I hate that I do this, but there are friends/acquaintances in my life that I would mask around, and my mental health and general motivation has been very bad lately, meaning that when they reach out to me, I just don’t have the mental stamina – which I usually had – to open that message/take that call and reply to them. We were friends sort of out of inertia from the past, and I was kinda hoping we’d drift apart naturally, but they keep calling me even though I told them that my mental health is bad rn and I’d reach out later. I just want to be left to be depressed in peace rn plus seeing them again I’d have to address my compounding guilt of ghosting them, and that’s something I’d have to mentally barge though. But it’s not their fault that I’m tired ‘of them’, so it’s a tricky situation and I feel like a terrible person for it ending the way it does.
The ones that keep calling are the good ones.
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Being in that situation sucks, and I can’t realistically tell you “just don’t feel bad about ghosting them.” Or “just swallow it, mask, and call back.”
But take it from someone farther down that road, who’s habit of ghosting/checking-out trashed their life:
…Reply back to some, with bluntness about your situation, even if it’s just a text. If you need some isolation, tell them! Unload! Tell them your mental battery is dead and needs rest, you cant do stuff right now, or whatever you need to say.
It’s healthier, and it will feel way better than ghosting.
The key is to be straight about it.