If you’re able to stay above the crossroads, express gratitude for the road you’ve traveled, and then see together that you’re on different paths, such a conversation can be very valuable, according to Knops. “You have to greet the other person with sweet words, and it’s not always within our power to do so. Being rejected hurts, we’re all sensitive to that. It triggers you. As a latecomer you are powerless because having nothing can decide.”
To be clear, you don’t need an exit interview, Knops points out. “Friendships can also just fade away. The beautiful thing is when it’s experienced with each other. You often see waves of intensity in the friendship, with quiet periods, and then, when there’s more time or the kids are older, it picks up again. This possibility it is greater if the friendship has been put on the back burner in a quiet way”.
