Dear Sybil,
A little over a year ago my husband and I moved to a new city. We both value community and relationships and digging into a place in an attempt to give it all we've got. Unfortunately, especially as a couple, we have not been able to find "our people". The few friends we have made fit into these categories:
1. We have connected as a foursome but one is moving away this week.
2. We have reached out (they are really interesting and like-minded) but they are so busy that they never seem to be free.
3. I have connected with one, but he hasn't connected with them.
and lastly (the question is coming, I promise)...
4. We were connected by mutual friends- I can find ways of tolerating and enjoying them, and he is (rightly) at the end of his rope.
So, I want to talk about the last couple. They are not bad people, just one of those couples who are difficult. She, as an individual and one on one is kind and sweet- as well as negative, critical, and needs to be right. They, as a couple, are extra hard. They are much more spendy than we are, constantly needing to be at the best or most popular restaurants. She talks down to him and regularly brings up her ex in weird ways which is super awkward. Recently they offered to sell me tickets to a festival, and when I couldn't afford it at the price they offered- he proceeded to offer them on facebook for half the price without telling me he was willing to do that.
This last thing sent my husband over the edge. He is over it. He feels they are rude, difficult, and obnoxious. I sometimes feel the same, but also have had some sweet interactions- and I want to be careful because we really love the mutual friends who connected us, and whom go really far back with this couple.
This couple is trying to get pregnant and the way that is unfolding is also annoying to me. That sounds weird, but too much to bother going into. She is a lot of work.
I am aware that if we end up having a kid here, that others with children will be valuable and especially other women will be important to me. I am also aware that sometimes I am too tolerant. I would like to keep a connection but even if I do, I will at some point have to confront that my partner pretty much never wants to hang out with them again and if he had to he'd probably stick it to them. I have this sneaking suspicion that the more forward and clear I am the better she will take it, and that she can actually take it. It's possible things could grow with her.
Is it worth the slow (possibly unfruitful) effort? Should I accept being lonely over tolerating an exhausting friendship? I sense it's not time to let go completely.
HELP!
Yours,
Exhausted but hopeful
Dear EBH,
Moving to a new city is a chance to reinvent yourself, but isn’t it interesting that people are difficult, everywhere you go? People are difficult, and worth it, but at what cost?
My father always told me, “Be careful who you hang out with.” He was worried that my friends would get me into trouble, but also was trying to impart to me that human nature is that you are influenced by the people you spend time with. It has taken me a long time to listen to my dad’s advice, and, to be honest, sometimes I still ignore it and dive into friendships with people who are very dodgy and could get me into some situations I’ll later regret. But I’m starting to be more and more careful to only hang out with people who I actually admire, not just enjoy. I’m spending time and effort on those folks who really enrich my life in some way, who have things in their life I want to grow in myself, and that simply make me feel more alive when I’m with them.
Friends are not charity cases. Someone who is “a lot of work” is work, not friendship. That’s a client. Friendships should never be “tolerated”, and leave you at the point of exhaustion. This relationship is the equivalent of you wearing a terrible dress that feels itchy and looks awful, even though you have other ones in your closet, because you like the person that gave you the dress. Take that ugly dress off, and give it away - it could be someone else’s favorite garment! But honey, it’s not doing you any favors.
The nature of friendship should be a mutual affection, and desire to get to know one another, rather than any kind of duty, especially to a third party, like the friends who introduced you. You have a duty to your family (and even that is negotiable), but friendships have to be free of “shoulds” to thrive. So, to answer your most pressing question, yes, you must stop hanging out with people who consistently make you and your husband uncomfortable.
The unpleasantness of slowly having less contact, declining invites and not adding them to your evening plans will be undercut by the space this will leave for you to make a different friendship. Believe me, it will come, but you have to create time for it.
This couple might be perfect friends for someone else, but for you and your husband, they are crazymakers. Stop trying to be someone you’re not by continuing to invest in these relationships. Listen to your husband’s judgment here, and just stop calling those people.
If your mutual friends ask about it, be honest. Say, “We didn’t click with them.” I have a suspicion that your friends will know why.
The main message I want you to hear is TRUST. You have to trust yourself, your gut, your desires. So, the people you really do like but your husband doesn’t? Hang out with them when he’s busy, and enjoy them thoroughly. The people who never have time for you? Let them go, pursue someone whose energy flows back to you. And believe me, when it is time to have kids, your friendships will go through another overhaul, so there’s no use stockpiling people who could be parent-friends in the future. Your people will come to you at that time, in weird and wonderful ways.
Friendships go through ups and downs, and what holds them together is love. And love cannot be forced. Love can bloom in loneliness but not in resentment. Create space in your life for the relationships you really want, and trust yourself to know who to dig deeper with. If you keep digging with your current options, you’re just going to keep hitting stone.
Love,
Sibyl