Thank you for taking the time and interest in my thread.

Anita, I was aware of these things for the most part when writing this post but wasn’t sure what I should do about them.

Thank you for your suggestions and for pinpointing every detail one by one, it made me see things even more clear.

Maybe you’ve got that pattern going on with your friends and acquaintances too – perhaps you’re showing a particular “front” to them, e.g. of a busy person, or a successful person, while you’re not really sharing your deeper thoughts and feelings, perhaps your doubts and struggles too. This might be why you attract a certain type of friends, which later turn out to be not the best influence on you.

That is a very good point, TeaK.

And yes, now I can see what exactly the pattern is and that is, as you said “They were trying to protect you from family problems, and now you’re trying to protect them from your own problems, by not telling them the truth of how you’re feeling”.

I believe I should focus on:

– being more open with my problems, not trying to hide them on every occasion possible – talk about my emotions;

– starting to gradually and consistently communicating with other people.

Thank you again, these things seem simple but sometimes a person can’t see them while imprisoned within its own patterns/habits.