That she is draining the life out of me?
I have a friend of around 8 years who is really having an effect on my mental health, I’m left feeling mentally drained and exhausted every time I see her.
I had managed to distance myself from her after I had a baby and blaming it on being too busy or tired etc but now baby is getting older it’s harder to come up with excuses why I can’t answer her multiple phone calls or why she can’t come to my house.
Every time I see or speak to her she unloads all her feelings about the same relationship problems over and over again, I’ve tried to give her advise many times which she never takes on board anyway and am sick of having the same conversation every time we see each other. She will ask for constant favours to borrow money to pick up her kids from school as she fails to prioritise her children over her partner and leaves herself stuck at the last minute.
At the moment I’m ignoring most of the phone calls and making excuses why I can’t see her because I haven’t got the energy for her drama, but at the same time I feel like a bad friend for not wanting to be there for her. Do you think it’s best to just tell her straight up how she makes me feel and that I can’t continue a friendship acting like her therapist at every conversation or would you just keep trying to avoid her (I feel like this is the easier way out but it can make things awkward)