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Woman Only Calls Bestie Post Breakups, Ends Up Friendless After Bestie Finally Connects The Dots
Young woman looking sad and contemplative, reflecting on being treated like an emotional punching bag by her bestie.

Woman Only Calls Bestie Post Breakups, Ends Up Friendless After Bestie Finally Connects The Dots

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The best friendships are those where everyone puts in effort and treats the other folks with genuine care and respect. Unfortunately, not all people do that, which might lead to some one-sided friendships, where just one person has to put in most of the work.

This is the kind of situation a woman found herself in after more than a decade of being best buddies with her friend, Leah, who was actually using her for emotional support. The problem is that she realized a little too late how unbalanced their friendship truly was.

More info: Reddit

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    Two women laughing together outdoors, showing a best friend backup plan amid emotional hurt and support.

    Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

    The poster shared that even though she had known her best friend, Leah, since they were teenagers, the other woman always treated her as a backup plan

    Text post about telling a best friend about no longer being her backup plan, highlighting hurt feelings in friendship.

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    Text image expressing the pain of realizing being a best friend backup plan and feeling hurt by it.

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    The one-sidedness in their friendship became obvious whenever Leah got a boyfriend, as she would cancel plans with the poster and only call for emotional support

    Text on a white background describing a best friend backup plan hurt by showing up, canceling plans, and offering emotional support.

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    Text about a friend falling asleep on a couch and feeling suspiciously fine before talking to her boyfriend again.

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    Text expressing exhaustion from being a best friend backup plan only called during emotional emergencies.

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    Image credits: eugeneshemyakin9 / Freepik (not the actual photo)

    Once, after ghosting the poster for a month, Leah called her crying and stayed over at her place, as her boyfriend broke up with her, but she still got back with him after that

    Text image showing a quote about feeling hurt by a best friend's reaction in a backup plan situation

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    Eventually, the poster told Leah she was tired of being her “emergency contact,” but this angered the other woman, who called her a “fake friend” 

    In the beginning, it seems like the poster and her best friend had been quite close, as they were well integrated into each other’s families and knew one another’s deepest secrets. Over time, though, things began to change, and it seemed like Leah only contacted the OP whenever she needed a shoulder to cry on.

    Although most people might want to hold on to a long-time friendship like this, therapists also state that it’s important to take stock of it from time to time to see whether things are becoming one-sided or not. This is especially true if one person keeps reaching out only when they want something, and never does the same for their buddy.

    This is what was happening to the poster, who was being treated more like Leah’s emotional support animal rather than her bestie. The OP didn’t want to believe that their friendship had changed so much, but she found it harder to ignore the times when her buddy ghosted her or reached out only when she had a fight with her boyfriend.

    According to psychologists, you can tell if someone is using you if they expect you to drop everything whenever they are in trouble, but never have your back. You might also notice that whenever they need something, they behave much nicer, but change their behavior or ghost you otherwise.

    Young woman looking thoughtful and hurt outdoors, reflecting on her best friend backup plan during a quiet moment.

    Image credits: Freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

    Despite Leah’s entitled behavior and the fact that she had gone ghost for a month, the poster still held on to the hope that their friendship would survive. That’s why when her bestie reached out in a panic one day, the OP jumped to her rescue and let her stay over and vent about her relationship issues.

    Unfortunately, it seems like Leah was just using her again, because the next day she casually mentioned that her boyfriend had texted her, which meant that she was going to get back together with him. That’s when the poster finally snapped, as she realized that her bestie had been using her the whole time.

    In situations like this, it might feel good to blow up at a bad friend or go over every mistake they ever made, but experts state that it might be better to just set boundaries instead. Rather than going on a tangent about everything they did wrong, if it seems like they genuinely don’t care about you, it might be best to just set limits on the friendship and move on.

    It’s clear that the OP wanted to tell Leah exactly what was on her mind, which is why she revealed how she felt like the other woman’s backup plan rather than her best friend. This angered the other woman, who ended up calling the poster selfish for speaking her mind.

    Obviously, after such harsh words, it might be tough to salvage the friendship, but maybe that might be in the best interests of the OP, who will hopefully get a better friend. What do you think about this situation, and do you feel the poster’s blowup was justified? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this story.

    Folks sided with the woman and felt that she did the right thing by confronting Leah and calling her out

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    Beverly Noronha

    Beverly Noronha

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    Read more »

    You can call me Bev! I'm a world-class reader, a quirky writer, and a gardener who paints. If you’re looking for information about tattoos, Bulbasaur, and books, then I'm the NPC you must approach.

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    Beverly Noronha

    Beverly Noronha

    Writer, BoredPanda staff

    You can call me Bev! I'm a world-class reader, a quirky writer, and a gardener who paints. If you’re looking for information about tattoos, Bulbasaur, and books, then I'm the NPC you must approach.

    What do you think ?
    Kate Johnson
    Community Member
    Premium
    17 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "Friends" like this are emotional vampires that bring nothing to the table. She's not capable of friendship, so best to let that one go.

    Sparky Hughes
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 day ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had an over the top friend like this. I asked for a break and she pulled the whole vague, passive aggressive posting on FB. I was done after that. People change and relationships change. Some people grow up and some don’t. I don’t need that noise.

    JayWantsACat
    Community Member
    13 minutes ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I mentioned before that I had a friend that I've known since junior high. After we graduated high school, we still kept in touch like we all did from those times. When I moved back to my hometown, we'd all hangout and it was great. But every time we hung out, whether one on one or with a group she'd invariably complain about her boyfriend. EVERY SINGLE TIME. At first, I did the good friend. Eventually, I'd still do that but gently change subjects. Then I'd just straight up ignore what she was complaining about and change subjects. Then I'd just stop hanging out with her one on one, and mostly avoid her when we hung out in groups. And then I just stopped talking pretty much completely. While we've all kept in contact, all my friends started a group chat and I started talking to her again recently. Now her thing is basically trauma dumping about her physical and mental health. I want to be a good friend but we JUST started talking again and all I said was "hey hope you're good!"

    Kate Johnson
    Community Member
    Premium
    17 hours ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "Friends" like this are emotional vampires that bring nothing to the table. She's not capable of friendship, so best to let that one go.

    Sparky Hughes
    Community Member
    Premium
    1 day ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I had an over the top friend like this. I asked for a break and she pulled the whole vague, passive aggressive posting on FB. I was done after that. People change and relationships change. Some people grow up and some don’t. I don’t need that noise.

    JayWantsACat
    Community Member
    13 minutes ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I mentioned before that I had a friend that I've known since junior high. After we graduated high school, we still kept in touch like we all did from those times. When I moved back to my hometown, we'd all hangout and it was great. But every time we hung out, whether one on one or with a group she'd invariably complain about her boyfriend. EVERY SINGLE TIME. At first, I did the good friend. Eventually, I'd still do that but gently change subjects. Then I'd just straight up ignore what she was complaining about and change subjects. Then I'd just stop hanging out with her one on one, and mostly avoid her when we hung out in groups. And then I just stopped talking pretty much completely. While we've all kept in contact, all my friends started a group chat and I started talking to her again recently. Now her thing is basically trauma dumping about her physical and mental health. I want to be a good friend but we JUST started talking again and all I said was "hey hope you're good!"

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