I seem to attract friends who boast and try to compete with me.
Please share your experiences of these types of friends.
I find the concept of comparing yourself to others, and competing with others quite bizarre and difficult to get my head around. I'm wondering whether this is why I end up being friends with those types - I just don't see them coming because I assume people don't think that way. I am starting to feel like I'm in the minority. I think it has something to do with my mother being a bit of a hippy, carefree, 'live a simple life' personality.
Anyway, I find it highly irritating and fake to be around people like that. How can they truly be a good friend? It's sometimes so obviously that they want bad things to happen to you!
I have a couple of friends who constantly try to one-up me. They always talk about exactly how much they earn, how much their houses are worth (when I moved house one said 'how many toilets does it have?). You know the type of person - They want to know your husband's job five minytes after meeting you, and go silent when something good happens to you, or tell you how something better happened to them. They create the impression that their lives are perfect - everything they do is perfect and constantly go into excessive detai about just how perfect it is.
When I hear this kind of stuff I always say: 'That's great', etc. because I genuinely feel happy for them, but they do not seem happy for me if things happen to me. And no, I don't talk about stuff that happens to me unless it is relevant to the conversation.
It gets to me because it's a bit depressing, I always end up feeling 'Are you really a friend? Is this just a fake pretense at friendship and you are really hoping that things don't go well for me?
Interested to hear others' examples of this kind of behaviour.