When is it time to move on to new friendships?

My daughter and I have been talking about friends this week.I think sometimes we have people in our lives who are great friends at certain seasons of life but as life changes you may find you have nothing in common anymore.
I think as others have said lockdown has made some of us realise we are happy doing less and that being on our own more is ok.

Unfortunately, friendships sometimes run their course. If you find you’re putting all the effort in with none from her side back off and and see if she does contact you. Maybe you could send the friend you lost touch with a Christmas card, saying you often think of the good times you had together and hope she is well and happy.

We sometimes grow out of old friends as we make new ones. I'm absolutely rubbish at keeping in touch but always glad to hear from them or meet up.

I only have the time for two or three, though, as I have a large family and I'm not very sociable - prefer to be alone.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I think that having the space we have had due to lockdown has given us a lot of time to reassess what works. I was dropped by a few friends, maybe because their mental health suffered? I will never know because they didn't reply to messages. It hurt, but I wrote it off and moved on. I have not made replacement friends yet, just got used to my own company.

Another friend I have is really rubbish at replying to messages. She can read a message and not reply to it for 2 weeks. I'm really fed up with that, so I have started to make less effort with her. It's sad, but hopefully new friends around the corner for us!

Thank you everyone for your wise replies to my query, I’ve so much to think about. I’ve always known there needs to be a two way communication between friends, one person cannot always be the one to chase the other one up I’ll think about what I’ll need to do if I want to continue the special friendships I’ve had in the past.

You don't have any obligation to be the one making all the effort in a friendship. Its OK to take a step back and see what happens. You don't necessarily have to make the decision to cut them off, just that you won't persue them anymore.

Sometimes it may be painful and you may not know why a friendship has fizzled out and sometimes you may feel more connection to others and place them above old friendships. I think it's normal and natural?

I have had the same friends for a long time and it tends to be newer ones that come and go for me. I never shut any doors though unless there is something about them that troubles me. So sometimes we talk and sometimes we go long periods without speaking.

If your not close enough to know if there’s a reason then you’re not a friend
A friend is someone you care about and keep in touch with to know their ups and downs, an acquaintance is someone you occassionly have contact with
So the ‘friend’ you speak of is no longer in your circle so as juliet says do nothing it’s done, gone, finished

If you want to reignite the friendship then get in touch and do as Aldom's suggested. If not then as Juliet says do nothing.

Perhaps your friend hasn't been keeping in touch with you because she is experiencing problems in her own life. Family illness, bereavement, who knows? Have you asked her recently how she is?

Nothing!