The thread about emotionally abusive parents has got me thinking about this today. I'm not very good at picking friends, in fact I'm really crap at it. I tend to pick ones who treat me as I've been conditioned to expect and basically take the piss out of me/ride roughshod over my feelings and my wants/are really quite nasty. I'm in intensive therapy at the moment as my general anxiety/depression has now manifested as an eating disorder and given that they have the highest mortality rate of all mental health issues I'm being well looked after.
Anyway, I heard from a friend recently that another friend asked how much he saw of me and DH - he said a fair bit and she allegedly asked why he thought they'd survived "all they culls" in the decade I've known them. I'm quite upset by this comment, as I don't randomly "cull" people from my life.
I have been quite ruthless of late, what with the therapy, of focussing on my dearest friends and letting other relationships slip a bit, along with removing any very negative influences on me, and I've cut the dreaded Facebook right back to only have actual friends I'd see/have conversations with on it rather than the thousands of acquaintances others seem to use it for.
Also, over the decade I've known these guys I moved cities and friendships (which weren't close) from where I used to live drifted though some cemented and had a couple of bust ups whereby I got to the end of my tether of one girl using me as a cash cow and another using me as a cat scratching post. I've also cut a group of non-mutual friends out completely after one of them showed me some emails going between all of them bitching about me.
AIBU to be a bit upset at this comment? I'm trying to develop some self-esteem/respect at present and none of the people I've removed myself from seeing were helping in that respect, so therefore they weren't really friends.