Shaky hands and a fast-beating heart. I used to be part of a friend group that was, ultimately, pretty nebulous and unsupportive towards me. They constantly invalidated my feelings, belief, just about everything as a collective. I thought that’s how life was.

After almost a decade, I made the choice to reconnect with extended family and branched out into new friend groups. I have come to realise that accepting those feelings as “normal” for such a long time was very bad.

The realization that I felt bad because of the people I chose to be around, mostly due to “commitment pride” and laziness/fear of leaving them, was key in living a fuller, less anxious, life. They outed themselves when I started being agreeable with their feelings, beliefs, etc… lo and behold, they would say those things (really theirs) were dumb.