You're the Glue of Your Friend Group. Here's What That's Actually Costing You.
You know the role. You're the one who remembers birthdays without being reminded. You're the one who sends the "are we still doing this weekend?" text because if you didn't, the plan would quietly evaporate. You're the one who checks in after someone's hard week, even when nobody checked in on yours. People say things like "I don't know what I'd do without you" and mean it warmly, as a compliment. It rarely gets asked, in that same warm tone, what holding that role is actually costing you. I want to ask that question directly, because almost nobody else in your life is going to. Why this isn't really about being a good friend Being reliable in a friendship and being the only reliable one in a friendship are two completely different things, even though they get treated like the same compliment. A friend group with genuinely shared effort — where the plans, the check-ins, the remembering all get spread around — doesn't need a glue ...
