[Silver Springs]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

It's funny, I've started doing this, in the past few months. I have(~had~ now, for the most part) a friend, who just constantly puts me down. Just insult after insult. I do not reciprocate. I fired him as a friend. He's begged forgiveness twice, telling me how he doesn't really have many friends in this town, and really considers me a good friend.
But, he falls off of the insult wagon, every time. I've told him that he just makes me feel like sh*t about myself, and I don't need that in my life. FWIW, I can take a joke. I've told him that 5 put downs in a night, is okay, but 50, is not. And he's failed, time and time again. So I'm done with him. I feel badly about it, but I don't need negative people in my life. Make me feel badly about myself....there's the door, you're fired.

I can relate to this. I used to hang out with two girls in high school who treated me very badly. But instead of loving myself enough to ditch them, I took it. Because I didn't exactly have a line of people wishing to be my friends, and rather than go lonely I retreated into my shell and allowed them to belittle me at every turn. We've since stopped speaking since I moved on to College and University, and I feel so much better about myself than I do back then. And I know it may seem unkind, but when I see them in the street and I see how badly their lives have turned out, or how they seem to mirror the untrue and hurtful jibes they used to plage me with; it does my heart good. I love myself too much now to stand for that kind of friendship, though I don't love myself so much that I couldn't forgive after all these years. That part of my life is over and I'm so happy for it.