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#47, February 13th, 2024
Hey Shani,
How do I deal with being friends with a couple as a single person? I find it to be a power imbalance.
Hey You,
I’ll make this one reeeeeeeal simple. You don’t have to “deal” with being friends with people who treat you as less than equal. I don’t care if they’re single, coupled, throupled, whatever. You never, ever need to spend your time with people who treat you as though you’re inferior for any reason. So the advice I’m about to give you will be less about salvaging this friendship, and more about salvaging your self worth. In my opinion that’s the kind of advice that’s longer-lasting and more beneficial to your relationships, both present and future.
You are not beneath coupled people. We start here, otherwise there’s no point in going further. This situation isn’t really about your friends treating you as less-than, it’s more about why that’s bothering you. Of course no one wants to be treated as less-than, but you also have a question about how to “deal” with it, when dealing with it isn’t even remotely your responsibility. It’s not your job to deal with mistreatment, it’s their job to stop mistreating you.