Latest / Do You F*cking Mind? / 428. Should I have told my friend her partner was cheating on her? & other friendship dilemmas. (Headnoise)
Transcript
- 0:10Speaker 1: Hello, beautiful people, and welcome to the episode of Today.
- 0:14Speaker 1: So today's episode is all about our listener questions. Is
- 0:18Speaker 1: the email questions? And I am like, I just glanced
- 0:22Speaker 1: over these titles as well, and I'm loving them. They're juicy,
- 0:26Speaker 1: They're great, very head noisy. I'm obsessed. Let's just get
- 0:29Speaker 1: straight into it. I'm going to go over four questions today,
- 0:33Speaker 1: So let's begin. I'm not going to fuck around. Life update.
- 0:37Speaker 1: All is well, everything's great, Okay, let's get also, actually,
- 0:41Speaker 1: I will give you a life update. How's this for
- 0:44Speaker 1: a life update? My dog Hbib. You guys know him,
- 0:48Speaker 1: you love him. He's appeared sometimes on like social media
- 0:51Speaker 1: and the video podcast. Is this like American staffy cross.
- 0:55Speaker 1: We don't know what rescued from the pound anyway, the
- 0:58Speaker 1: last few days slash about for a month. He will
- 1:04Speaker 1: walk perfectly fine, go to the dog park. He goes
- 1:06Speaker 1: hard at the dog park, like I'm talking, he goes
- 1:09Speaker 1: hard with the bigger dogs. He is relentless, never stops,
- 1:13Speaker 1: sleeps a lot at home though, and his left leg.
- 1:16Speaker 1: When he's at home, specifically, he will when he's standing,
- 1:20Speaker 1: he hovers his left paw just tapping on the ground
- 1:23Speaker 1: he won't put all his wet on his left paw,
- 1:24Speaker 1: But the moment he's running or walking, he's perfectly fine.
- 1:27Speaker 1: So I was like, something's up? Is it in his paw?
- 1:29Speaker 1: Is it his hip? I was trying to squeeze in
- 1:31Speaker 1: his hip. Nothing, no pain, nothing. Took him to the ved,
- 1:34Speaker 1: and the Vet's like, look, it could be a something
- 1:37Speaker 1: in his knee. We think it's like the cruciate ligament,
- 1:41Speaker 1: so it could be a tear. And if it's just
- 1:44Speaker 1: like a partial tear, we've got to give him two
- 1:46Speaker 1: weeks of total rest. And if it recovers in those
- 1:49Speaker 1: two weeks and it's the partial turn, and we can
- 1:50Speaker 1: determine if he needs more rest or if he can
- 1:52Speaker 1: slowly get back into exercise, like harder exercise. If it's
- 1:55Speaker 1: like a full tear, then he'll probably need surgery. But
- 1:59Speaker 1: then so we're at the fucking vet. It gets better there.
- 2:02Speaker 1: We had to sedate him, We had to give him
- 2:04Speaker 1: all these drugs because her bib gets really like. He
- 2:06Speaker 1: loves going to the vet, but at the moment you
- 2:07Speaker 1: close the door of the room, he gets really stressed.
- 2:11Speaker 1: The vet cannot get near him, can't touch him. This
- 2:13Speaker 1: is like a big dog. You probably don't want to
- 2:14Speaker 1: get up in his grill if he's unhappy. So we
- 2:17Speaker 1: had to like drug him. The poor thing was so groggy.
- 2:20Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, I've drugged my son.
- 2:22Speaker 1: It was so just awful. And he was like his
- 2:24Speaker 1: eyes were all red and baby. Anyway, so he was there,
- 2:27Speaker 1: they felt around whatever, and she said, look, we could
- 2:30Speaker 1: x ray him for one nine hundred dollars. No less,
- 2:36Speaker 1: I'm like, on what fucking planet does an X ray
- 2:39Speaker 1: cost one thousand, nine hundred dollars? But anyway, moving on,
- 2:41Speaker 1: She's like, we can x ray him even though the
- 2:44Speaker 1: x ray this is a ligament. An X ray will
- 2:48Speaker 1: not pick up on the ligament because the X ray
- 2:50Speaker 1: is for bones. But what an X ray will probably
- 2:52Speaker 1: pick up on is like a road erosion or damage
- 2:55Speaker 1: or like arthritic whatever in his knee. But I'm like, bro,
- 2:59Speaker 1: if this just a couple of weeks ago, then are
- 3:01Speaker 1: we going to see much erosion or much damage. She's
- 3:03Speaker 1: like I don't know, and I'm like, I'm sorry, but
- 3:05Speaker 1: this is not a diagnostic tool. So why am I
- 3:08Speaker 1: going to drop nineteen hundred dollars for something that's not
- 3:10Speaker 1: even a diagnostic tool? Well, we're not even gonna get
- 3:12Speaker 1: the answers when you're still gonna tell me to rest
- 3:15Speaker 1: the cunt. So anyway, we're like no. So now he's
- 3:18Speaker 1: on two weeks. She's got She's like, look, do the
- 3:20Speaker 1: two weeks of rest regardless and see what happens. So
- 3:23Speaker 1: he is hating me. I'm getting all these like entertaining
- 3:26Speaker 1: toys with treats and stuff to like stimulate him mentally
- 3:29Speaker 1: at home, but he just wants to run free in
- 3:32Speaker 1: the park and he looks at me and he cries
- 3:34Speaker 1: every day. But anyway, that's my life update. So I've
- 3:37Speaker 1: got a crying Kabib in the home. We're giving him
- 3:39Speaker 1: lots of love, lots of treats. He's yeah, anyway, poor child.
- 3:44Speaker 1: But yeah, it's day four of fourteen day bed rest.
- 3:48Speaker 1: He's unimpressed. Okay, let's get into the questions. This one
- 3:54Speaker 1: is called should I have told my friend that her
- 3:56Speaker 1: boyfriend was cheating on her? Than hire Alexis, Thank you
- 4:01Speaker 1: so much for all your episodes. Have been a long
- 4:03Speaker 1: time listener since twenty twenty. We've got an oj bean
- 4:06Speaker 1: here and I really appreciate all the work that goes
- 4:08Speaker 1: into the podcast and a huge congratulations on your pregnancy.
- 4:11Speaker 1: Thank you. My main question is why is getting over
- 4:14Speaker 1: my best friend breakup so difficult? I lost contact with
- 4:18Speaker 1: my best friend around last year, who i'd spent three
- 4:21Speaker 1: years living with and doing everything with it UNI, from
- 4:24Speaker 1: waking up to sleeping. Our whole routine was in sync.
- 4:26Speaker 1: We ate the same, went to the gym together. We
- 4:28Speaker 1: picked the same subjects as well to study. It was
- 4:30Speaker 1: literally the best friendship. When UNI finished, things started drifting,
- 4:34Speaker 1: but I was still making an effort to keep in contact.
- 4:37Speaker 1: She'd stopped answering my messages and calls, and that's when
- 4:40Speaker 1: we had our first mini breakup, where we didn't speak
- 4:42Speaker 1: for six months. There was never an acknowledgment. I just
- 4:45Speaker 1: stopped message messaging and I didn't hear back from her
- 4:49Speaker 1: during the time. I missed her very much, so decided
- 4:51Speaker 1: to bite the bullet and just sent her a message.
- 4:53Speaker 1: She was very receptive and we ended up talking again.
- 4:56Speaker 1: It was like nothing had ever gone wrong. Then, around
- 4:59Speaker 1: April last year, I found out from a mutual friend
- 5:01Speaker 1: that her long term boyfriend of six slash seven years
- 5:04Speaker 1: had been cheating on her. I asked the mutual friend
- 5:08Speaker 1: who he had this information from. And he said the
- 5:11Speaker 1: boyfriend's best friend. I slept on this information for a day,
- 5:15Speaker 1: and I ended up making the decision that if this
- 5:17Speaker 1: was me, I would want to know this information for context.
- 5:20Speaker 1: From jan to April, we weren't in as much intense
- 5:23Speaker 1: contact as we were before we were speaking every other week.
- 5:27Speaker 1: When we were speaking every other week. When I told
- 5:29Speaker 1: her over the phone, we live very far from each other,
- 5:32Speaker 1: so calling and texting was our main form of communication,
- 5:35Speaker 1: she went very quiet, which is completely understandable. She said
- 5:38Speaker 1: she was going to call him, and that was the
- 5:40Speaker 1: last time I heard her voice. I messaged her a
- 5:43Speaker 1: couple of hours later, and she said she wasn't angry
- 5:45Speaker 1: with me, she was just upset with the whole situation.
- 5:47Speaker 1: I had sent the very last message saying that was
- 5:50Speaker 1: completely understandable and that she could call me whenever she needed.
- 5:54Speaker 1: She never replied to that message, and I did not
- 5:56Speaker 1: hear from her again. We had each other on socials,
- 5:58Speaker 1: and around August I had all of my socials by LinkedIn.
- 6:02Speaker 1: I noticed she had removed me off LinkedIn, and my
- 6:04Speaker 1: reasoning was that she thought I had removed her off
- 6:06Speaker 1: other socials I was deactivating on I was deactivated on
- 6:11Speaker 1: so in a haste, I removed her too. After activating,
- 6:14Speaker 1: I realized now that was a very big mistake and
- 6:16Speaker 1: very childish. I was twenty three at the time. Not
- 6:18Speaker 1: for not justifying, but just for context. Fast forward to today,
- 6:23Speaker 1: and I've thought about her every day since April last year.
- 6:26Speaker 1: What doesn't help is that I saw her the other day,
- 6:28Speaker 1: even though we do not live near each other, and
- 6:30Speaker 1: she saw me and looked away. I really want to
- 6:33Speaker 1: reach out to her, but I also don't want to
- 6:35Speaker 1: be the one to reach out again. I just feel
- 6:38Speaker 1: like I'm in limbo. I can't help comparing all my
- 6:40Speaker 1: female friendships to her and feeling like I will never
- 6:42Speaker 1: have the same friendship with anyone else. It was really
- 6:45Speaker 1: like we were sisters. I'd found my soulmate in her.
- 6:47Speaker 1: We were so similar. She understood me and I her.
- 6:50Speaker 1: I just don't know how to get over the situation.
- 6:53Speaker 1: I can't deal with constantly battling over the same thoughts
- 6:56Speaker 1: over and over of whether I should reach out to
- 6:58Speaker 1: her again. That's what makes me think, should I have
- 7:01Speaker 1: ever told her that her boyfriend was cheating on her?
- 7:03Speaker 1: Was that my place to say? I feel so guilty
- 7:06Speaker 1: and I'm ninety nine percent sure that they are not
- 7:08Speaker 1: together anymore. Any advice would be so appreciated, and thank
- 7:11Speaker 1: you so much for reading all of that. Okay, if
- 7:14Speaker 1: let's first address your initial question. The question is should
- 7:17Speaker 1: I have told my best friend that her boyfriend was
- 7:19Speaker 1: cheating on her? Ah? Yes? Yes. I can't think of
- 7:24Speaker 1: a scenario where, like imagine image and your mom's eye,
- 7:32Speaker 1: if Tyrone was cheating on me and live knew about
- 7:34Speaker 1: it and just didn't say anything, imagohen a world where
- 7:38Speaker 1: that scenario would exist. Never. Okay, So the delivery was
- 7:43Speaker 1: it right? Could I have done it better? There's all
- 7:45Speaker 1: these other questions around, But do I personally think that
- 7:48Speaker 1: as a best friend, you did the right thing in
- 7:51Speaker 1: telling her that her boyfriend was cheating on her? Yes? Yes,
- 7:55Speaker 1: Because what we also need to understand is that life
- 7:58Speaker 1: sucks sometimes all adults, and I think it is appropriate,
- 8:03Speaker 1: especially towards the people that you care about, that you
- 8:05Speaker 1: give them the information that is available and they can
- 8:10Speaker 1: choose to do what they want with that information. Okay,
- 8:13Speaker 1: So if Lifts came up to me and said, I
- 8:16Speaker 1: know for a fact I have like I've seen it
- 8:19Speaker 1: with my own eyes, that you are being cheated on.
- 8:22Speaker 1: That's one thing. But then she could also come and say, listen,
- 8:25Speaker 1: this is what i've heard. I'm not going to get involved.
- 8:27Speaker 1: I don't want to say, but I'm just telling you
- 8:29Speaker 1: what I heard because i'm your best friend and I'm
- 8:30Speaker 1: going to communicate what I can. But someone told me
- 8:33Speaker 1: through someone else who knows someone else, that they think
- 8:36Speaker 1: that your partner's cheating on you, then maybe I would
- 8:38Speaker 1: take it a bit lighter. They would be like, okay,
- 8:41Speaker 1: I'll take that on board. Whatever, But irrelevant of how
- 8:44Speaker 1: the information came about, you were just relaying information that
- 8:50Speaker 1: you think is important that your friend knows. At the
- 8:53Speaker 1: very least, it's important that she knows that when you
- 8:56Speaker 1: found out, you didn't you didn't hold that in information
- 9:00Speaker 1: from her. You shared that information from her. So I
- 9:04Speaker 1: think that you were just doing the right thing as
- 9:07Speaker 1: a friend and saying this is just what i've heard.
- 9:10Speaker 1: I'm not saying he's a cheater. I'm not saying i've
- 9:12Speaker 1: seen it with my own eyes. I'm just telling you
- 9:15Speaker 1: what I heard, and that's what you did. Okay, she's
- 9:18Speaker 1: gone all quiet, she's all she's all hurt, she's whatever,
- 9:21Speaker 1: which fair enough because she now has. Maybe it consolidated
- 9:28Speaker 1: something that she already had ideas about, Maybe she already knew,
- 9:30Speaker 1: maybe she had no idea irrelevant. The point is that
- 9:33Speaker 1: to find out that your partner is cheating on you,
- 9:35Speaker 1: she's very hurt. So I wouldn't judge her on her
- 9:38Speaker 1: initial reaction because she's being dealt a massive blow. The
- 9:42Speaker 1: last thing on her mind is going to be like, oh,
- 9:44Speaker 1: but how do I make my friend feel good about
- 9:46Speaker 1: telling me about this? That's not a responsibility in that time, right,
- 9:49Speaker 1: it's going through a hard thing. We will have to
- 9:50Speaker 1: give each other a bit of grace. So in that
- 9:52Speaker 1: interaction of telling her, which I think you did the
- 9:55Speaker 1: right thing, her reaction of being super cold and like
- 9:57Speaker 1: brushing you or not wanting to talk, that's okay initially
- 10:00Speaker 1: because she's just trying to deal with it. What we're
- 10:03Speaker 1: looking at here is how things progressed after the fact.
- 10:07Speaker 1: You know, this is kind of like she what she's
- 10:09Speaker 1: doing here is a bit of kind of like shooting
- 10:12Speaker 1: the messenger. She's linking you to her pain from discovering
- 10:18Speaker 1: that her partner was cheating on her, or from discovering
- 10:22Speaker 1: that there were like cracks in her relationship, which then
- 10:24Speaker 1: causes like issues and arguments and whatever. He might deny it,
- 10:27Speaker 1: they might have stayed together, whatever, but maybe it's started
- 10:30Speaker 1: like the doubting phase of her and her partner, and
- 10:33Speaker 1: she's linking you to that. So what can you do
- 10:38Speaker 1: about it? Yes, you give it cooling off. Time you've
- 10:41Speaker 1: tried to reach out to her, she's not interested. Literally
- 10:44Speaker 1: saw you on the street. She doesn't want to barf you.
- 10:47Speaker 1: So now we're kind of looking at two things. Number one,
- 10:51Speaker 1: are you going to feel morally comfortable with your actions
- 10:53Speaker 1: throughout the friendship? And number two, what are you going
- 10:55Speaker 1: to do about the potential resurrection of this friendship. The
- 10:58Speaker 1: first thing is you you have to get very, very
- 11:01Speaker 1: very clear on where you stand morally with your actions
- 11:05Speaker 1: within what happened, Because if it doesn't matter what I say,
- 11:09Speaker 1: If you think, fuck, I should never have told her,
- 11:12Speaker 1: then maybe that's something that you want to talk to
- 11:15Speaker 1: your friend about and say. From my perspective, I regret
- 11:17Speaker 1: telling you because blah blah blah blah blah. But you've
- 11:19Speaker 1: got to morally back yourself on what you did or not.
- 11:24Speaker 1: So I think you should back yourself. I think that
- 11:27Speaker 1: that's the fair thing to do. I don't think it's
- 11:29Speaker 1: our job to shield people from reality. Part of life
- 11:35Speaker 1: is painful, okay, and it is not our responsibility to
- 11:40Speaker 1: decide what pain our friends will experience and what they
- 11:44Speaker 1: won't experienced, especially when the repercussions of that thing is
- 11:47Speaker 1: going to negatively impact their lives. Like if you don't
- 11:50Speaker 1: tell your friend that the partner is cheating on them,
- 11:53Speaker 1: then they can't make an informed decision of the person
- 11:56Speaker 1: that they want to be with. They are with someone
- 11:58Speaker 1: who they don't really know. They don't know something about
- 12:01Speaker 1: that person. That's not fair, especially when you have that
- 12:03Speaker 1: information and they don't have that information. So I think
- 12:07Speaker 1: we can let that one die. You've done the right thing.
- 12:11Speaker 1: Moving on, Let's now tackle the actual friendship. There's a
- 12:17Speaker 1: couple of things going on. You are mourning a friendship
- 12:20Speaker 1: that was incredible, but that doesn't mean for like this is,
- 12:23Speaker 1: let's say it doesn't work out ever again. Then I'm
- 12:26Speaker 1: gonna say what happens if it does work out. If
- 12:27Speaker 1: it doesn't work out, you had this dream, dream friendship
- 12:33Speaker 1: where everything aligned, all the stars aligned, lived together, you
- 12:35Speaker 1: ate together, you went to the gym together, you went
- 12:37Speaker 1: to union together. Everything was incredible. One of my good
- 12:39Speaker 1: girlfriends from the Red Bull group, there's like the eleven
- 12:42Speaker 1: of us. Danny, we had a very similar thing. We
- 12:45Speaker 1: both worked at Red Bull, we both lived together, we'd
- 12:47Speaker 1: both go and train at the gym together. We did
- 12:49Speaker 1: so much together. Then Friday nights we've go out for
- 12:51Speaker 1: drinks together, and then it was unbelievable. So I know exactly,
- 12:56Speaker 1: I know exactly what that's like. It's like you're living
- 12:59Speaker 1: kind of with a soul mate, but who's the best friend,
- 13:01Speaker 1: and it's just it's just absolute vibes. But the problem
- 13:04Speaker 1: is that now you're looking, you're comparing everything to that.
- 13:08Speaker 1: What you have to think about is, regardless if we
- 13:11Speaker 1: become friends again, regardless of what happens, we have evolved
- 13:15Speaker 1: and matured. It's been a year or two, like things
- 13:17Speaker 1: have developed, things have changed. So if I'm going to
- 13:20Speaker 1: try and resurrect this friendship, and if the friendship resurrects,
- 13:24Speaker 1: I can't keep comparing it to these glory days of
- 13:27Speaker 1: where we you know, where there was this particular point
- 13:30Speaker 1: in our lives where everything aligned. It's going to be
- 13:32Speaker 1: it could be great, but it's evolving and it's going
- 13:35Speaker 1: to be different. Okay, so you have to That's the
- 13:37Speaker 1: first thing that I want you to think about. It's like,
- 13:38Speaker 1: I can't keep keep romanticizing that time and wanting that
- 13:44Speaker 1: exact time back, because regardless of if you become friends
- 13:47Speaker 1: with her again or not, that time is gone, that
- 13:50Speaker 1: time has finished, that time is over. So your friendship
- 13:53Speaker 1: is going to be different. The components of what makes
- 13:55Speaker 1: you guys friends is going to look different. You don't
- 13:58Speaker 1: live near each other, everything's funk calls and text any way,
- 14:00Speaker 1: the dynamic is very different. So don't think I want
- 14:04Speaker 1: that again. You've got to think I want her in
- 14:07Speaker 1: my life because she also separate to the fact that
- 14:11Speaker 1: we had so much fun and whatever, what else does
- 14:13Speaker 1: she bring to the table as a friend? What else
- 14:15Speaker 1: does she bring emotionally, as far as humor, as far
- 14:18Speaker 1: as experiences that we can share together moving forward? That's
- 14:21Speaker 1: what you're going to focus on. Then you've got to think,
- 14:25Speaker 1: where's the autonomy and all of this, Like, has she
- 14:27Speaker 1: made it clear enough that she just doesn't want a
- 14:31Speaker 1: friendship with me? Because no matter what, it's fifty to
- 14:36Speaker 1: fifty or it's one hundred one hundred, But the point
- 14:38Speaker 1: is that we you know, a friendship, no matter how
- 14:43Speaker 1: good it used to be, no matter how you feel,
- 14:45Speaker 1: no matter how much you miss them, If they don't
- 14:47Speaker 1: want to be there, they're not the friend for you.
- 14:51Speaker 1: If someone doesn't want to be your friend, they're not
- 14:54Speaker 1: a friendship that's worth mourning and crying and being like
- 14:59Speaker 1: I've lost the whatever. If you, by doing the right thing,
- 15:02Speaker 1: morally lost a friendship, that friendship did not stand the
- 15:06Speaker 1: test of time. And that's not a stab at her,
- 15:09Speaker 1: it's not a stab at you, and it's not a
- 15:10Speaker 1: stab at your friendship. It's certain friendships are seasonal and
- 15:15Speaker 1: certain friendships are forever, and if this friendship couldn't survive
- 15:20Speaker 1: that test of you being honest, then it just is
- 15:25Speaker 1: a friendship that does not stand the test of time.
- 15:28Speaker 1: You've done nothing wrong. She might have reacted in the
- 15:31Speaker 1: way that she had the capacity that she had to
- 15:33Speaker 1: react with at the time. We're not going to be
- 15:36Speaker 1: blaming people on what they should have done and who
- 15:38Speaker 1: could have been more adult in this. The point is
- 15:39Speaker 1: we're dealing with facts right now. If she can't see
- 15:44Speaker 1: that this friendship is worth salvaging, if she can't see
- 15:47Speaker 1: that you did nothing wrong, If maybe she knows you
- 15:50Speaker 1: did nothing wrong. Maybe she's aware offul of that, but
- 15:52Speaker 1: she just associates you too much with that pain, and
- 15:55Speaker 1: she's like, I want a new chapter in my life
- 15:57Speaker 1: that includes different friends, different whatever, and she is willing
- 16:01Speaker 1: to just, you know, get rid of the friendship. There's
- 16:04Speaker 1: your answer. Because no matter how much, no matter how
- 16:08Speaker 1: much I love someone, no matter how much I love
- 16:10Speaker 1: my friends, if my friend doesn't want to be my
- 16:12Speaker 1: friend and they're actively not engaging while I've reached out,
- 16:16Speaker 1: they're actively not looking at me when I'm trying to
- 16:18Speaker 1: make out contact and engage with them on the street.
- 16:20Speaker 1: If they're actively showing me again and again that they
- 16:23Speaker 1: do not want this friendship, then I need to snap
- 16:28Speaker 1: out of it, and I need to respect that. You
- 16:31Speaker 1: can't be pushing against someone who doesn't want a relationship
- 16:35Speaker 1: with you, because the point of a relationship, what makes
- 16:38Speaker 1: a friendship a friendship, is their desire to also want
- 16:41Speaker 1: to reciprocate the relationship. You brought yourself to this relationship,
- 16:46Speaker 1: you can also bring yourself to other relationships. Okay, doesn't
- 16:50Speaker 1: feel like it right now because you're mourning it, but
- 16:53Speaker 1: that's the truth of it. Now. The last thing that
- 16:55Speaker 1: you can do you know is if I were you?
- 16:58Speaker 1: Because you're you're torturing yourself right now. You're going back
- 17:03Speaker 1: and forth saying, you know she was my soulmate. I
- 17:05Speaker 1: don't know how to get over it. I'm battling the
- 17:08Speaker 1: thoughts over and over if I should reach out or not. Again,
- 17:10Speaker 1: you've got nothing to lose. Reach out. I don't think
- 17:13Speaker 1: there's anything wrong with reaching out, but you have to
- 17:16Speaker 1: be very very realistic when she replies or if she
- 17:20Speaker 1: doesn't reply, because if you're going to reach out, I
- 17:23Speaker 1: always say this. If you are going to contact someone,
- 17:25Speaker 1: whether it's an ex friend, whether it is an ex partner,
- 17:29Speaker 1: whether it's someone who you're in a situationship with, whatever,
- 17:32Speaker 1: if you are going to send a message to someone,
- 17:35Speaker 1: you've got to really sit with the three possible outcomes
- 17:38Speaker 1: of what's going to happen once you send that message,
- 17:40Speaker 1: and if you're okay with both with all three of
- 17:42Speaker 1: those outcomes, you send the message. The first outcome is
- 17:46Speaker 1: you get everything you want. They reply, Yes, let's meet up.
- 17:49Speaker 1: Oh my god, I miss you so much. Let's rekindle,
- 17:52Speaker 1: and then everything's all well and good. Number one. Number
- 17:54Speaker 1: two you get left on red. They never contact, you
- 17:58Speaker 1: never reply whatever. You've gotta be prepared for that. You
- 18:01Speaker 1: have to be prepared for that. And number three is
- 18:04Speaker 1: their reply. But they say thank you, but no, I'm
- 18:07Speaker 1: not interested. I don't want a friendship with you. I
- 18:09Speaker 1: don't want to bor if you I don't want, I
- 18:10Speaker 1: don't want, I don't want. If you can say, I
- 18:14Speaker 1: need an answer regardless, and by sending this message, I
- 18:17Speaker 1: will get the final answer that I need. I will, like,
- 18:20Speaker 1: if I think there's any doubt that this can be salvaged,
- 18:23Speaker 1: this will, this will be the one thing that will
- 18:25Speaker 1: salvage it. If my friend has any doubt that I
- 18:28Speaker 1: want a friendship, even though I surely clearly do. But
- 18:31Speaker 1: if they've got any doubt, then this will, you know,
- 18:34Speaker 1: quash that doubt, and they will. Whatever. You've got to
- 18:37Speaker 1: ask yourself all these questions, because it's like, regardless, if
- 18:40Speaker 1: the main thing for me, if the top of my
- 18:41Speaker 1: priority list is I need an answer, then I would
- 18:45Speaker 1: put myself out of my misery and I would send
- 18:47Speaker 1: the final message. But if you are in like, if
- 18:50Speaker 1: you're being delusional saying oh yeah, but when I message,
- 18:53Speaker 1: it's going to be fine, and this and that and
- 18:54Speaker 1: if because This is where a lot of people fuck up.
- 18:57Speaker 1: They send the message, they don't get a reply, and
- 18:59Speaker 1: then like, but they just I really missed them. So
- 19:02Speaker 1: maybe in six months time and send the messages again.
- 19:04Speaker 1: If you're gonna send this message, you have to respect
- 19:07Speaker 1: the outcome of whatever may be. You have to respect
- 19:11Speaker 1: the outcome. So if I were you, you're torturing yourself,
- 19:13Speaker 1: I'm gonna send the fucking message. But I'm prepared for
- 19:15Speaker 1: all three outcomes, and whatever I get, I'm gonna close
- 19:18Speaker 1: the fucking door on that chapter. Okay. Whether it's a
- 19:21Speaker 1: positive thing, I'm closing the door. We're starting fresh. Whether
- 19:24Speaker 1: it's no response, they've answered it. That is an answer.
- 19:28Speaker 1: No response is an answer, and when they've come back
- 19:30Speaker 1: and rejected me, I will respect that. Okay, that is all.
- 19:34Speaker 1: I hope that gave you a little bit more clarity.
- 19:37Speaker 1: But I think you were in the right by telling
- 19:39Speaker 1: her that sense. Since next question, Dear alexis, thank you
- 19:50Speaker 1: for all of your wisdom. DYFM has been my top
- 19:52Speaker 1: podcast for two years now. Thank you. I've been going
- 19:55Speaker 1: through months of rumination over my best friend ghosting me,
- 19:58Speaker 1: and I'd love to hear your PERSPECTI it's too long
- 20:00Speaker 1: a story to get into the details, but basically we
- 20:03Speaker 1: drifted apart over the course of a year where her
- 20:05Speaker 1: priorities changed as she got back with her ex boyfriend
- 20:07Speaker 1: and I ended up feeling abandoned and key moments in
- 20:10Speaker 1: my life such as when my dog passed away and
- 20:12Speaker 1: my birthday, two events in which she canceled our plans
- 20:15Speaker 1: or didn't show up for me in order to spend
- 20:17Speaker 1: time with her boyfriend instead. When I had a chat
- 20:19Speaker 1: to her about after the birthday, I asked for clarity
- 20:22Speaker 1: on how she sees our friendship, as I felt like
- 20:24Speaker 1: we weren't on the same page. She says she feels
- 20:26Speaker 1: like she is always walking on eggshells and can't do
- 20:29Speaker 1: anything right and she is exhausted. I told her that
- 20:31Speaker 1: I'm feeling disappointed by the same things, and I've tried
- 20:34Speaker 1: to resolve with her in the last year lack of
- 20:36Speaker 1: quality time connection due to her new priority. So I
- 20:39Speaker 1: need to take some time to emotionally detach as I
- 20:41Speaker 1: know that I can't change her. When I messaged her
- 20:44Speaker 1: a couple of months later, she has left me on delivered.
- 20:48Speaker 1: This has sent me into a total spiral and I
- 20:51Speaker 1: have her words stuck in my head. It's making me
- 20:53Speaker 1: feel like I need to apologize and admit wrongdoing. But
- 20:56Speaker 1: the other side of me knows deep down that I
- 20:58Speaker 1: was true to myself and I also get for a
- 21:00Speaker 1: lot of grace and situations that were ultimately hopeful to me.
- 21:03Speaker 1: I suppose my question is how do I accept and
- 21:05Speaker 1: validate my reality when I know hers is entirely different
- 21:09Speaker 1: and positions me as a naggy, entitled, demanding friend. Every
- 21:13Speaker 1: part of me wants to understand how it feels like
- 21:15Speaker 1: in her shoes, but it is making me confused about
- 21:18Speaker 1: how my own shoes feel and I'm unable to let go.
- 21:21Speaker 1: Thank you in advance for your advice and perspective. Okay,
- 21:25Speaker 1: so what's happened here is what you see in a
- 21:27Speaker 1: lot of fucking friendships where someone will abandon their closest
- 21:30Speaker 1: friends because they get into this honeymoon stage with a
- 21:34Speaker 1: new boyfriend and everything just goes out the window. Okay,
- 21:37Speaker 1: I've seen this happen. It happened directly in my friendship group.
- 21:43Speaker 1: It's happened to good friends of mine and they're best
- 21:46Speaker 1: friends where they've drifted and they're just no longer best
- 21:48Speaker 1: friends at all. Like they don't even go to each
- 21:50Speaker 1: other's like birthdays. Nothing. I've seen it a lot, and
- 21:54Speaker 1: I think it's really sad, But I think it's also
- 21:58Speaker 1: a big test to character, to personality types, and to
- 22:05Speaker 1: the relationship as well. Okay, so sometime, look, we're constantly evolving,
- 22:11Speaker 1: we're constantly changing. People are going to go through stages,
- 22:14Speaker 1: people are going to go through cycles. There's one particular
- 22:17Speaker 1: good friend of mine who years ago, years ago, she
- 22:20Speaker 1: this same thing happened, kind of bailed on the friendship
- 22:24Speaker 1: group saw us less and less and less to the
- 22:26Speaker 1: extent that we just never saw her dropped off, you know,
- 22:29Speaker 1: we stopped messaging each other. She was so heavily invested
- 22:32Speaker 1: in this relationship, she kind of like dropped off the
- 22:35Speaker 1: radar completely to be in this relationship. And the rest
- 22:39Speaker 1: of the group of our group was a bit like
- 22:41Speaker 1: we've tried, We've reached out, Like it's kind of it
- 22:44Speaker 1: is what it is, and there was no energy coming
- 22:46Speaker 1: her way, and we had to respect it. At the
- 22:48Speaker 1: end of the day, we're all adults here, like we
- 22:50Speaker 1: can't hold your hand through life being like, oh, but
- 22:52Speaker 1: you're going to make a mistake, You're going to regret
- 22:54Speaker 1: this years later, probably two years later, they broke up,
- 22:58Speaker 1: she had no friends, and she kind of, like without
- 23:00Speaker 1: trying to be rude, came crawling back. And that's when
- 23:04Speaker 1: we had the opportunity to decide, like do we want
- 23:07Speaker 1: her back in the group or not, And all of
- 23:09Speaker 1: us unanimously decided, yeah, we do. We fucking love her.
- 23:11Speaker 1: She's a legend. Like she's fucking an idiot for bailing
- 23:15Speaker 1: on such a good group of friends, but we love her,
- 23:18Speaker 1: and fuck it. If she's still the biggest legend and whatever,
- 23:21Speaker 1: then of course we want her back in the group.
- 23:23Speaker 1: And so she came back in the group. And I
- 23:26Speaker 1: think that it really solidified the relationship with all of
- 23:29Speaker 1: us because since then, when she has had romantic relationships,
- 23:32Speaker 1: she's really maintained to put in the effort with our
- 23:34Speaker 1: friendship group more so than anyone else. Like she is
- 23:37Speaker 1: just like really die hard, really really tries. It's almost
- 23:39Speaker 1: like she learned a really deep life lesson in that
- 23:42Speaker 1: and it's been amazing. And we would we would it
- 23:45Speaker 1: would been such a mistake if, you know, we didn't
- 23:47Speaker 1: want her back in the group. So there's that as
- 23:51Speaker 1: an outcome. That's a possibility but it did take us
- 23:55Speaker 1: letting nature take its course. If that's kind of how
- 23:57Speaker 1: you want to say it. At the end of the day,
- 24:00Speaker 1: you have to let people live their life based on
- 24:02Speaker 1: their decisions, whether you think it's the right decision for
- 24:04Speaker 1: them or not. If your friend here or ex friend
- 24:08Speaker 1: is really choosing to be with this person over friendships
- 24:13Speaker 1: to kind of isolate themselves and get so sucked into
- 24:16Speaker 1: that honeymoon bubble that it erodes at other friendships. This
- 24:19Speaker 1: is where you make a decision for yourself and you say,
- 24:22Speaker 1: you know what, that's your decision. Whether I agree with
- 24:25Speaker 1: it or not, it's irrelevant because it's your life and
- 24:27Speaker 1: it is your decision. It can still hurt me. I
- 24:29Speaker 1: can still acknowledge the pain, but it is what it is.
- 24:33Speaker 1: But at the same time, I can't I'm not your guardian.
- 24:37Speaker 1: I can't tell you what you should and shouldn't do.
- 24:39Speaker 1: I can't be steering you and forcing you into this
- 24:41Speaker 1: friendship that I value so much, but maybe you just
- 24:44Speaker 1: don't value as much as I do this. I can't
- 24:46Speaker 1: do that. And at the end of the day, no
- 24:48Speaker 1: matter what people say, it is the actions that matter
- 24:52Speaker 1: the most. I'm all forgiving people a couple of months
- 24:55Speaker 1: of grace when they first meet a partner and be like,
- 24:57Speaker 1: all right, you're being a dickhead, but it's you're excited.
- 25:00Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you grace here. But if it's ongoing
- 25:03Speaker 1: again and again and again, then I'm I'm fucking hanging
- 25:06Speaker 1: out my gloves. I'm gonna be like, you know what,
- 25:07Speaker 1: I'm done fighting for this, Like, love you so much,
- 25:10Speaker 1: but you know where to find me. I'm gonna stop pushing.
- 25:15Speaker 1: You know you don't beg for someone's attention. A real
- 25:17Speaker 1: friendship is reciprocal. You should never have to beg But
- 25:19Speaker 1: you weren't there for me, and this will this really
- 25:22Speaker 1: like fuck it. If they can't say that they weren't
- 25:24Speaker 1: there for you, that they're lacking in the components or
- 25:27Speaker 1: what makes a decent friend. If she can't see that
- 25:30Speaker 1: not being there for you when your dog died is
- 25:32Speaker 1: fucked up for a best friend, it's on her. That's
- 25:36Speaker 1: her problem. It's not your problem. It feels like it's
- 25:39Speaker 1: your problem, but it's not your problem. You're making out
- 25:40Speaker 1: your problem. Okay, so you need to be like, this
- 25:43Speaker 1: person has lost track of what a friendship means. Okay,
- 25:47Speaker 1: they can't be there for you in the crucial times
- 25:49Speaker 1: of your life that they don't value you right now.
- 25:52Speaker 1: It's not to say that they're not gonna come around
- 25:54Speaker 1: and regret their actions and evolve as a friend later on,
- 25:56Speaker 1: but you can't predict that. But you're gonna look at
- 25:59Speaker 1: what's happening right now. You're also not here to punish her,
- 26:01Speaker 1: but you're gonna say, you know what, you're not being
- 26:02Speaker 1: a good friend. You're not being a good friend. And
- 26:04Speaker 1: I've highlighted that to you. You've taken offense to that.
- 26:08Speaker 1: It's not my job to baby you through you being offended.
- 26:11Speaker 1: We are adults, Like I said in the last listener question,
- 26:14Speaker 1: we're all fucking adults. If you want to be baby
- 26:16Speaker 1: through this, do it, but not on my watch. I'm
- 26:18Speaker 1: not the one who has to then apologize for pulling
- 26:21Speaker 1: you up on something that normal adults could be pulled
- 26:24Speaker 1: up on. Okay, if you're gonna abandon me as a
- 26:26Speaker 1: friend during these hard times, and you say, and your
- 26:29Speaker 1: defensive reaction is to say that you're walking on eggshells.
- 26:32Speaker 1: That's not walking on eggshells, that's me pulling all the
- 26:35Speaker 1: way in the friendship. You're doing fuck all me pulling
- 26:37Speaker 1: you up, and then you're getting offended because I've called
- 26:39Speaker 1: you out on your fucked behavior as a friend. Okay,
- 26:42Speaker 1: so this is what I would do if I were
- 26:43Speaker 1: You've You've reached out to her, she's left you on red.
- 26:50Speaker 1: I wouldn't do anything. I wouldn't do anything. I'm sorry,
- 26:53Speaker 1: but I wouldn't do anything. There's nothing left to say.
- 26:56Speaker 1: The only way I would reach out again. The only
- 26:58Speaker 1: way is if you look back and look at how
- 27:01Speaker 1: you reached out and said, look, was I passive? Aggressive?
- 27:04Speaker 1: Do I really want to salvage this friendship? Whatever? Then
- 27:07Speaker 1: there is the Then maybe you could reach out one
- 27:10Speaker 1: final time and say, you know what, I've thought long
- 27:12Speaker 1: and hard about this. I really love you. I love
- 27:15Speaker 1: the friendship that we had. I don't want this to
- 27:17Speaker 1: be the end. However, I also need to respect where
- 27:21Speaker 1: you're at and if you even want this friendship or not.
- 27:22Speaker 1: I'm going to put the ball in your court, but
- 27:24Speaker 1: know that if you ever reach out to me, I'm
- 27:26Speaker 1: here to talk. I'm an open book. I'm here to chat.
- 27:30Speaker 1: Let's let's talk. The invitation is open anytime you want
- 27:34Speaker 1: to reach out. I'm here. But this is this is it.
- 27:36Speaker 1: It's now in your court. So that's an option that
- 27:39Speaker 1: you can do, but you've got to be willing for
- 27:41Speaker 1: that to actually be it. You then can't be like, ooh,
- 27:43Speaker 1: maybe six months later it's time to reach out. No, can't. No,
- 27:46Speaker 1: she hasn't lost your number. She knows how to reach you,
- 27:48Speaker 1: she knows how to read you. You need to respect
- 27:50Speaker 1: yourself a little bit more. Someone's a shit friend, and
- 27:53Speaker 1: then after you give them space and then reach out,
- 27:56Speaker 1: you're the one that takes initiative to reach out. She's
- 27:58Speaker 1: still a shit friend. She probably just doesn't care, at
- 28:01Speaker 1: least not now. And if that's the case, you need
- 28:03Speaker 1: to mirror that energy. You need to like, fucking I'll
- 28:06Speaker 1: match your energy message received can't. So that's what you're
- 28:10Speaker 1: gonna do. You're gonna do nothing or send that one
- 28:13Speaker 1: final message if you think that you were like Cardi,
- 28:15Speaker 1: you're rude or hopeful, but I feel like you weren't.
- 28:18Speaker 1: So that's what I would do. Just be a bit
- 28:20Speaker 1: more empowered in this. I know it sucks, but we're
- 28:22Speaker 1: not here to beg Next subject thirty thriving but not
- 28:29Speaker 1: vibing Help Hi. Alexis longtime listener who's finally writing in
- 28:33Speaker 1: to get your gold standard advice and tough love. About
- 28:36Speaker 1: three years ago, I left my four plus year relationship
- 28:39Speaker 1: for very difficult several months that involved my partner cheating
- 28:42Speaker 1: us more me trying to work through it, and ultimately
- 28:46Speaker 1: him not being able slash willing to make the changes.
- 28:49Speaker 1: We lived together, had a pet, and had a timeline
- 28:51Speaker 1: for getting engaged. It was a big upheaval in my life.
- 28:54Speaker 1: In many real ways, your podcast episodes helped me see
- 28:57Speaker 1: clearly that he was not the person I deserve and
- 28:59Speaker 1: if allowed me to leave the relationship that I really
- 29:02Speaker 1: believed was it for me. Picture me weeping but doing
- 29:05Speaker 1: it in a sauna for the benefits love that so
- 29:08Speaker 1: much for you and yet like tactical cry while in
- 29:11Speaker 1: a sauna. Tick tick tick tik tik. I spent the
- 29:14Speaker 1: next year revamping my life. I moved, I started new
- 29:17Speaker 1: hobbies and built healthy, amazing relationships. I did so much
- 29:19Speaker 1: work on myself and I am, and I was, and
- 29:23Speaker 1: still am incredibly proud of myself for putting myself first.
- 29:26Speaker 1: I feel I felt amazing. About two years ago, I
- 29:29Speaker 1: started dating again, but quickly realized I was seeking out
- 29:32Speaker 1: relationships that would never work out either because the guy
- 29:35Speaker 1: was not aligning with my values often politics, to be honest,
- 29:38Speaker 1: wasn't emotionally available, or was literally across the country emotionally
- 29:43Speaker 1: and physical distance jackpot. I've recently moved back to the
- 29:46Speaker 1: area I want to end up in, and I've made
- 29:48Speaker 1: a dedicated effort to break old patterns around dating. I
- 29:52Speaker 1: really have pushed myself to be vulnerable and give dating
- 29:54Speaker 1: a real go with people who actually align with my values.
- 29:57Speaker 1: But I'm struggling to fill the spark with anyone. I
- 29:59Speaker 1: will go on few dates with some that go well.
- 30:02Speaker 1: I have fun, we laugh, we have things in common,
- 30:04Speaker 1: but then I just feel nothing. I'm worried that I
- 30:06Speaker 1: see flaws in my ex, the flaws in my ex everywhere,
- 30:10Speaker 1: and the moment I get even a whiff of lack
- 30:12Speaker 1: of emotional accountability, I'm out of there. I would love
- 30:15Speaker 1: your thoughts on why this is happening and how I
- 30:18Speaker 1: can give myself the chance to meet another amazing partner.
- 30:21Speaker 1: I know I deserve to be with someone who respects
- 30:24Speaker 1: me and my needs, and someone who I respect and
- 30:26Speaker 1: even admire. I'm thirty and I would love to find
- 30:29Speaker 1: my person. The cherry On top of all of this
- 30:32Speaker 1: is that I found out my ex recently got engaged.
- 30:35Speaker 1: We don't speak, he's not active on social media, so
- 30:38Speaker 1: I was surprised, and I have to admit it was
- 30:39Speaker 1: a punch in the gut. I felt so disappointed that
- 30:42Speaker 1: it impacted me as much as it did, as I
- 30:44Speaker 1: really don't have any desire to be with him, but
- 30:47Speaker 1: these wounds run deep. It felt as though he never
- 30:50Speaker 1: had to take responsibility for what he put me through
- 30:52Speaker 1: or even learn from it. And it's highlighted for me
- 30:55Speaker 1: how his life is moving forward in ways that I'm
- 30:58Speaker 1: seeking for myself. Comparison is a thief, thief of joy.
- 31:01Speaker 1: But I think finding out forced me to reckon with
- 31:03Speaker 1: my own dissatisfaction with my own dating life and question why.
- 31:07Speaker 1: I'm trying hard to give myself grace and time, but
- 31:10Speaker 1: it's tough. Any insight you can give would be so great.
- 31:13Speaker 1: Thank you. Okay, So this is this is a difficult
- 31:18Speaker 1: situation that you find yourself in. Let's first address this
- 31:20Speaker 1: whole him getting engaged. I know you don't want to compare.
- 31:24Speaker 1: It's hard not to compare, that's just the reality. How
- 31:27Speaker 1: can you not because you both obviously broke up at
- 31:29Speaker 1: the same time, and then your lives headed in different directions,
- 31:32Speaker 1: and then you're going to look at where they're at
- 31:33Speaker 1: versus where you're at now, Not that it matters, because
- 31:37Speaker 1: when someone's not in your life, you don't want to
- 31:39Speaker 1: make them You don't want to try and bring them
- 31:41Speaker 1: back and try and make them relevant in your life
- 31:43Speaker 1: when they're not directly involved anymore. However, you did mention
- 31:48Speaker 1: here that where is it? It feels as though he
- 31:53Speaker 1: never had to take responsibility for what he put me
- 31:55Speaker 1: through or even learn from it. Maybe he did. Maybe
- 32:01Speaker 1: that's why he's now engaged, and you know, maybe he
- 32:06Speaker 1: you know, not that it matters. But what I'm saying
- 32:08Speaker 1: is that instead of thinking, here, this person walked away
- 32:13Speaker 1: completely unscathed. They didn't walk away unscathed. They lost the
- 32:16Speaker 1: relationship with you. You ended it and brightly so like
- 32:20Speaker 1: he was obviously not trading you, well you were worth
- 32:22Speaker 1: more all of that. So number one, there was a
- 32:25Speaker 1: repercussion there. They lost the relationship with you, which could
- 32:28Speaker 1: have been quite a successful, nice relationship, and that's on them.
- 32:32Speaker 1: Maybe they learn from it, and this is why they're engaged,
- 32:35Speaker 1: or maybe they're always avoiding and running away, and he's
- 32:38Speaker 1: now in the next best thing and he's gotten engaged.
- 32:42Speaker 1: And that's that. You can't look at someone's relationship and
- 32:45Speaker 1: say they are happy or they are unhappy, or they
- 32:48Speaker 1: are accountable or they're not accountable. We have no idea.
- 32:52Speaker 1: And you also don't want to be like, well, he
- 32:53Speaker 1: must be miserable either. You just want to look at
- 32:56Speaker 1: that as for what it is. It's a relationship that
- 32:59Speaker 1: I don't know nothing about. End of story, end of story.
- 33:04Speaker 1: Hopefully he learned his lesson. Hopefully for his sake and
- 33:07Speaker 1: for his fiance's sake, that he learned a lesson. Hopefully
- 33:11Speaker 1: he learned from his behaviors what's right and what's wrong,
- 33:13Speaker 1: and he's not going to mirror those behaviors in this
- 33:14Speaker 1: new relationship. All these things that you can hope for.
- 33:17Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, wish you all
- 33:18Speaker 1: the best, that you go have good life. Okay, So
- 33:21Speaker 1: as far as that is concerned, we can just hope
- 33:24Speaker 1: that this person learned a lesson for the sake of
- 33:26Speaker 1: their future relationships. And the reason it's impacted you is
- 33:31Speaker 1: purely because you're comparing timelines. I know you don't want
- 33:33Speaker 1: to compare but it's hard not to when you're kind
- 33:35Speaker 1: of in this crossroads of where you're at with relationships. Now,
- 33:39Speaker 1: one thing that you've done, look your back where you
- 33:41Speaker 1: want to live. You found where you want to like
- 33:43Speaker 1: set your roots. That's important. You're saying that, I worry
- 33:48Speaker 1: that I see flaws in my ex everywhere, and the
- 33:50Speaker 1: moment I get even a whiff of lack of emotional accountability,
- 33:53Speaker 1: I'm out of there. I think something that we really
- 33:56Speaker 1: need to be aware of is have we allowed our
- 34:01Speaker 1: wounds to heal? Because often we'll look at any excuse
- 34:06Speaker 1: that we think that might hurt me in the future.
- 34:07Speaker 1: This might hurt me, this is gonna catch me off God,
- 34:09Speaker 1: So I'm gonna cut I'm gonna enna cut it, or
- 34:12Speaker 1: you're not exactly how not And so you're not getting
- 34:16Speaker 1: close to anyone. You're not getting close to anyone. You
- 34:18Speaker 1: haven't really healed those wounds yet. You haven't. And what
- 34:22Speaker 1: I mean by healing those wounds is coming to terms
- 34:24Speaker 1: with like really closing that chapter, really closing that chapter
- 34:28Speaker 1: and saying that that hurt. I was hurt. I was
- 34:31Speaker 1: in a vulnerable position. I had to like regroup and healing.
- 34:34Speaker 1: You've done so much work on yourself you have, but
- 34:37Speaker 1: you've also got to ask yourself, like, why am I
- 34:42Speaker 1: so scared to let someone hurt me again? Because yeah,
- 34:45Speaker 1: it sucks. No one wants to be hurt. But you
- 34:47Speaker 1: also don't want to be stuck in a position where
- 34:49Speaker 1: you're telling yourself, I can't ever get hurt again, because
- 34:52Speaker 1: you can now hopefully not. But if you tell yourself
- 34:57Speaker 1: I can never let myself get hurt again, then the
- 35:00Speaker 1: result of that is I can never let myself drop
- 35:02Speaker 1: my walls down. I can never let myself be vulnerable
- 35:05Speaker 1: because you know that you would require falling in love
- 35:10Speaker 1: in order for you to get hurt. So if you
- 35:13Speaker 1: put two and two together, you're going to think, well,
- 35:14Speaker 1: as long as I don't really fall in love, then
- 35:16Speaker 1: I can never get hurt. That's your solution. Subconsciously, that's
- 35:19Speaker 1: your solution. That's why we have this avoidant response. I've
- 35:23Speaker 1: got to avoid, avoid, avoid, but at least I'll survive.
- 35:26Speaker 1: I'll be fine. But you're not fine because you're not satisfied.
- 35:29Speaker 1: So what you need to tell yourself this is one
- 35:31Speaker 1: thing you need to figure out, whether you drop your
- 35:34Speaker 1: walls down or whether you don't. If you fall in
- 35:36Speaker 1: love with someone. You can still fall in love with
- 35:38Speaker 1: someone with your walls up. Okay, so you're going to
- 35:41Speaker 1: get hurt just as much, if not more. People think
- 35:45Speaker 1: that if I don't show the vulnerable side of me,
- 35:48Speaker 1: then I can never really get hurt. Bullshit. You get
- 35:50Speaker 1: hurt worse, and the reason for that is you still
- 35:53Speaker 1: feel the feelings, but they don't see a side of you.
- 35:56Speaker 1: Then they leave. Then you get really hurt because you
- 35:58Speaker 1: think I had something and I lost that when I
- 36:00Speaker 1: could have had something really good because I wasn't vulnerable.
- 36:03Speaker 1: So then you think, not only am I heart broken
- 36:05Speaker 1: that I've lost this opportunity, but I also know that
- 36:08Speaker 1: I fucked up because I didn't give them my best self.
- 36:10Speaker 1: I didn't actually show them who I really was in
- 36:12Speaker 1: this relationship. We didn't give this the best chance possible
- 36:15Speaker 1: because I refuse to be vulnerable. So it's a fallacy
- 36:19Speaker 1: that we like to believe of Well, if I have
- 36:22Speaker 1: my walls up, then I can never get hurt. You
- 36:24Speaker 1: will get hurt more with your walls up. So I
- 36:27Speaker 1: think you're looking for excuses in people to not get hurt.
- 36:30Speaker 1: You're saying, if I see a whiff of emotional unavailability.
- 36:34Speaker 1: I also think you've got within reason. Okay, if someone's
- 36:38Speaker 1: an emotional dud, it is not your job to hold
- 36:41Speaker 1: their hand and coach them through life, Okay, But I
- 36:43Speaker 1: also think that it's important for you to look at
- 36:50Speaker 1: what it is that you see as a whiff of
- 36:52Speaker 1: emotional unavailability, and sometimes just with gentle steering, people can
- 36:59Speaker 1: open up and learn because sometimes emotional like you're being
- 37:01Speaker 1: emotionally unavailable right now, and what if someone saw that
- 37:04Speaker 1: in you and thought red flag, Ah, but you're like
- 37:08Speaker 1: a catch. So I think it's important to understand that
- 37:13Speaker 1: everyone comes from their own journey as long as it's
- 37:15Speaker 1: not red flag energy, toxic, manipulative. If someone showed, oh
- 37:19Speaker 1: they're a little bit then I think maybe this person
- 37:22Speaker 1: has been hurt in the past. Maybe it's worth investing
- 37:25Speaker 1: in this relationship a little bit. Maybe it's worth spending
- 37:27Speaker 1: time with this person. And then if I see, oh,
- 37:30Speaker 1: there's a lot that this person has to offer, but
- 37:32Speaker 1: they're a little bit emotionally unavailable once you know, not
- 37:35Speaker 1: on the first date, but once I've gotten to another
- 37:37Speaker 1: bit more, maybe this is something we can explore, and
- 37:39Speaker 1: maybe it's something that this person while we're building our
- 37:42Speaker 1: relationship together, can work on healing as well. You know,
- 37:45Speaker 1: it's not the worst thing in the world to date
- 37:47Speaker 1: someone who's had a broken heart and who's got their
- 37:49Speaker 1: walls up a little bit, as long as you're both
- 37:50Speaker 1: on the same page about like, yeah, let's work through
- 37:53Speaker 1: this together. I've also been hurt. Let's just be open
- 37:55Speaker 1: and honest and whatever. You might find a gem who's
- 37:59Speaker 1: just had like a rough trot and who's like trying
- 38:02Speaker 1: to recover and come out the other side. You don't
- 38:04Speaker 1: also want to dismiss every single person, you know, the
- 38:06Speaker 1: aim isn't to date someone who's perfection, flawless, the most
- 38:09Speaker 1: secure touch person in the world. Everything's gone a bit,
- 38:11Speaker 1: but because there's still very very good people that have
- 38:15Speaker 1: insecure attachments out there and that have like you know,
- 38:18Speaker 1: like emotional unavailability issues. Most of us I reckon enter
- 38:22Speaker 1: relationships in that way. So I think it's I think
- 38:26Speaker 1: you're doing yourself a disservice having this very strict kind
- 38:31Speaker 1: of entrance criteria into your life when you yourself are
- 38:37Speaker 1: still hurting and you yourself you know have that you know,
- 38:39Speaker 1: we all have these things. So as long as it's
- 38:41Speaker 1: not like this, this is unhealthy, toxic, red flag kind
- 38:44Speaker 1: of standard. I think you need to be a little
- 38:47Speaker 1: bit more like patient with certain people and ask yourself, like,
- 38:54Speaker 1: could I see myself in this person with how they
- 38:56Speaker 1: are emotionally unavailable? Is this something that maybe is just
- 38:58Speaker 1: due to them having also been heartbroken or cheat it
- 39:01Speaker 1: on and they're a little bit tentative when they're entering
- 39:03Speaker 1: the dating world. I think when you are a lot
- 39:05Speaker 1: calmer and a lot more gentle and a lot more
- 39:08Speaker 1: understanding with people, you give you a warmer energy than
- 39:11Speaker 1: you yourself, drop your walls down, and you might start
- 39:14Speaker 1: discovering things in other people that you're like, wow, I
- 39:16Speaker 1: never would have thought about dating you, But after like
- 39:18Speaker 1: the fifth date, I'm discovering things about you that's fucking awesome.
- 39:21Speaker 1: And now you're dropping your walls and now we're having
- 39:23Speaker 1: a lot of fun and now and then you start
- 39:25Speaker 1: to discover because, like I always say, you can't really
- 39:29Speaker 1: know who a person is until you learn about their character,
- 39:31Speaker 1: and character is learned over months. So I think it's
- 39:34Speaker 1: so important to Yeah, I would just give people a
- 39:37Speaker 1: little bit more time and patience and as long as
- 39:41Speaker 1: they're treating you with respect, I would see where things
- 39:45Speaker 1: could go, and I think you'd be very pleasantly surprised
- 39:47Speaker 1: that there's some gems out there if you are willing to,
- 39:51Speaker 1: like just wait and be patient and look for them.
- 39:55Speaker 1: Thank you so much, guys, I said, this is like
- 39:56Speaker 1: we're reaching the time now. So I did say I
- 39:58Speaker 1: was going to answer four questions, but the three is
- 40:00Speaker 1: all there is because I was delving deep. So you're
- 40:02Speaker 1: gonna have to wait till next week to listen to
- 40:04Speaker 1: the fourth one. Guys, love you so much. That is
- 40:08Speaker 1: all for today's episode. Great fucking questions coming through, keep
- 40:11Speaker 1: sending them through. That is all for today. As always,
- 40:15Speaker 1: remember be can'd to yourself, be kind to your brain,
- 40:18Speaker 1: don't text it from anyone, and especially don't text it
- 40:21Speaker 1: from yourself. Don't care