014isn\u2019t always a basis of friendship. Not responding immediately doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re drifting apart or outgrowing each other or just overall being an awful friend.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t expect our coworkers or romantic partners to be in constant contact 24\/7, so why do we need to put that pressure on our friends? True friendship is measured by how safe you feel to be yourself without them, and not feel guilty about it.<\/p>\n
Healthy friendship is being able to say, \u201cHey, I just need a few days to recharge\u201d, or \u201cI may not reply to you these days\u201d, without the fear of hurting the other person. It\u2019s knowing that you can go quiet for a bit to recharge without constantly worrying about offending them. <\/p>\n
In true and stable friendships, having to ask for space isn\u2019t taken personally. Instead, it\u2019s respected. The best friends won\u2019t guilt you for needing rest; they\u2019ll understand, and they\u2019ll still be there when you\u2019re ready to reconnect. <\/p>\n
Friendship shouldn\u2019t feel like a full-time job that demands constant updates, replies, and emotional labor just to prove it\u2019s real. The truth is, the healthiest friendships give you room to rest, to breathe, and to just be yourself without the guilt. We are constantly growing and going through difficult circumstances in our lives, and sometimes that means wrapping ourselves in our own cocoons once in a while. That doesn\u2019t mean we are leaving our friends behind at all. <\/p>\n
Retreating to find our solitude is normal, and that\u2019s okay! The friends who matter will understand that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You can love people deeply and still need time away from them. It’s okay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":261436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-261435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-thetalk"],"zyndk8_nxtgen_metadata":{"nxtgen_comments":[{"5591":"real friends understand always \ud83d\udc96\r","5592":"soooo trueee \ud83e\udd79\r","5593":"ang ganda ng message neto promise \ud83e\udd7a\u2728\r","5594":"relate \ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\ud83d\ude2d\r","5595":"respect each other \ud83e\udd7a\r","5596":"ganda ng message \ud83d\ude2d\r","5597":"need ko to ma-remind lagi \ud83d\ude2d"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=261435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/261436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=261435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=261435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uptownmanila.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=261435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}