Happily "Unfriended"

Realized just now that I hadn't been seeing the status updates of a certain someone.  I went to confirm a hunch and was quite happy to discover that she had "unfriended" me :D  Normally, that would make anyone feel offended, but I truly felt more relieved than anything.  Like, the proverbial thorn was pulled from my side.

You might think, some problems can be solved simply by a "Remove Friend" click nowadays.  And, yes, I gotta admit that has helped me a few times before.  But this one was unique.  I had long decided that she had to make that move, not me.  I just had to stick it out.  It was only a matter of time.

Have you ever met people who are so touchy, self-absorbed, and insecure that they get riled up about the littlest things and -- worse -- make up sob stories just to get your attention and compassion for a while?  They want the world to revolve around them, and yet believe that the world is out to get them. Constantly.

I had to put up with someone like that for 4 years on-and-off.  Whenever she pops up in my life, I groan and wonder aloud to my husband why I'm friends with her.  She constantly lies to me (and I can tell when she does), and is just a generally difficult person to support because she will feed off your honesty and optimism, and yet never really absorb anything.

It is so sad because she is a really gifted, sweet, articulate and gentle person.  And yet, she is slowly killing herself every day when she could actually make her life better just by switching her focus from herself to others who are much more less fortunate than her.

I confided in another friend that, If you had someone like that in your life, what should you do?  Can you say you've had it, you want to pick up and leave?  Or should I just lay low and wait it out until she "leaves"?  Fortunately, this friend -- a wise and level-headed young lady -- really did used to have someone like my thorn in her life.  In fact, it stayed in longer than she could bear.  So she told me, Best to lay low and not give her any more attention unless it was an emergency.  It's unhealthy for them and for you.

It was hard the first few weeks, having become so used to the prickliness of the thorn.  But after a few months (thanks to some worthwhile distractions), ignoring her bitterness and pessimism got easier and easier to do.  Turned those lemons into lemonade.  Life should keep moving on.  And now, here I am, blogging about getting "unfriended" and being totally happy about it :)  I don't know when it happened or how, but I am glad it finally did.

Don't get me wrong -- I really wish things turned out differently, that I could've helped her achieve some level of contentment and acceptance in herself.  I think that's what I kept trying to help her with anyway, but... I don't know.  What else can I do now but to keep praying for her, right?  And if she pops up again in my life, well, we'll see.