Keep friends who make honesty easier, laughter natural, and absence safe.

There is a short test for whether a friendship is good for you. Can you tell the truth without bracing, does laughter happen without effort, and can you disappear for a month without it costing you anything. Relationships that pass those three tend to last decades with very little maintenance. Ones that fail them take a great deal of energy for the amount of warmth they return.

Run the three questions across the people you spend the most time with. Where a friendship fails on one, ask whether it can be raised or whether you have been investing out of habit. Then move some of your attention toward the ones that pass.