I recently made the decision to stop being friends with a group of people after I realized their behavior was not one time flukes and that their whole vibe just didn't mesh with what I want in my life.
I had stopped being involved with them in business for a multitude of reasons including differences of opinion on how things should be done involving horse care. Then I started finding out some of the shady practices that I felt were unethical, and some that I was sure were illegal. I did not want to be involved, so I left the partnership.
After I left the business partnership, I found that the friendship fizzled. Suddenly, once I could no longer benefit them they didn't talk to me...and if I reached out the conversation was stifled. Plans were made and never followed through on. Meanwhile, I was struggling seeing all of their social media posts because I knew they were all fake. I knew the behind the scenes, and it made me feel gross.
So I did what anyone should do if they don't like what someone is posting on social media, and I unfollowed and unfriended them.
Immediately following that I began to get a TON of messages on multiple social media platforms from fake looking accounts telling me I better not talk about these businesses or I'd regret it. *cue confused look* I also got messages from people we knew mutually asking me what happened with me leaving the businesses and why they would be getting messages telling them I'm untrustworthy and not to believe anything I say. I was pretty confused by all of this because I never said anything bad about them or posted anything negative, yet they apparently felt the need to say negative things about me?
It feels weird to grieve the loss of friendships that were never real, but I got my hopes up and felt that these were real. Maybe it hurts even more to realize that the whole thing was one sided. I don't know.
