You ever have a falling out with someone and not notice? Like, you’re on the socials and see a bunch of your friends tagged in a picture doing something and think, how odd… why am I not there? And then it happens over and over? And you’re just like what’s going on here? And you ask them what’s up and there’s a convenient excuse for every occasion.
“Oh we thought you were busy.”
“Oh we thought you were working that day.”
And my personal favorite: “Oh we thought you wouldn’t be interested.”
So you try to tamp your suspicions down but it keeps happening. They swear they don’t have anything against you, yet you’ve been seemingly banished from the group. They continue to do things without you. And you don’t mind that they’re doing things without you; they’re entitled to do that. But these are things that for years you were invited to participate in and welcomed when you did. Now, nothing.
And everyone denies it’s happening. You’re being gaslighted, frankly. It would be a thousand times better if they would just tell you what you did so you can acknowledge it or explain your side of things or both. But you’re denied that chance. You’ve been banished to the periphery and there you remain.
You think to yourself, “Maybe I’ve reached the end of the line here. Maybe it’s time to find some new people to hang out with.” It’s either that or find yourself sitting home alone on the couch, watching on Facebook while your friends have fun without you.
