BigWorrier135
Jul 25, 2011, 09:06 AM
Ok so for two and a half years now I have had this friend, a guy, (I'm a girl) who's just under 5 years older me. At first I fancied him - he was my first crush ever - but he had a girlfriend and eventually I got over him and started to view him as a friend, a brother.Â
More recently, since... I don't know maybe April? Late march? Things started to go a bit pear shaped. He kept ignoring my texts and emails and never had time to talk to me and we kept arguing whenever we did talk. After a while of this, we talked about it face to face and put everything behind us. We also figured out the following:Â
I valued myself on how he viewed me, for example if he took the time to talk to me it would make me feel happy and worth something but if he ignored my texts or emails I would feel undervalued and annoyed or upset.Â
He said I respected him too much, and therefore he was going to stop talking to me for a bit. It really upset me, and I dwell on it a lot. That's not the point though. What is the point is that after dwelling, I realised that, as well as what we had figured out together, that:
If something was going on in his life and he told me about it I felt good because that meant he respected me and trusted me enough to tell me, and he didn't think I was too young to understand. If he didn't tell me I felt that he disregarded me as being too young to understand or not a good enough friend to trust.Â
Similarly if he was upset by anything and I couldn't help him or he wouldn't talk to me about it I would get distressed.Â
Over the last year and a half I have really valued his advice more than any one else's because he taught me so much of what I know about the world today and he helped me through some really tough times for about a year. Didn't know at the time why I wanted HIS advice so much, I thought it was just because I'd known him so long and I was used to going to him, but looking back on it I think I liked his advice because if he gave me advice he knew what was going on in my life and I knew he cared which made me happy.Â
Is there a name for it when a person starts valuing themselves on others like that? When a friendship turns like that?Â
I have been reading up on codependency and some of it fits but not all of it, so I was wondering if there's something else it could be? In the line of a mental or social disorder? Thanks in advance x
More recently, since... I don't know maybe April? Late march? Things started to go a bit pear shaped. He kept ignoring my texts and emails and never had time to talk to me and we kept arguing whenever we did talk. After a while of this, we talked about it face to face and put everything behind us. We also figured out the following:Â
I valued myself on how he viewed me, for example if he took the time to talk to me it would make me feel happy and worth something but if he ignored my texts or emails I would feel undervalued and annoyed or upset.Â
He said I respected him too much, and therefore he was going to stop talking to me for a bit. It really upset me, and I dwell on it a lot. That's not the point though. What is the point is that after dwelling, I realised that, as well as what we had figured out together, that:
If something was going on in his life and he told me about it I felt good because that meant he respected me and trusted me enough to tell me, and he didn't think I was too young to understand. If he didn't tell me I felt that he disregarded me as being too young to understand or not a good enough friend to trust.Â
Similarly if he was upset by anything and I couldn't help him or he wouldn't talk to me about it I would get distressed.Â
Over the last year and a half I have really valued his advice more than any one else's because he taught me so much of what I know about the world today and he helped me through some really tough times for about a year. Didn't know at the time why I wanted HIS advice so much, I thought it was just because I'd known him so long and I was used to going to him, but looking back on it I think I liked his advice because if he gave me advice he knew what was going on in my life and I knew he cared which made me happy.Â
Is there a name for it when a person starts valuing themselves on others like that? When a friendship turns like that?Â
I have been reading up on codependency and some of it fits but not all of it, so I was wondering if there's something else it could be? In the line of a mental or social disorder? Thanks in advance x