A face-to-face conversation telling her how her behaviour affects you would give you peace, even if she ignores you
I have been friends with a woman for more than 20 years, who has overcome many challenges, which I admire. However, she’s constantly blindsided by people. Her husband left her, and it was a huge shock. A lot of her friends disappeared at that point as they were only interested in her husband. This surprised her. She made more effort to be my friend, and must have realised more clearly what friendship was.
Over the years since, quite a few of her friends have disappeared and she isn’t sure why. Her last employer turned on her, even though she was an excellent employee, and she left without knowing what had changed.
Recently we’ve both retired and are seeing each other more, but I am finding my role in the relationship is as the audience. I open topics of conversation and she changes them to what interests her. Politically, she has strong opinions. I try to suggest factchecking and alternate views.
She has been planning a holiday to a country I’ve visited many times and lived in for a while. I tried to offer insights, but this was not welcomed. She really only wanted me to confirm her choices. I’ve just returned from a month in that country and she wants to catch up, but I don’t.
