dharmaBum
Sponsor
My friend regularly commands me to do things when he assumes he is the expert-in-the-room. By time and urgency he treats me like a subordinate, but we are both adults. When I told him not to talk to me like that while we were camping with our kids, he said he talks that way because he worked in the trades. I disagreed and said he assumed a hierarchy, possibly because of gender and that we are equal adults. Days later he invited me inside his house, agitatedly told me I had crossed a line and that he should be able to tell me to stop when his property is involved (My husband and I were collapsing a tent he had lent us), then he accused me of believing things I didn’t believe, threatened to end the friendship if those were my thoughts, ordered me out of his house without letting me speak, and then texted me later to say he still thought we were close friends. He did all this in front of my husband, but made sure the agitated part was not viewed by anyone else.
How should I proceed? I feel scared and hurt and am battling taking on his negative beliefs about me. I woke up disturbed about it in the middle the night and have been in hyper-arousal and negative self-judgement ever since.
How should I proceed? I feel scared and hurt and am battling taking on his negative beliefs about me. I woke up disturbed about it in the middle the night and have been in hyper-arousal and negative self-judgement ever since.