Lessons in Boundaries

I hate to have to write this blog post, because I try very hard to keep the more unpleasant parts of my life off the blog, but I have reached my limit.

About 18 months ago, I ended a long friendship with someone because that person was unwilling to respect my boundaries. In my final communication at that time, I said, “Please do not contact me again.” Apparently, that wasn’t clear enough. I subsequently had to block that person on Messenger. I’ve also had to put the blog comments on moderated status—something I was loath to do—because of continued commenting by them on my blog posts. (Did I mention the part about not respecting boundaries?) I have absolutely no desire to open up a line of communication with this individual. I made my wishes plain. The relationship will not be restored. I am calling them out publicly on the blog in the hopes that doing so will end this nonsense once and for all.

D—

We are no longer friends because you would not take “no” for an answer. That strategy may have served you well in your professional life, but it destroys relationships. I find it baffling that you seem to believe that continuing the very behavior that forced me to end our friendship—namely, not respecting my boundaries—will somehow magically make me want to be friends with you again. I do not want you in my life. Any further attempts at communication from you, whether via text, e-mail, or blog comments, will be deleted with no response. DO NOT CONTACT ME AGAIN.

Again, my apologies to my blog readers; I am sorry you had to be part of this, however tangentially. Hopefully, this situation will resolve and we can carry on as before.