Hi @Hope4me, @Shaz51, @Zoe7, @Appleblossom and others,
Its funny that I woke up this morning and decided to check out Sane forums again, as I haven't been around for ages. Looks like you had the same thoughts recently, @Hope4me - and decided to revisit this thread.
Im so glad you are doing well and beginning to do stuff just for yourself! It's a difficult path to navigate. It has been around 12 years since I have had my major episode of depression and anxiety and I am finally able to own my own life, make decisions for myself and put myself first. It's really, really hard, but I want to tell others that it is possible.
I've stopped calling people back. If they have a real emergency, then they can call 000. If it's not a real emergency, then I guess I'll listen to their problems eventually, but I'm no longer in the business of giving advice. I'll just say "That sounds difficult. I hope you will sort it all out."
I really don't know all the answers to other people's problems and I don't want to know. That is for them to work out... They have to walk their own path.
It's funny, I heard from an ex-boyfriend earlier this year- 10 years after our relationship ended. He was someone with a lot of problems. I believe he had a long history of always contacting ex-girlfriends to get a listening ear. One person was never enough to listen to his extensive problems! So... back when we were together, he would have been contacting other women, and now that he is likely with someone else, he is contacting me. How ironic.
I left it a few weeks, and then I replied to his message with the most intensely narcissistic reply I could think of. I just raved on and on about how I was happily married, what a lovely wedding we had, how I had completed my masters degree, we had bought our dream house, I was starting my PhD, my husband and I were about to leave for an extended holiday in Europe, we loved the country lifestyle we had, how we went skiing in the winter, etc, etc.
Not one word to acknowledge him or his life in any way. Then I just signed off with "Bye from Sahara" Funny how he didn't write back! Lol. ❤️
