I have a friend of 30+ years. Love her to bits but am struggling in recent years with her company.
Friend is a teacher. All consuming job. I have lots of teacher friends and I KNOW how awful, miserable, exhausting, hard it is. This is NOT a teaching post.
My friend has complained about her job for years but in recent years its all she does. Every time we meet she tells me how awful her job is. How noone understands how awful it is.
How she has no time or energy for hobbies/activities/anything!!
She is stressed, exhausted and depressed all the time. Sometimes we talk about stuff I am doing - hobbies/funny stories/trips but I feel bad because I know she can't do any of these things. She openly admits she has nothing to talk about because all she does is work.
I have suggested a million things she could do to get out of teaching, talked about life balance, well being, life is passing her by, a pension isn't so important it destroys your life.
She says she can't possible afford to give up teaching or go part time or retire.
She gets quite angry if I make any suggestions saying 'there's no way out of teaching'.
She will also only meet during school holidays. Says she too busy at any other time.
If I text to see how her life is her only reply is 'tired from work' , 'counting down days to half term'.
Im now at the point where I cant be bothered texting or meeting her. There's nothing to talk about and I don't want to spend 2hrs listening to her telling me how bad teaching is. I KNOW!!
I feel bad because clearly she is utterly miserable.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this with friends? I feel like saying 'ill just get back in touch when you retire in 20years then'. (Obviously I wouldn't ever say this)
I feel sad about our friendship and that this is how I now feel. :(