Hi James

I really resonated a lot with your post, having to deal with people like you described.

You are under NO OBLIGATION whatsoever to stay in contact with these people. I would just block and delete them – if they carry on whining about why you have deleted them, just don’t respond. These people do not get to dictate to you who you should and shouldn’t associate with, and they do not get to make you feel bad for wanting to do your own thing. Or if you are feeling really brave, you could just be blunt and brutally honest about why you don’t want to know these people anymore. Being brutally honest gets easier the more you do it.

I agree with Anita when she states that you can’t control what other people say to other people. Some people have nothing better to do with their mediocre lives besides gossiping about others and that’s a poor reflection on their character, not yours.   Something else I have recently learned for myself that has helped me be assertive when it comes to dealing with difficult people is that you are not responsible for how other people react. If these people are going to whine and be awkward about the fact you don’t want them in your life anymore then that is their problem, not yours.

Best of luck to you

Joe

• This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by Joe.