It is said that in childhood, people’s emotions often are somewhat more intense, which might help to explain one of the reasons behind strong emotional connection with friends from childhood. It all takes place at the age when people tend to be open and reckless when experiencing the magic of finding a like-minded soul somewhere out there, maybe for the first time ever. It is often not until much later that we get to learn the other side of closeness, the one that might be hurtful and require a lot of effort to solve problems and move the friendship that started so spontaneously forward. A challenge of this sort was the one that this Redditor had to face when his friend of 30 years overused emergency mode big time!
More info: Reddit
A man's friendship of 30 years started to crumble as he found no way around telling his intrusive friend off
Image credits: Yan Krukau (not the actual photo)
The man has always been there for her, but his friend only had one mode, which is emergency
Image credits: D0NotDisturbMe
Image credits: MART PRODUCTION (not the actual photo)
Image credits: D0NotDisturbMe
Image credits: Aaron (not the actual photo)
Image credits: D0NotDisturbMe
The man was in the middle of a timed assessment for work on his phone, when his friend called
Image credits: Garry Knight (not the actual photo)
The man declined three calls,but the woman wouldn't stop, so he texted her 'get lost!!!' in a bad way
A man brought it to Reddit when his friendship of 30 years began to crumble after his friend’s intrusive non-stop calling made him finally snap.
Despite always being there for his friend, the man was dealing with the problem of his friend always approaching with “emergency mode”, regardless of whether it was indeed a crisis or a simple problem.
Similarly, this time, she wouldn't consider she might be interrupting something important when she called him in the middle of a timed work assessment. She kept bombarding him with calls and messages despite him declining and putting her into voicemail.
Eventually, as his friend wouldn’t stop, every time interrupting his test and making him lose a question, he finally wrote her to “f**k off!!!”, which was the first time either of them had said such words to one another.
The woman ended up getting a written warning at work, as her car had broken down and she was calling to ask for a ride to work, while the man apologized for cursing, but his friend has stayed very cold ever since, and he felt bad for hurting her.
The woman received a written warning at work, as her car broke down and she didn't get a ride on time
Image credits: Marc van der Chijs (not the actual photo)
The man apologized for cursing, but she was very cold to him and he felt bad about hurting her
Verywell Mind discussed maintaining childhood friends and brought up positive aspects and possible risks associated with keeping relationships with people whom we shared major life events with and who tend to know more about us than most other people.
They described the “keepers” to be lifelong friends that took root in childhood and care about us even when we’re at our most vulnerable. They are often the ones who are honest and tell us what we need to hear, rather than what we want to hear, which comes down to very high levels of trust and care.
However, the risks associated with childhood relationships, as listed by Verywell Mind, included the possibility of limiting one's growth by making them stay too attached to certain labels or roles that friends might have both internalized and got used to over a long period of time. These, for example, might interfere with the confidence and high self-esteem necessary to move into a new field.
Another possible downside brought up by Verywell Mind was loyalty that threatens one's well-being, as sometimes holding tight to childhood friendships means making excuses for or overlooking a friend’s reckless or seriously negative behaviors.
For this reason, when certain behaviors exhibited by a friend are damaging to one's health and wellbeing, misplaced loyalty should be considered. These behaviors can include being verbally abusive, bullying, unreasonable demands, lack of respect, manipulation, and draining one mentally or emotionally. They suggest being empathetic, but knowing one's limits as well.
Redditors shared their takes on the situation
