I 31f fell for my best friend 35f

NSFWCONTENT WARNING: OCD / INTRUSTIVE THOUGHTS

I 31f am looking for perspective from anyone who’ve been in something similar. I’ve developed strong feelings for a close friend 35f, and we identify as straight, and we’re both married to men(10+years with kids) We met through our kids 5 years ago and have been extremely close since. We talk to eachother about everything. (our sex life's, our careers, our parenting style, I mean everything all day everyday) At the same time, I deal with OCD-style rumination, and I feel stuck in a loop where I keep thinking about her and having daydreams of all the what ifs. Part of me wants to tell her just to get it off my chest and feel relief, but another part of me is worried that’s more about easing anxiety than doing the right thing and that it could damage the friendship or affect both of our relationships. I’m trying to understand what’s actually healthy here and what’s just the OCD/limerence pushing me to act. Has anyone experienced something like this? Especially the mix of intrusive thoughts/limerence and a real-life friendship? What helped you handle it? Did setting boundaries and sitting with the uncertainty work, or did talking about it make things better or worse in the long run? I will add that I started SSRIs in December and have slowly been increasing the dose since just trying to find relief in the pure hatred I have for myself right now

Posted Mar 30, 2026, 6:03 AM UTC · locked

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