For many, the older you get, the more friends you lose.

Take your minds back to primary school and the early stages of secondary school when everyone automatically became your friend after saying the simple ‘hello’.

There was no judging or looking down upon anyone as we were all in the same boat and ignorance was bliss.

Fast forward to the present, whether you’re a teenage fangirl or a middle-aged man who tends to enjoy one too many samosas, you know as well as me it definitely isn’t as easy to make friends anymore.

There are ‘cliques’ everywhere – not only at school but also in the office. Therefore, if you don’t ‘fit in’ to a particular group of friends, you automatically become alienated.

As a result when friendship groups are formed, the last thing you want is to lose them.

Except it happens to all of us and many struggle to react to the ‘break up’ as we should.

Excuse my sexism but girls are prone to friendship break-ups.

Being one myself, I’d like to think I know our species very well!

For some reason I have yet to discover, girls tend to be better friends than boys.

Girls are more likely to have stronger bonds with their friends and because of this they are hit harder after a break-up.

The phrase ‘best friend’ is thrown around between girls all the time and it really makes me question whether you can have a ‘best friend.’ From my own experience, I believe it’s possible but extremely difficult as the vast majority of best friend relationships end and most end horribly.

Now the way many girls (and boys) react to this is usually extremely negative which is why I chose to write this article.

Those who have experienced a break-up with a friend or best friend even, I totally understand how painful it can be.

I recently lost my best friend because of petty arguments and disputes and for a while it felt like I had lost an arm.

My instant reaction to the situation could have been to post a tweet attacking her or for those deluded Facebook addicts, post a nasty comment on her wall.

In all honesty, I did have occasions where I had to mentally prevent myself from turning to Twitter because of the anger and guilt that I had.

Mainly because I didn't want to hurt her feelings anymore than I already had.

The thought of someone meaning so much to you one day but absolutely nothing another is heartbreaking. You question everything you did and where it all went wrong; blaming yourself at every given opportunity.

It's vital you avoid the retaliation phase because the things said and done out of mere anger never fail to come back to haunt us. It’s hard to come to the realization that things will never be the same but one day you have to let it all go and remember that as cliché as it sounds, life does go on.

The true friends will always be there for you no matter what and those are the ones you need to hold on to.