Dear Clara:

You are welcome. Whenever you feel judgmental of her, shift to empathy for her.

Whenever you feel judgmental of yourself, shift to empathy for yourself.

anita

Dear Clara:

You are welcome and thank you for wishing me good morning. Yes, I remember that you shared about running marathons and doing yoga. I prefer brisk walking (or swimming, if I had daily access to a pool) over running as a form of daily aerobic exercise because it’s way easier on the knees, particularly if a person carries excess weight (you wrote that you were lighter in earlier years).

The quality of the Tai Chi class experience is all about  the quality of the Sifu (teacher- master).

Good night, Clara!

anita

Dear Clara:

“It’s such a roller coaster ride to have fear, anger, sad, etc… the emotional ride is exhausting phew.“- I wonder if there are Emotion Regulation exercises that you are not currently practicing that can help regulate the ups and downs today and every day, particularly in the next few weeks.

anita

Dear Clara:

Un-bubble the bubbles at night, and so will I. Thank you, you are welcome, and good to read from you again after all these years. Till next time we talk, good morning/ night.

anita

edit: rise above fear and suspicion, a weak state of mind, to => empathy and courage and trust (in you and in her), a strong state of mind.

Dear Clara:

You are very welcome!

“maybe overreact when she goes out… blaming her for not coming home early and reacting, or maybe overreacting sometime, stressed her our and wore out the relationship…  she mentioned her not feeling much, and she had to be on tip toe all the time“-

-I wasn’t there to personally observe your home life with her, but seems to me that indeed, like you say, you overreacted (on a regular basis, or frequently, or repeatedly), and as a result she felt that she had to tiptoe around you, as in walking on eggshells, so to prevent the next overreaction on your part.

Walking on tip toe all the time, being so careful to prevent trouble does block carefree feelings such as love.

If you can change these two things: to no longer overreact, and to no longer blame her- once the break is over- the relationship and her feelings for you will resume- I hope.

anita

Dear Carol:

You are welcome, and thank you for being kind even though my answer was painful to read. I am afraid parts of this post too will be painful to read, I am sorry.

“Is there a specific part of my post that makes you think we are no longer friends but more acquaintances?“-

– yes, the following things which I boldfaced: “she takes a dozen of days, if not more, to reply to my texts… I haven’t met her partner… (she) does not ask me how everything is going for me, or if she does, it’s really rare…I am going through a decisive time in my career. She hasn’t contacted me to see how it’s going… in January, I was really down and I had let her know that I was struggling mentally… I received a text from her 6 weeks later, asking how I was“.

If her relationship was one month old, and she is a busy working woman, or a busy student, I’d understand if she was 3 days late texting you back, or a whole week if she was overwhelmed with work/ studies and a new romantic relationship, and I’d understand her not introducing her partner to you yet.

But she met her partner a whole year ago. Unless she and her partner are long-distance (and only meet once a month, let’s say), and/ or she lives very far from you, how can a best friend not meet the other best friend’s partner for a whole year?

That you told her that you were struggling mentally and she did not inquire about your mental health for 6 weeks demotes her (in my opinion) not only from the title best friend, but from the title friend.

Unless the word friend means not an enemy, or if it means acts friendly sometimes– in that case, I suppose she is a friend.

Like you, English is not my first language and sometimes I am not aware of the connotations of words, but from having looked up friend and acquaintance online just now, the difference between the two is that friends share an a bond of mutual affection, and acquaintances don’t necessarily.

Seems like her affection for and her attention to you as her friend has been redirected elsewhere, not only to her partner but to her partner’s friends (“she hangs out with his friends often“). You wrote that she’s obsessed with her relationship: maybe she hangs out with her partner’s friends so to solidify her relationship with him, to be more of a part of his world, as in, getting his friends to think well of her and encourage him to stay with her.

And since you, Carol, are not a part of her partner’s world and have no power to influence her partner on her behalf of her, you are of no use for her when  it comes to her #1 priority by far (her partner). What do you think?

“Also, I don’t really know if I should talk to her about this or just let it go ? Sometimes, I think it’s a bad idea but other times, I feel like I would at least like to clear the air just in case there has been a misunderstanding? Maybe I could to share my feelings with her, in a non accusatory way, and to give her the benefit of the doubt and let her space to express hers?“– I wish you could let it go, but can you?

The reason I wish you could let it go instead of sharing how you feel with her, is that from what you wrote in your original post, she has not shown interest in how you feel for a long time, and because although she ” insists that she is still ‘there if I need anything‘, in practice, she has not been there for you: not when you had let her know that you were struggling mentally, and not during the decisive time you are going through career-wise.

In the message you think of sending her, you wrote: “I feel like things changed between us and I would like to talk about it because I value our friendship“- you mean that you used to value the friendship you had with her in the past, not  that you value the friendship (or “friendship”) that you have with her now, correct?

anita