Worrying about people liking you

Much as I am able to rationalise the idea that "not everyone will like you", I feel it's a bit more complex than that.

If someone that's present in my sphere doesn't like me or has an issue with me, especially if it's someone I care about upsetting, it goes beyond "oh, they don't like me". It becomes "are they going to get revenge/try and destroy me?".

I also find myself struggling with my friends too. It's nothing that they've done wrong, it's entirely my own problem, but I go through phases of questioning if they like me. I fear that they're going to abandon me and occasionally I might want some reassurance but I wouldn't know how to go about it in the best way - I obviously wouldn't ask every day but sometimes I may feel like I need it.

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  • It's harder when someone liked you at one point but for whatever reason, it soured.

    The problem is I don't believe it unless they say "I like you" no matter how they show it (such as doing something where they've thought of you), and even then I have doubts.

    Sometimes I feel like disappearing to see who reaches out, but I don't think I could do that for very long without feeling guilty. Plus I basically did that for a year, though I was off social media completely and changed my phone number so I can hardly criticise anyone for not reaching out.