Live Chat, Handling Friendship Drama, Monday the 17th of Feb, 7:30 pm AEDT

This is such a fantastic topic for a GR, I'm sorry I can't make it tonight but I'm really looking forward to catching up on the discussion in the coming days. Thanks so much @ecla34  for getting the ball rolling on this, I hope it's a great chat 🙂 

@Tay100 @Janine-RO @Jess1-RO looking forward to hearing your insights later this week!  😄

@Bananatime04 sweet! hope to see you later

Welcome to tonight's GR, we're chatting about Friendship Drama!

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Hi everyone!

Here's our first question:
What types of things can cause drama within/between friendship groups?

1. What types of things can cause drama within/between friendship groups?

In my experience, drama is often caused by simple things like miscommunication or wrong impressions, or misunderstandings that can lead to resentments or hurt feelings.

2. Have you ever had drama in a friendship? If so, how did you deal with it? Was this productive? Do you wish you had done anything differently?

Of course- we took time to cool off and then talked about it frankly, face to face- not via social media where things can be misinterpreted or may be taken out of context or quoted in a negative light. It was very productive. One thing I'd do differently is meet in a private space as we met in a coffee shop- a public space wasn't the greatest place for the sensitive matter we were discussing. We felt a bit exposed, much the gif below!

3. Have you ever been excluded or pushed aside in a friendship group or cohort? What did you do in this situation?

I've never been pushed out per se, but I've definitely felt like an outsider, the most disposable, never anyone's favourite or top priority. I try to just think about what I value about each individual in the group and not take it personally. 

4 When drama gets overwhelming how can we take a step back whilst maintaining a good friendship outside of what’s going on?

Ohhh what a question- can you really ever step back though and remain neutral? I think it's a matter of recognising that it may permeate your relationship with a person and/or the group dynamics and vamping u your self-care techniques and reaching out to family and other support networks. Gain your strength and recharge outside of the friendship so you can face the problem with fresh eyes.

5. Following on from the last question, what are some signs that there is too much drama to keep the friendship alive? Have you ever had a friendship end because of drama? How did you cope with this?

Thankfully no, I've never had that experience so I can't speak to it. I tend to take a more preventative approach. What I mean is, I make sure my some of my self-care takes place outside of socialising, and I make sure I get plenty of alone time and take breaks between seeing friends so that I can rest and look forward to seeing them again.

Hi @xXLexi_Lou122Xx! I'm so excited to read your answers! 🙂

yay @xXLexi_Lou122Xx glad to see you! spam away! 😛

@xXLexi_Lou122Xx don't worry, I'm planning to spam in a minute too, to catch up! 

What types of things can cause drama within/between friendship groups?

Disagreements I guess? There are so many things people disagree on but I guess that makes us all unique 🙂

Drama doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing either! You can have good drama, like a good TV series making a return.

Tagging people online just in case - apologies in advance if you didn't want to be tagged. Feel free to ignore the tag!

@Tiny_leaf @aebarrie12 @gmusicj @Anonymous 

Hey thanks for tagging me, I’m in year 11, VCE the scary year 😂. I have been having not really trouble but my friend was not yelling at me but is mad at me because I move super slow and take my time, but everyone goes in their own pace , this was in cooking. I feel a little tension between me and him. What do I do?

Hey @aebarrie12 

I think you're totally right - everyone moves at their own pace! It would be a little unsettling to feel tension between yourself and a friend. What you do comes down to what you feel comfortable with, do you feel like you could say that everyone moves at their own pace? Or bring it up in some way? 

Catch up time... 

1. What types of things can cause drama within/between friendship groups?
Like @ecla34 and @xXLexi_Lou122Xx said... literally everything. I've had big arguments about pencils, and one time when I was thirteen I was having a bad day and thought my friend was laughing at the book I was reading, which for some reason offended me? But really, she was laughing because the title was similar to an inside joke we had. Someone's mood on a given day can definitely cause them to tolerate less than what they normally could, which might start drama.

Some other things that are common can include feeling excluded, dating, breaking boundaries, and gossip.

@Hozzles  I totally agree with you about how someone's mood can impact how they perceive things! After my surgeries, I didn't feel like doing anything other than lying down, watching Netflix or listening to music. When my family members asked me to make decisions or do something I would get really annoyed with them, and still do. While they thought they were just asking simple questions, I perceived it more like nagging.

@WheresMySquishy and @Hozzles the fact that drama can be so context and mood dependent really shows how important it can be to try talk things out before they become super big!!

Last questions guys!

(this is me shoe-horning in another friends gif, even if it's only tangentially related )

oh no! No worries @xXLexi_Lou122Xx , i hope you feel better

Goodnight @xXLexi_Lou122Xx! I hope you can feel better.