I Need To Slow Down, Rest, and Look Inward.
This past weekend was fun because I got to work on my sport and also meet up with some longtime folks. However, the conversations that occurred made me start to look very deep into myself and in the process I found a big internal battle. This battle is one I’d like help from you all.
On Saturday, I met with a good longtime friend for the first time this year. Because of our great familiarity with each other, as well as each of us coming from similar backgrounds, I talked to him regarding my situation with Alice, giving the backstory that starts with how I first reconnected with her. He picked up very quickly on what was going on. And then he advised me to take the action to hang out with her less, much less than I thought I was going to do (originally 1x/week). Why? The truth of the matter is that while we could be good friends in theory, there’s that risk of catching feelings for her. Which is not something I want to do, and my good friend knows that I don’t want to do that either, and I should not get myself hurt in this situation.
I’ve recognized that there is that secondary feeling in the background (very faint, but it’s there) while in the midst of all these thoughts about Alice. Logically I know it is ok to be good friends, but…that wasn’t my goal, originally. It was to meet her friends. Unfortunately, my good friend and my roommate are both right. I’ve got to focus, do not get distracted.
The frustration that ensued since then makes me think I should not put any effort into hanging out with her anymore. I shouldn’t be inflicting all these internal problems on myself over a person I don’t even want to be romantically involved with (and we’ve not hung out that much IRL, too).
That frustration compounded with the result of me reaching out to her friend (the same one who attended my event last month) yesterday, too. Messaged to start a new thread with the intention of getting to meet up with her. The result? Radio silence. It made me feel like I’m running into a dead end.
An aside: Sunday did feature one good lunch hangout with a friend who just moved to my area. No bad feelings about him, though a discussion about addiction did continue to make me think deeply about my own existence.
…
Today, I felt deep-seated pains come up. Pain about me being stuck, that I take all this action but I’m not getting anywhere (or at least I’m not seeing an appropriate ROI). Feeling angry—thinking about what was the point of doing all that I’ve done? And then the feelings of loneliness started to come up. Those feelings drove me towards some unusual thoughts and strange actions which made me think—I need to heal more. I need to slow down.
Where am I headed? Am I going to totally withdraw away from everyone? I have already cut off a lot of people from the past who I don’t think fit in my present reality. Whether that’s friends from high school, or many who might be considered “historical friends”—I simply cannot accept the lack of connection, of reciprocity, and how I feel they just waste my time (and that may even just be in trying to reach out to them and schedule something).
I recall the woman I met last week who I had noted as interesting. Why she is interesting is that she has essentially withdrawn from most of her friends, and is currently in the midst of an extra-withdrawn phase (she just deactivated her big social media account today). She has forgone many of her longtime friends—even one she knew since elementary school. Similar profession as me, a few years older than me, and even owns a house that is bigger than what she needs (she lives all by herself), fairly far from the main city life. Is a big solo traveler. While she once was a person who had a lot of friends, she has voluntarily chosen to withdraw from nearly everyone.
I’m worried that there will come a day when I suffer one too many setbacks. And then, at that moment I will call it quits, and drop all of my social/romantic desires and become fully withdrawn, like how I was in the distant past (or even more strongly than me in the past). — Me in 2021
I now look at her and think, “Is this a probable future for me?” She actually paints a picture of that reality where I take that decision. She shows it’s possible to pull off and be largely content with it. I want to know her more (genuinely as a friend here) and understand the way she thinks about this stuff.
Changes to Make
As stated above, I need to slow down, give myself a break and look inwards and heal. There are things very deep-seated within me that are coming out just as I feel I am on the cusp of major life changes.
Stack
Dragon Reborn. A subliminal whose run I finished in the summer of 2021. The day has come for me to run it again, now in ZPv2 format. This legendary subliminal did so much for me back then—and now I am asking it to help me out once again. Khan ST3 was not always going to be appropriate to run, especially considering that there’s a month coming when I can’t be going outside for that action much anyways (if you know, you know) and it’s a month that generally makes me very reflective. Khan ST1 was considered, but I feel my inner battle needs a comprehensive look. I also should leverage the fact that I’ve done the whole program of DR and that DR provides “Complete Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual Healing and Restoration.”
Other changes:
- Already thought of this earlier, but I’m going to do it: delete all of the online apps soon. I just need a break from that stuff. I have a solution regarding what to do when I get back on them in the future, when I have better developed my aesthetics—utilize a great business I found who takes great photos specifically for those apps. However, right now it’s not doing much and it is annoying that there’s been little movement on there for a long time. Why not use the business now? Terrible weather in our area currently, I want to have better aesthetics and I’m also not in a great state of mind.
- Slow down social actions a lot. Reduce the eagerness and how much action I take, and focus on other parts of my life for a little bit. This already was going to need to happen due to these errands I’ve been putting off and things I just have to get done (like taxes). So, I’m not planning any events for this week…besides attending tomorrow’s event and hanging out with a friend on Wednesday (I’d like to talk to him about my situation). I feel like I should stop reaching out to all but the closest friends.
- I was considering deactivating my social media page temporarily in light of all my thoughts, but I’ll hold off on that. I still have a content queue I can run through it first before I consider something like that.