My one friend makes me spiral
My friend's going through a rough time (didn't graduate because of adhd, can't drive because of anxiety) and I've been doing all I can to be good and support her. We've been together since grade school and created a lot of fantasy worlds together. I volunteered to drive her 30 minutes to her therapy appointment yesterday and at first it felt good to be with her. I told her about my unusually good morning hiking in the woods and finding interesting abandoned things. I sketched in my sketchbook and listened to music while she had her appointment. I was feeling pretty ok for once. Then she wanted to go to Ulta to shop for a friend. I thought we would talk more about the cool things I found in the woods (like several photos of people hanging in frames off branches- bizarre stuff) but she blabbered on about how she was going to send a pink scrunchie to her friend. I drove her there and couldn't understand the appeal of nail polish and makeup but I tried to stay engaged because she was so excited. She tracked down an employee and completely ignored me in her quest for a highlighter or something. I wandered off. I bought the basic skincare I normally buy there and then she wanted to go to Crumbl and Bath and Body Works and I couldn't eat a cookie with her because I'm still struggling with an ED and she knows this and I was thinking about human greed and consumerism and liberalism and capitalism and the bizarre concrete jungle shopping centers are but I didn't say any of my thoughts outloud because she wouldn't relate. I felt like a complete alien. She then wanted to drive to Sephora and Michaels and she was talking about advent calendars and YouTubers and I was thinking about being surrounded by trees just that morning but now I'm just another monkey in a car surrounded by other monkeys in cars and I wanted to throw up. I told her no and I tried to explain what I was feeling but I have a feeling she didn't get it. I told her that the only thing I wanted to do now was lie down in the graveyard in my neighborhood. She said ok and I drove her home and I was so wound up and so very not ok. I instead took a walk in the dark on paths in the small town near my neighborhood. I found a swing and I swung on it until I felt sick. Still not ok. I walked until I was exhausted. Still not ok. I curled up in my car and tried to find validation by searching reddit posts. Still not ok. It is now the next morning and I need to do work but I feel so massively depressed and I'm harrassed by the thought that I should have just starved myself to death when I had the chance years ago because everything since my recovery has not been worth it. I don't know what I want from posting this, I think I just need to get this off my chest because I don't even know anymore. I love my friend but I spiral like this after every hangout.
@determinedSea4370 Responding to my own post: You have to let the past be the past. You're terrified to admit it. but you've changed in some ways and she's changed in others and you guys aren't simple kids anymore. Your interests and the way you think shifts- you get new priorities and discover new ideas and incorporate new things into your belief system and identity while adopting and letting go of roles in life. Change. It's easy to live in fantasy land, but if it all rings hollow for you now, then it's not serving you. Who are you REALLY in this current moment? What new things have you discovered since the ED recovery- good and bad? These things have changed you and for better or for worse, you can't go back- just like she can't go back to how she was before college and all of her current traumas and struggles. You want to be loyal and you cling to what you know and you want to be a good person so you help her and you hang out with her, but what about YOU? It's hard, because you promised you would room with her and you are stuck living with your parents in your old room because you can't live on your own without self-destructing and you've got all this childhood all around you- but, you've got to let it go. You've been stunted and stuck in the same life for so many years but you've got to start building a life for yourself with people who don't suck the life out of you. Say NO. Go off in a different direction. You've hit your head against this same wall way too many times and it is time to step away from this insanity.