What skills I lacked in, say, math or science, I like to think I made up for in my ability to read people and situations with great clarity. I therefore considered myself as a sort of valued soothsayer when it came to dispensing opinions to my friends about their life choices or relationships.
To edit someone from your life must be a properly evaluated decision. After all, the act of distancing yourself is difficult and, if executed improperly, could prove even more troublesome than if you were to have done nothing at all. The key is to create the distance gradually - a 'fade out' as I like to call it.
There was a commonality in a lot of the private school experiences that I had of children whose lives were not their own. They thought they were their own, but they were essentially gifted this life by their parents. So they were spending money; they were going on trips - I guess, in a way, it is their life, but they didn't earn it.