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To think I've had a bad run with friends?

18 replies

GreenCandleWarmth · 06/03/2025 09:42

Hello. Firstly I'm told I'm funny, kind etc all positive things but shocking friend wise
I remember I was popular in primary school. Secondary was tricky but did have a close friend for 3 years. She met other mates and I was dropped. Uni rolled round I did a very time consuming course. Was friends with sorry to say a very needy person. She kind of took over and I was supporting her to my detriment.
I did become friendly with a few girls at the end of uni but they moved back home so it petered out. It was a position of I was the 3rd wheel anyway.
Then in my mid 20s I became friends with 2 sets of girls. Again 3rd wheel. Both of them had the other for bridesmaid and not me. I supported one of them Through IVF ie going to her house after tearful phone calls etc.
Anyway at present I'm friends with 2 ladies I met from work about 12 years ago and a girl I lived with 15 years ago. I feel if I didn't text them I would never hear from them

OP posts:
GreenCandleWarmth · 06/03/2025 11:13

Anyone ?

OP posts:
GreenCandleWarmth · 06/03/2025 17:32

😘

OP posts:
YeGodsandLittleFishies · 06/03/2025 17:38

I’ve been through different phases with friends, depending on what is happening on
my life, it’s natural I think.

If you’d like more friends is there anything stopping you going out and finding them?

Making new friends through work? Or your local community or through a hobby?

Sometimes you just need to be a wee bit brave.

Windowtothe · 06/03/2025 17:44

I empathise OP.

I think it’s hard these days because people work so much and don’t have much time even for their families, so friends and having time to nurture friendships is an afterthought.

People live so dispersed and have replaced friendship with social media which is a kind of hologram of friendship.

Peoples’ expectations of each other are too high because social media is so bloody fake and these expectations cause disappointment but don’t worry, you can always be reassured that they’re narcissists and you can ‘cut them out’.

Relationally we are fucked and this is not your fault.

Gundogday · 06/03/2025 17:49

I know what you mean. Other people seem to maintain friendships a lot easier than me. I feel if I don’t make the contact, then I don’t go for coffee etc. and yet these people are quite able to text other people etc. quite easily. (with one or two exceptions).

winter8090 · 06/03/2025 17:57

I always think 3 is an awkward number when it comes to friends.

I guess friendships are made through shared activities, so seek out common interests.

I empathise. I appreciate it's not easy to make friends.

GreenCandleWarmth · 07/03/2025 07:17

We actually went wedding dress shopping while they knew I wasn't being bridesmaid. I had no idea. That's a bit humiliating lol

OP posts:
YeGodsandLittleFishies · 07/03/2025 07:30

GreenCandleWarmth · 07/03/2025 07:17

We actually went wedding dress shopping while they knew I wasn't being bridesmaid. I had no idea. That's a bit humiliating lol

That’s extremely thoughtless and very hurtful.

GreenCandleWarmth · 07/03/2025 07:54

Yep I've seen pictures of other girls out without me, other people asked to be godparents, bridesmaids in front of me, presents from holidays given to everyone but me.

OP posts:
MerylPinched · 07/03/2025 08:01

Hi op I've been through this myself in recent years. It's not easy and it feels as though you are doing something wrong. I think the pp was right when they said people are having to work long hours now and are spent and exhausted and don't have the headspace for friendships. I also think from covid times people have become used to being less social and to being at home more. Also high expectations on social media / fantasy of life media as it should be called that real life doesn't meet those expectations and therefore people are easily discarded / not invested in. So friendships don't seem to develop in the same way anymore. When you add that to people working from home much more now which reduces your social opportunities, I agree things feel different socially now. I don't drink either which has limited my social life even more! I have found a faith though and have made some friends that way and they feel like good people who are trying their best to be understanding / forgiving / decent towards others and those friendships make me feel good. I know this route would not be for everyone but it is working for me. x

MerylPinched · 07/03/2025 08:06

I was going to add that the loyalty that you used to feel with friends doesn't seem to exist in the same way and that we sometimes feel easily replaced by others! Again I think I blame social media / the internet / the feeling of having lots of choice and not having to work on faults and seeking perfection for this!!
I was very upset when I saw someone who I considered a best friend having a big birthday party in a hotel with a sit down meal for many of her friends and she hadn't invited me.

Saltsaltsalt · 07/03/2025 08:10

Depending on where you live there are some local facebook groups for meet ups for ladies. These are quite subscribed too. So you are not alone.
Its not easy when you are the one feeling you are doing all the running in a friendship. You obviously want to invest time and energy into building and maintaining a friendship but do not feel you are getting much back.
The one thing I have taken away from my experiences is people have all sorts of different priorities and commitments and things going on in their lives which affect the types of friendships. I have friends who have a much closer friendship group which I am not part of and it does make you question yourself which is no bad thing but ultimately after a period of time trying and putting energy in your efforts may be better served elsewhere.

Dontlletmedownbruce · 07/03/2025 08:20

This can happen and have no reflection at all on the person. My sister still has her secondary school friends and they seem to have coincided in every phase of life. They have loads in common too whereas I had very little in common with my old group even as we left school. I still see two of them and enjoy being with them but our lives are very different. I have often been jealous of my sisters friend group but it is what it is. Her husband, a very interesting and sociable man complains he has no friends of his own either, and has adopted her friends partners. He is the last person I would have thought to be lacking friends.

I have a good circle mostly from Uni and we meet up at quite regular times and have a great time so I'm grateful for that. I also have 2 other circles where i get invited to things and we get on great. But I've never had a best friend or anything close. It occurred to me recently if I had a tragedy and had to call someone for help I am not sure who I would call without it being awkward. What I'm saying is superficially I have lots of friends but that's all it is. It's very common to feel as you do. It's silly really as everyone presumes everyone else had a close knit group. There was a thread recently about do you have a 'the girls' group, very varied replies.

NotSoFar · 07/03/2025 08:27

Well, I think in your shoes I’d also be asking myself whether something I was doing, probably unconsciously, was contributing to what sounds like a pattern of friendships where the other people are far less invested than you. No point calling it a ‘run of bad luck’ if there’s something you can do to alter things in future if you’d like more mutually-sustaining friendships.

One thing that struck me in your post is that you frequently refer to being a ‘third wheel’, to your main university friend being ‘needy’ and that she ‘took over’ and you ‘supported her to my detriment’, then you say you supported another friend who dropped you through IVF, then you say you went wedding dress shopping with another friend without knowing she hadn’t chosen you as bridesmaid, but only the other of the trio.

This sounds as if you’re casting yourself as the supporting act and expecting these acts of service to get you friends. It just doesn’t work like that. If you’re setting yourself up as the shoulder to cry on, you’re rendering yourself semi-invisible, the useful prop who has no life or needs of her own. Exactly the person no one asks to be bridesmaid, godmother, or invites to parties.

I’d be asking myself questions about how I present myself in new relationships, and maybe thinking about centring myself and my needs more when I make new friends in future. Be fussier about who you befriend. Be more about your own life, priorities, needs, preferences. Think ‘Is this friendship nurturing me?’ rather than ‘How can I make myself indispensable to this person?’

GreenCandleWarmth · 07/03/2025 15:10

NotSoFar · 07/03/2025 08:27

Well, I think in your shoes I’d also be asking myself whether something I was doing, probably unconsciously, was contributing to what sounds like a pattern of friendships where the other people are far less invested than you. No point calling it a ‘run of bad luck’ if there’s something you can do to alter things in future if you’d like more mutually-sustaining friendships.

One thing that struck me in your post is that you frequently refer to being a ‘third wheel’, to your main university friend being ‘needy’ and that she ‘took over’ and you ‘supported her to my detriment’, then you say you supported another friend who dropped you through IVF, then you say you went wedding dress shopping with another friend without knowing she hadn’t chosen you as bridesmaid, but only the other of the trio.

This sounds as if you’re casting yourself as the supporting act and expecting these acts of service to get you friends. It just doesn’t work like that. If you’re setting yourself up as the shoulder to cry on, you’re rendering yourself semi-invisible, the useful prop who has no life or needs of her own. Exactly the person no one asks to be bridesmaid, godmother, or invites to parties.

I’d be asking myself questions about how I present myself in new relationships, and maybe thinking about centring myself and my needs more when I make new friends in future. Be fussier about who you befriend. Be more about your own life, priorities, needs, preferences. Think ‘Is this friendship nurturing me?’ rather than ‘How can I make myself indispensable to this person?’

Yes it's very true. I now think of what I am getting out of the friendship too. Being an emotional toilet is waring I admit.

OP posts:
Mary46 · 07/03/2025 16:02

Hard op. I put good efforts into friends. People dont reply now I could meet you this date or x date. No reply. We had a walking app again if I dont chase it up. Ah I give up. Im 50s. Flaky. One lovely but again unless I ring her...

OriginalUsername2 · 07/03/2025 16:06

I can empathise. Three is a crowd. It took me years to work out but somehow there’s a law that if there’s 3 of us, the other two will end up besties.

Also, everything is made for 2. Even pavement width!

Mary46 · 07/03/2025 16:28

Yes 3 is tricky. Always one left out. I found people weird after covid nobody wants meet now

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