Currently under my own stress due to needing to look after nephew while my brother is unwell.
Have long term friend who has had a "something" with a man for three years now. I say something because he has never committed to being her partner or anything formal like that. Friend is a very strong person normally (I.e., work, friends, family) but yet the complete opposite with men.
For years now she's gone round in circles with him making promises he never lives up, her issuing ultimatums and never getting anywhere. She lives at the other end of the country and every single get together we've had that I can remember has had some kind of upset caused by this man.
Lately she's been relying on me more - possibly because she's run out of sympathetic ears. I have all the time in world for people's problems normally, but I feel utterly burnt out. She doesn't listen and says I need to try harder to persuade her. She'll move 5 steps forward to moving on, then be right back at the beginning.
I hit rock bottom the other night because she was on the phone to me saying she wanted to kill herself because of how upset he was making her- of course there's no way I'm going to leave someone who's talking like that, but I had an urgent task of my own that I had to get done. I was literally shaking with anxiety on the phone to her, spent that night finishing the work I had to do. Finally got to bed at 4am but couldn't sleep because I was so worried about her. Then was up at 7 for nephew, school run and work. I feel stressed all the time and hate looking at my phone.
It's not an option to delete whatsapp though I loathe it right now - I use it a lot to send brother updates and photos to keep him cheerful.
How do you support someone through something like while trying to stop yourself getting burnt out?