Up until a week ago, I believed everyone was inherently good. My best friend always said, “You see the good in everyone, no matter what." I’m a people person. I hate not liking people. It takes a lot for me to hold a grudge against someone. I just don’t like it. I forgive them way too easily after they hurt me. I figured it was easier to forgive them, then to get gray hairs from stressing over how much I hate them.
However, up until a week ago, I held that belief. I thought my friends were my friends and that they would never do anything to intentionally harm me.
Oh my, my how times have changed.
Frenemies are real. They hide in between your true friends and shop with you, borrow your clothes, share fries with you and console you when you the boy you like turns out to be a major loser. It's like that old saying that’s like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
In college, spotting them becomes even more difficult. You wanna believe that everyone you meet is going to be your friend. You wanna believe that you’re going to hit it off with everyone you meet in the dining hall.
But that’s just not the case.
The truth is that people are going to lie to you. People are going to hurt you. People are going to talk behind your back one night and the next morning invite you for breakfast. It’s incredible how quickly someone’s loyalty can change, I guess it is all relative. Frenemies will only talk to you when it's convenient and the next thing you know; they’ve thrown you under the bus.
It’s going to hurt. You don’t know whether to be angry or upset or just downright disappointed. I’ve never understood why people think its okay to be mean. Doesn’t that just fill you up with toxic energy and make you age faster or something?
Frenemies are hard to spot and they are even harder to get rid of. They were once your friend and someone you trusted. So what do you do when they hurt you?
The obvious answer is to cut them out of your life. But like with anything, that’s easier said than done. However, deep down you know the best thing to do is to let them go. It’s not worth stressing over petty drama, especially when you’re in college. Aren’t we supposed to be adults or whatever?
The thing is that you will meet more people throughout these next four years than you could ever imagine. I know I know, that won’t take away the pain and disappointment of having a ‘friend’ hurt you but it does soften the blow.
The point is, life is too short to spend it around people who are toxic. No matter how much I love people, I have to learn to put my foot down and demand more respect out of friends. Cristina Yang once said, “If you want crappy things to stop happening to you, stop accepting crap and demand something more.”
