What happened was I had been unhappy with how a certain friend had been treating me. I started realizing that whenever I had issues that I wanted to discuss, I would end up getting judged to the point where one day this person said to me, "You're always having issues. Don't these things of yours ever get finished?" To say that I was hurt is an understatement. You see, I had gone to great lengths to always be there for this person. Whenever things weren't going great for them, I made sure to be a strong support. So to have someone brush aside my issues because they occur often (according to this individual) still hurts to date.
So with this friendship becoming more and more strained, I opted out. I decided to reduce communication to almost nothing and to live as if this person was no longer in my life. I dodged hanging out with them saying I had too much work. When I was finally cornered and asked why I had suddenly had a change of heart, I just smiled because I knew this was a test of my will-power. This was the moment when I would have to decide whether or not I wanted this person to continue being in my life. So I responded by telling them that I had been unhappy with them for a long time and I had finally decided to put my happiness ahead of theirs. I wanted to seek out better friendships where both parties could lean on each other for support.
You can imagine my surprise when I was asked by this individual to stop hardening my heart! I responded very calmly saying that I felt that it was high time I started looking out for myself because all along I had been looking out for them, trying to be the best friend I could be when I was getting nothing in return. So I had decided to move on from the friendship.
When I got home, I was so surprised with myself. I couldn't believe that I had taken such a stand without wavering. I had been forgiving this person's bad behaviour for so long. I had allowed their words and actions to hurt me for so long but now I had said enough is enough. I said goodbye and didn't look back.
It might seem like a cruel thing to do but sometimes you need to stand up for yourself. Don't let yourself get so caught up in protecting somebody else's feelings that you forget your own. Stand up for yourself today!