The people who think the most of you also have the power to do the most harm to you?

[Anonymous]

The most painful relationships (both romantic and not) to me is when somebody who once thought very highly of you later changed their opinion. Their reasons may or may not have been justified.

But I think seeing someone who once thought a lot of you change their opinion hurts the most. It usually happens when somebody has an initial false image of who they really think you are.

It’s one thing if you put on a front but quite another if you were being yourself and they had this positive image of you. Sometimes people get very good first impressions if they met you at an ideal moment.

True

False

[jennifer_bloom]

I would say the average person has both good and bad qualities and if you view somebody as totally good or totally bad, then most likely, you're viewing them through a biased lens. I know a lot of people I consider decent and somewhat good people but I would not trust them to breathe for me if I was on a ventilator. Humans have human needs and cannot be trusted to behave like angels or Gods, I'm not saying its okay to be bad, but you have to assume most people are capable of being bad due to the fact humans are born with flaws and most won't try hard enough to eradicate them.

[HateyouxD]

You questions title, I think if you're the person being attacked it all depends on how you feel about the attacker

[HateyouxD]

You read my fucking mind with this

[Asker]

I haven’t been “attacked” recently. But I noticed a change in tone and attitude from some old time associates I ran into last weekend.

It’s a long story. But 3 years ago I traveled to another country to volunteer and I made very good friends with the locals. They treated me like family and respected my skillset (I teach martial arts).

But I secretly had an old vice that turned into a full blown addiction. I hit rock bottom with it and went through the whole 12 step process to recover. I’ve given it all up and come a long way.

But I wasn’t there to help them nor training when this all went down. None of them know what it’s about nor do I want them too. They just see me as a weird inconsistent guy. I saw them last weekend and they were very friendly/respectful. But I could tell they were disappointed. It’s like I’m not as great as a guy they thought I was given I was MIA.

That hurt. Hurt a lot. These are good hard working kids and young people. I never promised them anything and everything I did for them was 100% volunteer. Still though it hurt to pick up on the disappointment in their body language. Hurt so much.

[HateyouxD]

You could be reading into it too much otherwise they wouldn't have welcomed you so warmly again

[Asker]

That is very likely. Long story short but what happened 2 years ago completely upended all my plans and ruined a big opportunity.

But in reality I am glad it happened. I had to hit rock bottom to finally kick a very bad addiction. It’s also made me stronger to clean up other vices in my life and I’m overall improving as a human being.

[HateyouxD]

Well I'm happy for you that's great

[Asker]

Thanks

[leftAndRiqht]

I agree with you