When we first went into lockdown my partner and I started a weekly Zoom group with long-term friends — seven of us. We adopted a policy of keeping things upbeat and positive in the group and had some great evenings laughing together. We all appreciated it and grew closer as a result. We kept our anxieties and fears for one-to-one calls and chats.
A couple of those friends asked if they could introduce some people they knew who were struggling. We said yes without thinking it through, assuming that any friends of our friends would fit in. And then a couple more were added. So now the Zoom invite goes out to a group of 13. My partner and I didn't introduce anyone to the group, by the way.
A couple of the adopted people fitted in well but three haven't. There's a woman who's attended more than 40 meetings and only spoken, briefly, on a few occasions. Most of the time she sits looking bored. I suspect she's playing solitaire during meetings. We ask friendly questions and she ignores or deflects. We know nothing about her other than her name and roughly where she lives. There's another woman who's a heavy drinker who frequently dominates proceedings. And another person with MH issues who talks endlessly about himself. It long-ago turned from being a weekly laugh with people we know to a kind of therapy group. They keep logging on, week after week.
Now that lockdown is over and we're getting back to normal I've suggested we call time on it. Some of the original friends agreed, but the newbies all want to carry on and have said they don't want the rest of us to go. The friends who introduced them to the group are embarrassed about some of the things that have gone on — but they are also privately putting pressure on me and my partner to stay with the group 'to spread the load' as one of them put it.
AIBU to say that now the worst is over, we want to free up our schedule?