A few weeks ago, I did a thing....
It was a thing that I had been thinking about doing, but couldn't talk myself into.
There were pros and cons.
It was a decision I could really only make for myself.
Then one day - I just did it.
I grew the guts and pulled the trigger.
I unfollowed a friend.
That might sound like a silly, unimportant, insignificant thing to you, and in some cases, it is. However, it was the opposite for me. It was a huge, monumental moment. And I'll tell you why...
This person had actually ended the friendship with me months ago - both in person and online. But in this world of social media, it was easy to be a lurker. I could still see things. I could still check in. And while I thought it was a good thing to do - something that made things easier - the opposite of cold turkey - it actually wasn't. I thought leaving the door open a crack would make it hurt less because we weren't 100% cutoff from one another. But it actually made things hurt more. Everything I saw - good or bad, hurt. It stung. It was like watching someone's life go on without you, seemingly fine and unbothered. No, wait. It wasn't "like" that... that's exactly what it was.
That was a tough pill to swallow, but as I've become more confident and comfortable in setting and maintaining my own boundaries, I've realized that I need to respect other people's as well. As much as I would like to think of myself as the good guy, odds are that in some stories, I'm not. Bad guys shouldn't get access to the people that they've hurt, so if I've hurt people, they deserve the the peace of mind, space and boundaries that they have set up to protect themselves.
In these crazy times that we currently live in, protecting your mental health and well-being is incredibly important. So, if I in any way bring stress, negativity or hurt into your life, feel free to unfollow me. I promise to respect that, hard as it may be.
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