I host a game night but don't want to be everyone's close friend or therapist

TW: Anxiety / Depression

I host a large game night every month. It's semi open invite, I have 7 close friends that attend and occasionally bring others. Sometimes they bring close friends, or other times it could be acquaintances or coworkers. Sometimes those friends of friends come to every single game night regardless if their original invitee attends. I've been totally ok with that. The issue is that these friends of friends assume I am also their best friend. So they start expecting to have these close personal conversations, or get invited to close personal events, or have me be their therapist and listen to and fix their issues...

I appreciate that they feel comfortable enough to confide in me. I appreciate that they come to my game nights. But still that doesn't mean I "click" or relate to these people on a deeper friend level! I don't have the bandwidth to text or schedule hangouts/events with this many people while also maintaining my own life and family! I don't have the emotional capacity to listen to everything everyone is going through, and then also maintain my own mental health! I absolutely appreciate them, but I just wanna host a game night and play some board games ...

A friend of friend/acquaintance just decided to text me (for the second time ever) that they're coming out as trans and asked if I could provide assistance throughout their transition and answer feminine questions... I'm sorry but no. All the power to you Queen but I am not close with them like that. I'm also not a feminine woman, I'm a goth tomboy. And I have my own trauma with my sexuality.

Two different people in the friend group are depressed, I have been close friends with them for 4-5 years, so I am ok with being apart of their "therapy plan" basically. Well sometimes this comes up at game night when chatting - sometimes it's about their mental health, or just about how we hung out 1 on 1. Well, now some friends of friends have taken this as an open invite to confide in me every time they have are also struggling. In the middle of a board game they will text me from across the table that they're having social anxiety, and then it becomes my responsibility to somehow fix or handle it. I feel for them, I really do, but I just wanna play some board games dude I can't constantly maintain everyone's mental state!

And then they expect invites to everything. One of the 7 close friends was having a birthday party, they only invited the close friends and it was on a boat so there was a capacity limit anyways. Well a friend of friend (actually coworker of a friend) came to me and asked for the boat meetup info bc they "didn't seem to get the invitation text"... I wasn't even hosting or involved in her party planning! If the birthday girl didn't invite you I think that means you're not invited! Why are they expecting an invite to an event they overheard is happening (they were seated at a completely different table playing a different game so idk how they overhead to begin with), for a girl they've only met 2-3 times??

Ugh. I am appreciative. But I'm overwhelmed and frustrated. I need to set boundaries with these people

Posted Nov 3, 2025, 9:09 PM UTC

23
Loading comments…