She doesn’t see her friends as often as she wants to, because she’s so damn busy. She always has a project that she has to finish or a paper that she has to write or an appointment that she has to make.
But some of her friends don’t understand that. They think that if she wanted to see them, she would make time for them. She would set aside at least an hour or two each week to catch up with the people she cares about.
But that’s hard to do when every night out makes her feel guilty. She would rather be drinking with the girls than working — but she wants to succeed. She wants to make something of herself.
She can’t afford to drink all night and be hungover the next morning. She doesn’t want to call out sick and waste hours she could spend being productive.
She knows it’s unhealthy, but her focus is on her future. Not on her past. Not even on her present. All she wants is to create a life she can be proud of, a life that feels valuable.
She hates that she’s becoming more and more distant from her friends, but she refuses to apologize for her success. She’s worked hard to get where she is in life and she isn’t going to let anyone make her feel bad about it.
Besides, if someone is a real friend, it won’t matter how long she spends away. The second that they see each other again, it will feel like they never parted. Like nothing has changed.
She’s the kind of person that has high expectations for herself and for everyone around her. If someone is bringing her down, making her feel like she’s a bad person for putting all her effort into her work, then she won’t waste anymore time with them.
So if she has to cut someone toxic out of her life, she’ll do it, even if they’ve known each other since kindergarten. And if she has to move away and leave all her friends behind, she’ll make it happen. She realizes that she has to put herself first if she’s going to make it in this world.
And she realizes that the people who really matter will never be gone. A little time apart won’t sever their connection.
Of course, that doesn’t mean she is going to become a shitty friend. She’s still going to text her girls to see how they’re doing whenever she has a spare minute. She’s still going to buy them presents on their birthday and send them ‘ugly’ selfies. She just won’t be able to answer every call, accept every invitation out.
Her life is changing. Growing. And that’s a good thing. She might miss the past, the days when she could have sleepovers every weekend and drink wine every weeknight, but she’s happy where she is — and where she’s going.
She has big dreams and she is going to do everything within her power to achieve them, even if that means losing some people along the way. 
