I am willing to bet that we have all had one, or more, friends in life that are…well…difficult. Yes, difficult. Not necessarily difficult to love, not necessarily difficult to get along with. Just, difficult. Difficult does not mean that they are mean, or disrespectful, or that you fight all of the time. Difficult means…well, I don’t really know.
A quick search for the definition says, “needing much effort or skill to accomplish, deal with, or understand.” Hard. Exhausting. Not straightforward. “Not easy to please or satisfy.” Trying. Contrary. Stressful.
All of those negative words, and yet, we still choose to stay in relationships with them most of the time. Why? Are we glutton for punishments? Perhaps we enjoy the days of being ignored, then fussed at, then consequently ignored again. Are we not grownups?
Some times you have to learn to let go. That in itself is…you guessed it: difficult.
Been there, done that. I have quite a few t-shirts.
Did I say difficult? I meant painful. (Women tend to have a (much) harder time than guys do.) We treat it like a breakup, because, well, it is in a sense.
Some people are toxic: just plain, downright, straight-up toxic. Bitter. Relating to poison. Harmful. Meaning, no matter how hard you try to make them feel better, no matter what all you do for them, they still drain you with their apathy.
Yet we keep trying.
Why can’t we just walk away?
Because it is too difficult.