A rough season is a free audit of your friend list. The ones still texting you are the real ones.

Difficulty sorts people without asking anyone’s permission. Some drift once you stop being easy company, and some send a message on a Tuesday for no particular reason. That sorting hurts, and it is also accurate, which is information you could not have bought any other way. Knowing who your people are is worth something, even at this price.

Rather than counting who went quiet, notice who stayed and tell them. A short message naming the specific thing they did is enough. Put the energy you have left into those few instead of into an audit of everyone else.