Dear nycartist:

You are welcome. “With the bossy friend, I am going to hold firm in my boundaries… maybe this is a person who is in my life to help me learn to speak up. I’ve been silenced for a lot of my life, and it is a challenge to speak up” – good plan, to use this as an opportunity to speak up, set and keep firm boundaries!

“For the flakey friend… I see it as: you don’t abandon someone when they are having a hard time. I have decided to stick it out, unless she does something truly hurtful and egregious toward me, where I need to draw the line. But I think giving that space and lowering my expectations is great advice that I can use with her going forward” – good plan, and you are a good friend!

anita