Not letting it get out of hand

I find that I react to the slightest trigger by becoming very nervous and I try to protect myself from that by spending a lot of my time in bed. I do alright taking Tyke for his walks three times a day, in fact, I find them very relaxing, but when I am home anything at all gives me stress. I am very lucky in that everyone has gotten the message and the phone doesn't ring, but yesterday afternoon it did, although I didn't answer it. Things like that bother me a lot, especially because I saw who it was.

 

I have a friend who is very codependent and who can't take an independent action of her own without discussing it with me first. She discusses the least little detail of her life with me even though she has a husband and a therapist and a psychiatrist. She calls me twice a day and expects me to answer the phone each time. She will call until I answer the phone or until I call her back.

 

I had already told her earlier that it is absurd that she expects me to solve her problems and for her not to call me all the time anymore and for about a week she didn't, but then she returned to her old habit. Now that I have a bad burn out, I told her specifically that I was taking a long time out and that I wanted no contact with anyone and that included no phone calls until further notice. She said that she understood and that she would wait for me to get better and contact her.

 

And of course it was she who called yesterday and let the phone ring for a long time and this irritated me so that I was upset about it for a long time. Apparently she is so needy, that she can't think about my best interests. In her own convoluted way of thinking she had justified her reason for calling me anyway. I know just how her mind works. I know she will try to call me again today and will keep trying and I will have to stop her which means talking to her because I can't find her new email address.

 

And that is the way things are.