• BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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    7 days ago

    Ive got a friend like that. We were like the closest brothers for a long time, and then I moved far away. We kept in touch for years, but then it fell off when all the MAGA stuff started, and I am almost certain he fell down that well. If I speak to him now, I’ll probably have to tell him that we can’t be friends anymore, and that’s going to hurt, so I’ve avoided contacting him.

    I’m really not sure how to handle it.

  • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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    7 days ago

    Yes. I am still searching for a way to communicate this in a socially acceptable way but one that also doesn’t cost me all my daily allotment of energy.

  • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net
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    7 days ago

    I get like this often. I’m fortunate enough to have friends with whom I have enough of a rapport that we have shorthands for stuff like this (usually established after a couple times of attempting to articulate this sentiment (or more commonly, months after it would have been ideal to articulate this sentiment, after many guilt ridden apologies for not replying.))

    For example, with one of my friends, we use a black heart emoji to relay the sentiment in the OP (black to distinguish it from the generic heart react). I like having this shorthand because it means that when I receive a message from a friend and I’m too low brain to have any hope of replying, I’m more likely to be able to attend least read the message — being able to trivially communicate both my affection and my burnout makes reading the message feel less overwhelming, and disrupts the cycle of shame. And sometimes reading that message from a friend is exactly what I needed if I’m feeling low