Some people that I hang out with from the LGBTQ group at college are good acquaintances. I like your word “acquaintance” for them because we don’t share much commonality except for LGBTQ club, but we support each other when we feel sad. Sometimes I feel like I spend too much time with my friends and at other times not enough time. What are good ways to balance the time with friends/good acquaintances? Some of my acquaintances don’t really help me much in my life, there just here if I need someone to talk to, but they never give me any advice but sometimes it helps just to have someone listen. Yet I feel the relationship is unbalanced because I’m often helping them with school work and other things and their just here for me to talk to but don’t really give me anything except a listening ear. I’m not sure if they are really helpful people in my life. Sometimes I feel like they try to pull me away from my educational goals to play video games or learn about pop culture and I find myself annoyed at them because they think it will help me relax but it doesn’t. They think I’m too serious about my education. I agree with you Anita that education is important and sometimes I have to isolate myself from some people that I talk to because they don’t seem to realize that I need time for myself. Sometimes I wonder if these people are really friends and if they are helping me in my life. Talking with them does release some of the burden but they don’t really do anything to help much, I feel like I’m helping them more than they’re helping me. Like I’m helping them organize their work, giving them advice and also being their for them but when it comes to them giving me advice they don’t really help. They are good listeners and they are supportive, but I still feel like the relationship is unbalanced. How do I know when to devote my time to others and what to devote my time to? How do I plan it out so I know I’m not just being there for others, but also for myself? When I feel pressured by people to hang out with them and I can’t because I have school work, how do I tell them that I care about them and make them feel less disappointed in me? Sometimes I feel like my friends try to make me feel guilty for not hanging out with them. They tell me things like “You have it quite easy because you’re smart and can take time away from studying.” Which is not the case because I still need to study to do well on the exams. Sometimes I don’t think some of my friends see the hard work I put in under the surface and they think grades come naturally to me. They don’t really think I struggle with grades as well. While I feel like my friends understand me better than my parents and they don’t put expectations on me, they can be straining sometimes. I care about my friends and want to help them, but sometimes I feel like they seek my help and  company all the time and I don’t know how much time I have for other things. Sometimes my friends will make me feel disappointed in myself when they tell me that I don’t hang out with them enough. I feel like my friends and my education is being conflicted and I want to be here for my friends but sometimes I can’t because of school. My friends help me feel more confident about myself which is why I value them and even though some don’t really help much at least they listen unlike my parents. I think I am afraid of losing some of my friends because of school. The good news is that I have stopped seeking acceptance from people who don’t embrace me and started to use the energy to build myself up. I am starting to find my own ways to express my gender identity without having to fit into expectations. It has lessened the inner critic and some days there is no inner critic at all and I feel like a bird that has its wings mended and can fly away from the burden. It is such a relief to not always have the inner critic attached to me. I hope to keep challenging the expectations that fuel my inner critic and aim to become much stronger. Thank you for being here for me and for helping me with your advice Anita. I hope you are having a good week and I am grateful to have a person who always helps me have a better sense of myself. Thank you for motivating me to become stronger and for your advice that helps fuel my inner light when I feel strained by life’s storms and the inner critic. You are a beautiful soul Anita, thank you for being you and I wish you all the best in all your endeavors.