I never expected to grieve a friendship like I would grieve a death, but that's exactly what happened when a close friendship ended. We'd been through everything together—celebrations, heartbreaks, major life changes—and suddenly we weren't speaking anymore. The silence felt deafening. I kept reaching for my phone to text them about random things, only to remember that we were no longer part of each other's daily lives. The loss felt so profound, yet I didn't know how to talk about it because everyone else seemed to move on from friendships more easily. What made it harder was that there was no clear ending, no funeral, no ritual to mark what we'd lost. Just an awkward fade, unspoken hurt, and the strange experience of seeing pieces of their life on social media while feeling like a stranger. I found myself questioning everything—was I too much? Did I misread our connection? The friendship had shaped so much of who I was, and suddenly I had to figure out how to be myself without that reflection, that shared history, that person who knew me in ways others didn't. The healing wasn't linear. Some days I felt angry, other days grateful for what we'd shared, and sometimes just deeply sad for what would never be again. I learned that it's okay to mourn a friendship, to feel confused about how something so meaningful could just end, and to take time to process what that relationship meant to you. If you're navigating the loss of a close friend—whether through conflict, distance, or just growing apart—the grief you're feeling is real and valid.