Hello, beautiful people! Welcome to my blog. It's a pleasure to have you in this space. Once again, welcome 🤗
Having genuine and sincere friends can be one of life's greatest treasures. Real friends are people who are willing to stand by your side through thick and thin, willing to offer a listening ear when needed, and always give a helping hand or a comforting hug/presence. Genuine friends are people you can call at any time, be it day or night, knowing fully well they will always be there to support you. But what happens when these supposed safe havens turn toxic?
My circle of friends is small, so that even my family is also well-acquainted with all of them because of how often I talk about them and share stories about their kindness and support and all we have been through together as friends. However, I have lost some friends, not because I wanted to but because life has a way of testing friendships.
I once had a friend that we were very close to. I became friends with him because of my relationship with his younger sister and brother. I was close to his younger siblings, but after we met, we discovered we had a lot of shared interests and things in common, and we became close—closer than his siblings and I were. My mom also was fond of this guy. He would come to my place, and we would talk about virtually everything. Until one time I started noticing a change in his behavior; one time we were having a conversation, and then all of a sudden he started insulting some of my mentors. I wasn't angry but was surprised and was wondering what made him say those negative words. But I just ignored the whole thing.
There was this other time again. We were chitchatting, and everything was going on fine; then, out of nowhere, he started making derogatory comments about women. He was saying some hurtful words and sweeping generalizations that made me ask him if everything was okay with him; I had to take a step back because at first I thought maybe he was having some issues with his girlfriend and was taking it out on women in general. But I later got to understand that even people close to us can have different perspectives and biases that might not align with our values.
And that was how I withdrew from the friendship. I didn't regret leaving it. His words left a bad taste in my mouth; I don't want to be around bitter and toxic people. Words are very important to me, so I am mindful of what I hear and listen to because words can either hurt or impact.
For my own peace of mind, I have learned to set boundaries for relationships that don't align with my values.
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THANK YOU FOR READING TO THE END 🤗