How to patch up a friendship that fell apart

There are many reasons this can happen and no matter how strong the bond is or no matter how long you have been friends with someone, it can happen sometimes without any way to stop it.

But if you know what some of the reasons for this happening are then you may be able to prevent it from happening in some situations before it actually occurs. So of all the different reasons why friendships may fall apart, here are the top most common reasons and if you see any signs of these things happening before they do, you may want to start taking steps to avoid them from causing problems later down the road.

Natural Changes This is the most common reason for friendships ending and breaking up. Life just seems to have a natural way of dividing people, almost as easily and as quickly as it brings people together. The same way you met a friend may be the same way you lose a friend. For example, you may have made new friends when you moved to a new town and you became very close to these people as you stayed in this town for many years.

But then you suddenly have to move or leave town for whatever reason and eventually you lose contact with these people.

This scenario is extremely common because most people will move or make major changes in their lives that can disrupt a friendship.

This will often open up your friend to looking at their involvement and responsibility in the situation. This seems like a simple action, but for many people it's so hard to do. Apologize for what you did wrong and mean it. Giving a strong, heartfelt apology without expecting anything in return is very powerful in rebuilding a friendship.

Giving your friend the space to really speak while you listen to them is extremely important when mending a friendship. The person needs to feel like they are being heard; let them speak for as long as they need to without interrupting, and really listen. After the relationship is cleaned up, the next step is to create an action plan for moving forward with your friendship. Are there requests to make? This is the time to be honest and let your friend know if there are specific things that drive you crazy -- and ask them the same.

The goal is to make the relationship better for both of you so that you can move forward in a healthy way. As a society, we have the mentality and think it's ok to blow up relationships or end them without addressing what happened. This causes us to have unresolved relationships in our lives that haunt us and affect us negatively on an unconscious level.

Fixing a friendship is usually worth the time and effort. Communication and expressing yourself are essential in cultivating a great relationship, and human relationships are really the foundation of our civilization and a true source of happiness. Main Menu U. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us.

Part of HuffPost Wellness. All rights reserved. By forgiving. Forgiveness puts an end to all. You have to set your pride aside and try to see the perspective from all sides. If you keep this in mind, you will be well on your way to forgiveness, rather than balancing the score. Finding out what went wrong is crucial if you want to avoid repeating the problem. Naturally, we tend to avoid diagnosing the problem. Viewing things in black and white seems easier and more practical.

But most of life, including friendships, come in shades of gray. The final step in mending a broken friendship is to rebuild respect. The goal is to rebuild respect by highlighting those qualities you like best about them. Next, you need to own up to your end of the relationship, as well, by offering a sincere apology for not being the kind of friend you could have been. Take ownership, and ask for forgiveness. If you do this, then mutual respect is almost certain. Some relationships will recover smoothly, and others may never regain the full joy they once had.

However, the satisfaction will only be known if you try! For more on this topic and other relationship issues, check out our new edition of Real Relationships. Have you rekindled a broken friendship? What steps did you take to resolve your issues? This article is factual and realistic, but it fails to factor-in cultural differences and spiritual contexts, and it also failed to address the main and major underlying root causes of broken relationships.

I wish the authors could do a sequel of this great write-up and try to squarely address the foregoing points in a very comprehensive manner.

I find all your blogs as being extremely helpful and I thank you very much for all that you do!!!!!! Some great thoughts and notes.