Psychology Today | 20.12.2025 22:47
You’re looking at your phone, and you open a photo album from a few years back—only to notice, right away, a familiar face. It stings to recognize this particular old friend: you were once so close to each other, but now you no longer speak. At all. Thinking back on this loss hurts more than you expected, and you have an impulse to mention it to someone, so you tap out your feelings in a text—but before you send it, you hesitate. Why should this bother you so much? It wasn’t an actual romantic “breakup,” and no one died or was lost forever. Is it really as big a deal as your feelings suggest?
