‘I love you but... just as a friend’, is something which is not pleasant to anyone’s ears. Honestly, it is bad to have romantic feelings for someone and know that they also care for you, just not in the same way.
Courtesy the modern day to day lingo, a term has also been coined for this situation: The Friend Zone.
Even our Bollywood movies have shown that being in this zone is not great. Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) friendzoned Anjali (Kajol) in ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) was sent to this zone by Maya (Katrina Kaif) in ‘New York’ and even Aditi (Kalki Koechlin) could not be more than ‘just friends’ for Avi (Aditya Roy Kapur) in ‘Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani’.
While the entire globe is rejoicing in a celebratory mode as the Friendship day falls tomorrow, this day might not be one of the best days for many. These are the ones like our beloved cinema characters who are forced to settle for being just friends when they want much more.
To all those, who have almost lost hope, here are 5 ways to break free from this ‘friend zone’. So tomorrow, if your ‘love of the life’ calls you to tell you that they love you but only as a friend, here is what you should do.
Have a look:
Don’t be too available:
The one thing which is common to all people who are stuck in the ‘friend zone’, is that they are too available for the other person. Whether it is the emotional support you lend, or your habit of hearing to every problem of theirs, or coming to aide very quickly; you turn to be the person they think of only when they need something. Breaking through this habit is what may let them see your worth.
Be more than ‘just friends’
Know how the other person sees you:
Now, you might think that what wrong are you doing that you can never break through the friend zone. As it turns out, it doesn’t depend on your perception of yourself but on that of the other person. You might believe that you have all qualities of a good boyfriend/girlfriend, but that might not be the case. Identifying how they see you in an honest way is crucial. Get a clear idea on this and maybe then you can get out of it.
Confess your feelings:
As it happens, being subtle doesn’t always help. It is easy to think that the other person might know about your feelings from your actions, but that might not be the case. Rather than giving out signals and waiting for a response, it would be better if you just tell them how you feel. Worst case scenario, the person won’t reciprocate? Well, you are not in a great place right now either.
Be more than ‘just friends’
Get a life:
Now, you may think you have a life, but it kind of revolves around the other person only; which is definitely not a good idea! Getting a life is very important in getting the other person to see you as a real person, with other things going on in your life besides fantasizing many things. The minute you make yourself less available is the minute they start wondering what you're up to.
Accept and move on:
Sometimes, you just cannot do anything. No matter how hard you try, you can’t force someone to develop romantic feelings for you. If being ‘just friends’ is getting really tough for you emotionally, the best thing is to quit. This way you save yourself from a heart break and the other person from the guilt of hurting their best friend.
