We all get irritated when we're in a relationship and the person does
something we don't like - maybe your boyfriend forgets to put the toilet
seat down or he leaves his dirty dishes in the sink. Maybe you're the
one who leaves the towels on the bathroom floor. It can be challenging to learn how to accept the good and the bad when it comes to our
romantic relationships, but we try our best! People are not perfect and
we all have our idiosyncrasies; some more than others!
What about our friends? Are we allowed to be more picky when it
comes to their bad habits? Maybe your friend always forgets to call you back
or is always late to events. Or worse, she has poor manners and
when you're out with her, she is rude to total strangers. Would you
continue to stay friends with someone who has bad habits?
Personally, it would depend on the bad habit and how much it impacts
me. If it's something so egregious, then I'd either try to talk to
this friend, or I'd have to examine how much I want this friend in my
life. Bad habits don't get better, they usually get worse; unless this
friend can see what she's doing and how it's affecting others, she may
not understand and not view it as a big deal.
Do any of your friends have bad habits? If so, what are they? Have you had to end a friendship over a bad habit?
Ever since the book came out, I've received feedback about how it's made women think about friendships throughout their lives, as well as who is in their lives now. The goal of this blog is to open up and create a dialogue about friendships: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Each week I will post my thoughts, experiences, as well as various articles, topics or quotes that I feel are important when examining female friendships. Please feel free to leave comments; I look forward to hearing from you!
Email me: survivingfemalefriendships@gmail.com
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Ha ha, interesting! I can't even really think of any "bad habits" my friends I have. I do have less reliable friends than others, but that usually just makes me turn to the more reliable ones more often and brings us closer. I wouldn't end the other friendship over it I don't think- but like you said, it depends on the habit! :)
ReplyDeleteI have a long-time friend who has a bad habit of bringing up my past failings (divorce, job loss, etc.) in front of other friends who have no knowledge of those things (it's simply embarrassing to me). Although I haven't ended the friendship, I no longer allow her into specific areas of my life. I just re-categorized our friendship and placed her into a more "casual" friend category. Some of my friends have commented to me that her behavior seems to exhibit jealousy. I still love her as a friend, but I don't divulge too much anymore.
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