No one wants to lose a friend, but sometimes we must cut a "friend" loose for our own good.
Friends are amazing! When you have a true friend you want to be around them, you have fun together, you go through life with them experiencing the ups and downs of it together. A friend is loyal and has your trust. You know you can depend on them and that they are looking out for your best interests. You know your friend has flaws, as all of us do, but those flaws are endearing and while a friend might totally frustrate you, and there will be arguments, you manage to put aside your differences and work it out because you genuinely care for one another and don't want to lose the friendship.
However, friendships can go sour. It is hard to be friends with someone that does not treat you as a friend and unfortunately sometimes someone that started out as a good friend turns into a bad one. A friendship is a partnership, it only works if both people are willing to work at the friendship. Once one person gives up on the friendship it's not going to last very long. I do believe that not every friend is meant to be a lifelong friend. I think there are definately a few friends that you will have throughout your life time but there are others that are there for a season and if you try and extend the friendship beyond that point you will find it extremely frustrating and disappointing.
When do you end a friendship? That can be a hard question to answer. I believe that if a person is not treating you with respect, with love, if they are no longer giving to you and are only taking, if they are no longer interested in hanging out, they don't call etc ... it's time to let them go. Often when you start to question whether you should remain friends with someone there is a good reason for it. Even if you're not totally aware of what that reason is. Listen to that voice inside you that is questoining the relatoinship and take some time to evaluate your friendship. Chances are if you take some time to think about your friendship you will figure out the reason why there is that nagging voice inside of you saying it might not be a good idea to remain friends with this person any longer. Sometimes it's a big issue, other times it's a bunch of little things that have added up over time. Whatever the reason may be consider what your life would be like without this friend in it. Would it be less stressful, less drama-filled, less painful? If your friendship is causing you more stress and anguish than happiness that's a good sign that it's time to let that friend go.
Once you've made the decision to end a friendship how do you actually end it? Do you tell the person that you're ending the friendship, do you just ignore them until they go away and stop calling? I think there is no one good answer for this question. It depends on that particular friendship. Some friendships disolve naturally without having to really address the fact that the friendship is ending. This is especially true if you were the one that was keeping the friendship together. If you're the one that's always calling or making the plans to hang out and the other person never initiates they likely will not be banging on your door demanding to know why you've stopped calling. However, if it is someone that does initiate with you and you can't just fade out of their life without them noticing a conversation might be in order. This is not an easy conversation to have, but try your best to be honest and respectful of the other person's feelings. Don't lie or make up some elaborate story why you're not going to hang out with them anymore. Those stories almost always end up falling apart and then you've hurt the person even more because now they know you lied to get out of your friendship.
Ending a friendship is not easy but it's better to end a friendship that is no longer going in a positive direction. Remember the good times and be grateful that the person was in your life for a particular time period and don't focus on what they couldn't give you. Remember that at one point they were a good friend to you and that you did consider them a good friend, they just weren't meant to be in your life forever and that's OK.