Not every friend is meant to stay. Some are only there for a phase, a convenience, a habit, or a version of you that no longer exists. But people hold on. Because history feels expensive. Because loneliness looks worse. Because ending a friendship feels dramatic, and most of us would rather slowly suffer than be called “changed.” That is how bad friendships survive. Not through love. Through avoidance. Chanakya understood something people still struggle to accept: a person close to you is not automatically good for you. Access is not loyalty. Familiarity is not trust. And just because someone has seen your life up close does not mean they deserve a permanent seat in it.
