When we give our love and friendship to someone and receive little of the same in return, we can wonder if we’re doing something wrong or start believing they just don’t care that much about us. Either way, the lack of receiving something more has the power to hurt us and often does.
We can talk to them about it and hope the relationship improves, but sometimes it’s simply a case of expecting more out of someone than they’re capable of. It’s this reality that should prompt us to reevaluate the relationship and decide if an unequal friendship is worth having.
I know it can be hard to distance ourselves from people we love and I’m not suggesting we should give up easily on our relationships with them. But there needs to come a time when we realize we’re hurting ourselves more than they are and love ourselves enough to end any emotional pain we feel.