I have culled my friends to just the ones I value

I've always had loads of friends but recently decided that many of them had to go. It has simplified and enriched my life

One night about six months ago, as I was tidying up for the babysitter at the same time as battling to put the kids to bed, all while trying to answer a multitude of suddenly-urgent questions they'd had all day to ask, and put lipstick on, I caught sight of my frantic-looking face in the mirror. What, I wondered, was I doing all this for? Was it worth it simply to spend the evening with a couple we didn't really like, drink insipid wine and make shallow small-talk about other people we don't really know or want to spend time with?

I've always been a more-the-merrier type person and someone who prided herself on being a good friend. I have friends from all areas of my life - school, university, work - but as I got older and the demands of raising three young children and work have grown, I've realised that something had to give. And that something has ended up being my friendships. Not all of them, but I've certainly had something of a reassessment.