Friends like these remind me why I don't socialize

[karlajj 0]

Ok I need to vent, I am so angry and so reinforced in my fear of socializing because the few friends I did have are turning on me since they turned on themselves!

I have two friends, a couple actually, one of whom I have known for 5 years (and dated very briefly) and the other I only know because of the first. They recently broke up and the 2nd person started calling my girlfriend and I to vent. We didn't pass any judgments and only gave her a shoulder to cry on. I actually only listened once, my girlfriend the rest of the time every day for 2 weeks.

Now all of a sudden the first one is emailing me and writing on my facebook wall (I have a thing about talking on the phone so she won't call) that I am saying all these things about her that I never said. I am too old for high school drama and even told her ex that as a reason I didn't want to listen or get involved in any way. Now my name is being drug through the mud and I live over 100 miles away (I have recently moved away from there and the drama was one reason for the move) and they are all ganging up on me.

This just reinforces my not liking to socialize. I have a hard enough time, for various reasons, trusting and making friends and this reminded me why. Back in my shell.

Ok thanks for "listening" I had no where else to let it all out and now that I did I feel that it is over. I have blocked everyone involved from my phone and from Facebook and I am better off without them.

[Gilly 1086]

Toxic friends! I'm sure there is an article somewhere or maybe it was on the old forum about removing toxic friends from your life. I can relate totally, and I have the phone thing too. You have done the right thing. You are better off without them and if they cannot appreciate you their loss!

[Quirky Jessi 2]

Ugh, that's awful. I really hope you don't truly give up on socializing because of a bad apple. It sounds like they're toxic, as Gilly said, and that kind of drama is something nobody should have to deal with.

[shaun 6]

Blocking your 'friends' is the right decision. They are patently not very good friends, but that doesn't mean all people are the same, you shouldn't tar everyone with the same brush. Be open to making new friendships, do not shut yourself off because you have had bad experiences in the past.

[Mrs. Rogers 2]

I agree with them being toxic friends. I had a friend like that who constantly brought me down and got me involved with all of her drama. I chose to let her go and it was the best choice I ever made. You can do this.

[JOYCICLE 654]

I think that friends come about in a variety of ways. if you look back at your own lifestyle, mental status and circumstances at the time you "BECAME" friends with these people, you might see that you've changed a lot since then. I have plenty of 'friends' who I think 'if i met this person today on the street, i would be so turned off by their behavior , i would never want to see or speak to them'' and yet because we now have a 5 or 10 year history, they are considered friends. See what I mean? So we use the term ' friends' very liberally and it really means an acquaintance or someone I know or a neighbor. I often call my neighbors friends when they do not fill the friend requirements. It could very well be that you've outgrown your friends and need to just let them fade away into the woodwork. Of course you wish them well, etc., but you need not let them drag you down. If someone doesn't make you feel better or fill some need in you to be around them, then they are draining YOUR life from you . We cannot have that .

[Anonymous19 0]

Oh my gosh I know what you mean! I had a best friend of 3 years and a friend for 1. They met and knew each other for 2 hours. I kicked them out for bringing drugs into my home, and my best friend is believing I was talking him down after the other friend told him this.

Basically, I was kicked to the curb for someone he knew all of 2 hours. Toxic people.