RecedingMoonlight
Confident
Hello everyone,
My sufferer is my best friend of 10 years, our relationship so far has been purely long-distance. For context, I would like to think that I've been and extremely lucky person...I have good parents, I have been supported by them, I have made some very good friends and got many opportunities to experience things like Girl Scouts and a bit of travelling in my childhood. Meanwhile, my sufferer...well, her parents were constantly dismissive and emotionally abusive, the only person who seemed to support her in her childhood was me, she was pent up in her home 90% of the time against her will, and she never really had a proper support system or circle. Like...ever. Her friends never seemed entirely supportive...more like they were the highschool people you hung out with for the sake of hanging out with them.
As a result my sufferer experiences extreme affects of loneliness, due to the fact that me and one other person are her true friends, and we're both long distance. She has no one IMMEDIATE that she trusts, and the fact that I have friends and a boyfriend and hang out with them typically every weekend makes her feel, and I quote, "extremely inferior to me, like I can just move on without her." To be fair, she feels this way towards everyone, but since I'm her best friend, she compares herself to me the most because I'm an "example of normalcy".
This makes me feel extremely guilty for simply being out of the house and having friends. Frequently does she also text me when I'm out, expressing her feelings of loneliness. The worst part is, she's tried to make friends, she really has - she's tried to join many groups and volunteer at many places but they only made her feel more alienated, and she didn't relate to anyone in group therapy either...
I guess I'm just asking, is there anything I can do to cope with these feelings of guilt? I feel like I'm being unreasonable, but at the same time I really hate that she compares herself to me. Furthermore, is there anything I can do to help or support her?
My sufferer is my best friend of 10 years, our relationship so far has been purely long-distance. For context, I would like to think that I've been and extremely lucky person...I have good parents, I have been supported by them, I have made some very good friends and got many opportunities to experience things like Girl Scouts and a bit of travelling in my childhood. Meanwhile, my sufferer...well, her parents were constantly dismissive and emotionally abusive, the only person who seemed to support her in her childhood was me, she was pent up in her home 90% of the time against her will, and she never really had a proper support system or circle. Like...ever. Her friends never seemed entirely supportive...more like they were the highschool people you hung out with for the sake of hanging out with them.
As a result my sufferer experiences extreme affects of loneliness, due to the fact that me and one other person are her true friends, and we're both long distance. She has no one IMMEDIATE that she trusts, and the fact that I have friends and a boyfriend and hang out with them typically every weekend makes her feel, and I quote, "extremely inferior to me, like I can just move on without her." To be fair, she feels this way towards everyone, but since I'm her best friend, she compares herself to me the most because I'm an "example of normalcy".
This makes me feel extremely guilty for simply being out of the house and having friends. Frequently does she also text me when I'm out, expressing her feelings of loneliness. The worst part is, she's tried to make friends, she really has - she's tried to join many groups and volunteer at many places but they only made her feel more alienated, and she didn't relate to anyone in group therapy either...
I guess I'm just asking, is there anything I can do to cope with these feelings of guilt? I feel like I'm being unreasonable, but at the same time I really hate that she compares herself to me. Furthermore, is there anything I can do to help or support her?
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