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[ENG]
Greetings Hivers, I hope you are well.
Several days ago I had started a post about friendships, because they are lost. In my life I have met many people and I have tolerated somewhat toxic situations thinking that they are temporary, that they are not important, that they are "friendship things", but I really realized that I was wrong. When we are in the presence of something toxic, it is not temporary, nor should it be tolerated, it simply does not suit us and we should leave it. Sometimes the toxicity of another being can be confused with defects, we all have them because we are not perfect, but beyond our imperfections we have to identify certain patterns of behavior and decide.
In my college years I met a girl who shared residence with me in the city of Barcelona, Anzoátegui State, Venezuela, she was very cheerful, pure laughter. I had a lot of fun with her and I learned many things. We shared adventures, outings, parties, in short, she was in my house and met my family and I met hers.
However, behind that overwhelming personality there was an accumulation of details that made me uncomfortable to the point of disappointment. She came from a humble family, her mother, deceased several years ago, sold soup in a market to pay for her studies at the private university where we met. She was an exquisite cook and that legacy she left to her daughters, her, my friend and her sister.
That point of cooking was just one of the many reasons for the difference between her and me. I learned to cook thanks to my mother, she was careful with our health, she did not like to use artificial seasonings, she avoided fats, excess salt and sugar. On the other hand, my friend's family, who cooked with a lot of seasoning, was the opposite, their meals were delicious but not very healthy. For that reason, that friend criticized me, that my food was tasteless and made derogatory comments, even in front of other people and made me feel sorry for myself.
Years went by and now she was married and had children, she invited me to her house to spend Christmas, she made fun of me, she told me to cook with the following remark: "Cook like that we don't eat them". Her youngest son would reply, "Yes, we'll eat it if it turns out like that", she laughed when she heard this. In a way, she was encouraging bullying and disrespect towards me. Logically, I refused to cook while I was at her house, I helped in everything but that.
She never seemed to understand that everyone has their own way of doing things, that the fact that I didn't cook like her didn't mean that I didn't know how to do it. For health reasons, I would tell her to cut down on salt and sugar, she would call me "unpalatable". Today she is hypertensive.
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I don't know if her lack of money made her see life from a different perspective. She gave a lot of importance to money, more than to moral and emotional support, I am more inclined to that, to a friendly mom. I remember she said that at one of her son's parties someone gave her a good gift, "it wasn't just any toy, it was Fisher Price", a recognized brand and therefore somewhat expensive. I brought him a toy, it was not a brand name and when he saw it he looked at it in a contemptuous way. He didn't say anything, but with his eyes he did.
Because of his constant criticisms I always felt like I was in an evaluation in which I always failed. She had the habit of scolding me in front of others, leaving me in shame, as she did with her husband, nieces, nephews, etc.
She always emphasized the material things that were given to her, if someone gave her something she would say: "that only a true friend does". I understand that money can be very helpful and can solve many things, but I don't remember hearing her say that someone told her a few words of encouragement or supported her in a difficult situation. She always referred to what she was given as a gift. Sometimes when I would tell her something because I was feeling sad or had a problem, she would just say "don't stop" or "don't listen", when she really wanted to hear a word of encouragement, an advice.
She has some nephews who went to Peru and she criticized one of them because he did not pay her, but she praised the other niece because she paid him weekly. I told her "he has no obligation to you, in any case it is with his mother and she is there with him". That's why that nephew was bad and spoke of him with resentment.
I did not give him anything material and maybe that is why I am not a "good friend". I did not have a good salary at my job, she criticized me, she called me stingy, but then she contradicted herself, she told me to quit because I was underpaid. One day I told her "if you keep me, I'll quit". The funny thing is that she doesn't work, only her husband, how easy, she only receives the money to spend it, I had to distribute it to make it through the month.
When I would compare something she would throw in my face that she had bought something better. Or she would yell at me "you have the real thing", without knowing what sacrifice I had made to acquire it. If I didn't cooperate she would criticize me and if I did too, that trite phrase was never missing, "you have real".
Until one day I got tired and I walked away from her. She told me that I traveled and that if my salary allowed me to travel I could buy a house or pay rent. That was not so, I was indignant, because those trips were subsidized, they did not come out of my salary. I did not want to argue and I walked away.
Tolerance has a limit and mine is over. Each person is different and has their own way of doing things, but that does not mean that they are useless, as she labeled me. She had me in a concept that I didn't know how to do anything because I didn't do it her way. In friendships there are differences, because we think differently, our points of view are not the same, but that is why tolerance exists. Without it, it is impossible to bear those differences, to accept the other as he or she is. However, this does not mean that there are no limits and respect is lost. Therefore, if the situation becomes toxic, there is no point in being tolerant.
By money....
Money is one of the most common causes of broken friendships. Life taught me that and more so when it comes to family. A cousin asked me to borrow $30, she had a problem, I was happy to help her. One morning she wrote me asking me for that big favor, when I asked her for the date of payment she replied "as soon as possible". Her husband came to my house and I handed over the money.
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"As soon as possible" turned into endless months. When 4 months had passed, I charged her, even though it was an interest-free loan. She told me "I am pending", but only that, no payment, the months passed and I did not see a fifth. She collected some money and forgot about me. Then I found out that her husband bought a car, then sold it and bought a better one, and I still didn't get paid. The debt was already a year old and there was no payment. When I went to their house, they looked at me as normal, as if the debt didn't exist.
I don't like to collect, but months went by and my cousin didn't give me any reason for my money, 10 months had already passed. She didn't have a phone, so I had to talk to her sister, I told her that the debt was long overdue.
One morning, my cousin wrote me from her sister's phone, she insulted me and told me that I had started talking bad about her everywhere and that was not true. That hurt me a lot, because I lent her the money to help her, without interest, the idea was not to make a profit, but to see her happy because I would fix her problem. A week after that altercation I went to her house and we talked. We made an agreement with the payment, "made peace" and apologized to each other. I thought everything would work out, but it didn't, it was all just words.
After that day of the supposed agreement, I went to visit her parents and she arrived with her husband, they did not greet me. Another day that I coincided with her husband, he did not greet me and when I addressed him (I did not talk about the payment), he did not answer me and ignored me. That's when I realized everything and I distanced myself from them to this day. Beyond not getting my money back, I was hurt by their attitude, how they treated me and how they mocked my trust. I cried a lot, I felt very sad and depressed for several months, fortunately I managed to overcome it.
That situation did not break me down, on the contrary, it made me stronger and more confident, it helped me not to keep silent about what I feel and to say what I think. I learned to "say no" even if it costs me and people say I am bad.
When I was depressed I came to think that "if I hadn't lent him the money, we would still be friends". Maybe we never were and that's why this happened. With time and after many tears I understood that it wasn't me who was to blame, it was them who failed. That those insults were used as a barrier to avoid paying, in fact, he never paid me. On top of everyone getting upset and the one who should be upset was me, what a disappointment.
This is how friendships are lost, because we fall into toxic situations, destructive criticism, derogatory comments and there are those who do not tolerate seeing you better than them. Lending money is tricky, people don't value your sacrifice and don't take responsibility for commitments. A friend to whom I told my bitter experience sent me an image that said "no matter how sad the story they tell you, don't lend money".
Friendship is wonderful, but only when it is true
By @hylene74
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