A college friend I\u2019d known for years told me recently that she was so broke she hadn\u2019t eaten in days. I\u2019ve helped her before, so I didn\u2019t think twice\u2014I packed a tote bag full of homemade meals and planned to drop it off after work. It felt good to be able to support someone who seemed to be struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right as I was heading out the door, I checked Instagram and saw she had posted a photo of a fresh<\/em> tattoo. At first, I assumed it was an old throwback, but it wasn\u2019t. The timing shocked me. I messaged her gently, asking if she still needed the food and mentioned that I\u2019d seen the post. I wasn\u2019t accusatory\u2014just confused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her reaction was explosive. She called me judgmental, insisted she always finds money for tattoos, and accused me of looking down on her. Then came the insults\u2014sharp, personal, and completely unexpected. I didn\u2019t reply. I just put the food back in the freezer and sat with the disappointment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The whole situation made me question whether she ever truly needed help or just wanted attention. It\u2019s the kind of moment that makes you hesitant to help others again. But it\u2019s also a reminder that setting boundaries, protecting your energy, and recognizing when someone is taking advantage are necessary parts of maintaining healthy, respectful relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A college friend I\u2019d known for years told me recently that she was so broke she hadn\u2019t eaten in days. I\u2019ve helped her before, so I didn\u2019t… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"views":665,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19455,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19453\/revisions\/19455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinbr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}