Dear Missy:

If I understand correctly, you left a higher paying and stressful job for a lesser paying job where you see a future (reads to me like a good choice). You feel proud for having made that decision. Your friends, after the fact that you left the higher paying job, are criticizing you for having done so, undermining your decision.

You asked: “Why can they not see this and be supportive?” You are asking why they cannot see that you are proud of having made this decision, for carrying it through and for needing their support, correct?

If they criticized your decision before you carried it through, I would think that maybe they saw a positive use for their criticism. But they criticize you when there is no possible good use for their input.

Maybe the answer is in this sentence you wrote about your friends: “they re all extrovert confident people who want to manage others”- maybe the way they manage others is criticizing and undermining others. Some people manage other people this way in the work place and at home, in relationships and in friendships. They feel and act superior, on top when they undermine others, encouraging them to feel inferior.

Could it be?

anita