Difficulty: Explorer (Level 1)
It’s not fun to feel left out. Try telling your friends how you feel. It might be tough to think about when you’re hurt, but no one is a mind reader. Even good friends need to be told how you feel sometimes.
If they do something fun again without inviting you, you can tell them politely that you’d love to be included next time.
Maybe your friends don’t invite you everywhere for a simple reason, which doesn’t mean anything bad. Two friends might choose to shop together because they like the same things. They may want to hang out with one friend at a time. That doesn’t mean they don’t care about their other friends!
But if your friends purposely leave you out of their plans and don’t try to invite you, that might be a sign they are not trustworthy. It could be time to find true friends who care about your feelings.
This question was answered by James Yu, a clinical psychologist and associate professor at Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.
Talk it out
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Can you still be good friends with someone even if you don’t do everything together?
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If a friend tells you they feel left out, what can you say or do to help them feel better?
