The person who celebrates your quieter life is not depending on your exhaustion to feel close to you.

Some friendships run on shared depletion. The conversations are about how busy everyone is, and slowing down can feel like leaving the group, because the common ground was the strain itself. Someone who is genuinely pleased when your life gets calmer is showing you that the connection was never built on that. They liked you, not your schedule.

Notice who responds well when you say you are doing less. Not the ones who say you must be bored, but the ones who ask what you have been enjoying. And be that person for someone else when they tell you they have stepped back from something.