Friendships are like bones. You need them as a human being. They support you and help form who you are. You have some big ones that really support you.

If you break one (especially one of the special ones), it hurts and can't function anymore. It feels easier to just not ever touch it and cause more pain--in this case, it'll heal slowly and still won't ever function the same as it did.
But if you snap it back into place and then cast it and let it heal--even though it is even more pain to do this--when it heals, it heals even stronger than before.

Bones hurt a lot when you break them, sometimes tearing surrounding muscles or skin. So it may just be easier to live without them or without really ever using them, especially the bigger ones. You can rely on other things like crutches or just live without those special bones, without walking or standing or dancing, but really, you feel deeply incomplete when it all comes down to it.