Do you sense that you and a close friend have been drifting apart? Maybe you only connect via text or FaceTime on birthdays and other special occasions whereas before your spouses had to beg each of you to get off the phone every day. Or, perhaps you met up for lunch once a week and now you're lucky if you can convene once a year. Take heart: It happens in many a friendship. What truly puts friendships to the test is when both people find themselves in different stages of life. Or, they can be in the same stage of life and just be too preoccupied to attend to one another like they did in the heyday of the friendship. This can include one or both individuals: Getting a new (and more demanding) job.  Moving to a different city.  Making new friends.  Hooking up with/marrying someone. Having children. Taking up new hobbies and interests. As people get older, their priorities do change, which leaves less time for friendships. But in the strongest f...

Sometimes it's hard to accept the fact that certain people whom we were once very close to know nothing about our lives anymore. I've noted the reasons why people can drift apart in other posts. Some of those include: A major life change (marriage, kids, etc.) Someone moves far away A job change that places major demands on the person  One person begins to hang out with a different crowd When both people experience such lifestyle changes simultaneously (e.g., both graduate from college at the same time), the changes don't feel nearly as drastic, and the adjustment process can is almost seemless. But when only one person changes course, the other is often left with a major void in his or her life. This happened to me a few years ago. My closest friend -- the best man at my wedding, in fact -- moved to a city 5 hours away from me. Though we see each other occasionally, our friendship hasn't been the same since. If I'm lucky, I'm able to get ...

Some of us have a tendency to become very attached to people in our lives, whether friends or coworkers. Maybe we grew up with them, have worked them for 20 years, and/or have shared a bevy of great experiences with these people. Sometimes we can't help but hold people in high regard, going so far as to consider them more like family than our actual relatives. However, as noted in many of my posts -- including some within the last week or two -- we often have a hard time accepting changes (whether abrupt or gradual) in their behavior, which ultimately change the dynamics of our relationship with them. Here are a few examples of ways people can change: 1. They get in a relationship, tie the knot, and/or have kids, leaving them with little or no time for you.  I have a friend who fell off the map last year while he was in a relationship with his ex. Once the relationship ended, he reverted back to his old ways, wanting to hang out with my wife and I almost every weekend. Ne...