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Sun 18 Sep, 2022 02:55 am
okay, my grammar might not be the best because I’m typing this pretty fast but anyways. so I have a friend who always has a new problem every. Single. Time. I speak to her. They’re not little problems either. Like one day she’ll get in a car crash, the next she got in a fist fight, then the following she lost her ID, then the next she lost her job, then her crazy ex is showing up at her job, then she got arrested, then she got a dui, then her gf found out she was cheating, then gets in trouble for not having insurance or weed in the car etc I could go on for days. Then she goes right back to doing exactly what she was. It is a consistent cycle and she’s been my roommate for 3 years now but we have been friends since middle school and fell off since she moved away and became back friends when I moved in with her 3 years ago. To me she is in such a victim mindset which irritates me the most because I personally think she could navigate her life a lot differently and have a better outcome but ultimately it’s her life. It’s usually simple things like for an example we moved across the country together and both brought our own cars and she drove it 16 hours away without an oil change that multiple people said she needed and she just ignores the advice. Then of course her car blows up due to not having oil even though her light came on. This is just an example of an everyday issue that could be avoided for the last 3 years. Then, she will sit and vent to me about it for hours and then I’m starting to feel like a bad friend because I don’t want to listen anymore and I do not care. It’s sucking the energy out of me and I’ve tried to tell her that in more subtle ways but she’s not getting the hint. Her life is so consumed with negativity, unhappiness, and unluckiness. I’ve came to a point where I keep our convos to a minimum and literally refuse to do anything with her when she asks because I know it will be a huge thing. Like not to be cocky but I’ve always been told I am an amazing friend, I have my flaws for sure but even when I feel like I’ve been a bad friend in my own head my friends always reassure me that I’m not even close. I say this because I can tell I’m not being a good friend to my roommate, which bothers me too because I take pride in my friendships. I even have found myself strategically putting myself in positions so I don’t have to help her. Like I have my text messages and ringer on silent, so it’s my excuse for not seeing her call for help constantly/favors I need to do for her. Or I block her from seeing any stories of mine so she’ll think I’m sleeping, etc. this is not normal behavior with me but I’ve honestly grown to this point. Even though we moved to a new state and she’s the only person I know, I honestly feel better being by myself, it’s more peaceful. In my eyes she’s just always living on the edge, thinking she’s invincible when she knows how “unlucky” she is then when she gets caught, she wants to sit and cry about why god wants to do this to her but she doesn’t put in any work to change. Rarely a situation she’s in is out of her control. I’m not saying she’s a bad person either, just bad for my own mental health. She can be very encouraging to others, loving, a great speaker, and will say how she would do anything for her friends if needed. We all have our flaws, but I feel like our friendship is one-sided she always talks about herself forever, can’t even get a word in and then I’ll say one little thing about myself and she will literally call a different person right in front of my face while I am speaking. Or she won’t listen to me at all. I’ve told her how this bothers me and she said she will try to do better, but like try??? It shouldn’t be that hard to try to be a decent friend. Especially when she considers me as a best friend and knows little about me really. She sits on the phone all day with friends and I’ve noticed she just talks about herself the entire time w/o asking anything about them and I’m wondering if they feel the same as I do. She also of course always has extreme relationship issues with whoever she’s dating (that she frequently vents to me about) and always has problems with friends. Literally nothing can ever go right. For just one day. Idk I think another reason what gets me is that she’ll know somethings a bad decision then she’ll still do it and doesn’t realize every single time it happens it affects someone else. Like three times she’s lost her car from crazy reckless driving, not taking car of her vehicle, etc. then she’ll ask me to drive her around til she figures it out. At first when we first started rooming together I did for, i’m not even kidding, a year and half. Let her use my car daily for free, both her and her gf. Picked her up dropped her off anything I could do to help. Then after she got a car I asked her if she could pick me up from the airport 30 mins away (which I’ve done multiple times for her) and she said I needed to give her money..it’s not the money part it’s just the principle that I’ve been doing this all for you and a gf who I don’t even know really, and I ask you for one thing and you can’t return the favor. After that I said **** it and changed my whole mindset about her and her situations. Like I’ll still do things for her time to time because I’m not a monster lol but 80% of the time I say no or make up an excuse. I definitely don’t want you guys to sit here and think I let her walk all over me. And I have lots of stories like this but it’s really not the point, I’m not trying to like bash her and say she’s horrible but just trying to give a little backstory. But it’s making me feel guilty and I don’t know why. And she’s the type who talks about her friends and family to me and says they need to do more for her: give her money when she’s down, send her flowers when she’s sad, do all these things but not once have I heard her doing it for someone else unless she’s dating the person. And how do you expect people to do these things for you when you are in these situations consistently??? That you put yourself in?? I feel like she just takes and takes but never reciprocates. Then says stuff like friends need to hold eachother when they’re down, but she’s the only one that’s ever down?!?! It’s just honestly stressful. I could literally go on forever about this and add more examples to what I’m talking about, but it’s honestly too much. And of COURSE everyone goes through **** and trauma that should be validated but it’s hard to see it that way when someone is making it a habit. She doesn’t realize the effect she has on my mental health at all, and how all these things are put on me too. I’ve told her she needs to get help with her mental issues and find someone to talk to and she’ll agree and then never do it while continuing to use me. And of course me, being a fantastic problem solver, deep down wants to help my friend and listen to her. But it’s just hard when it’s not reciprocated or advice isn’t taken when asked for it. I just feel defeated at the end. And I can’t listen to the same type of issues over and over when you’re ignoring every single solution. I can’t sit in negativity too long, I’m naturally a pretty happy person who grew up in a very negative household that gave me a lot of my own mental issues and they didn’t go away until I left. And I’m finally finding myself and trying my best to be better and surrounding myself with people on the same frequency as me. But it’s hard because I feel like she’s weighing me down in a way. Mentally I feel like I’m changing and trying, and she’s stuck on the same mentality she always has. Which it’s her life like I said before you can’t force anyone to do anything, but I just want no part of it. I’m drained every day from it and that shouldn’t be a thing in a friendship. So I guess my question is, where do I go from here? I know I should probably say something about how I’m feeling but I don’t know how to present it in a way to not make her feel bad or worse. We’re going to be living with eachother for another year, once we sign the lease I’m going to tell her I’m gonna move on my own after. The last thing I want to do is be a bad friend and I just feel like I can’t give her what she needs from me. I’ve got to a point where I’m instantly annoyed walking through the door knowing I’m gonna have to deal with additional stressors/her in general and everytime we start getting more deeper than surface level conversation I find myself trying to end the conversation and leaving the room so I don’t have to sit and listen to her past traumas and current issues. Which that’s typically something I love listening and/or giving advice about with my other friends. Idk I’d like to know if anyone else has been in a situation like this??
Probably everyone has, to some degree. They are life-sucking souls who try to drag you into their issues.
Try saying, "Ah, bad luck, Susan!" Or, "Sorry, I don't have time to listen right now." Or, "Did anything GOOD happen to you today?"
The best solution, however, is to get out of that apartment - disassociate yourself from her and really limit your interactions. One day you might be dragged into one of her problems (like being in the car when she gets pulled over and they find weed in it).