Resenting my best friend so much I can't look at them the same anymore.
This happened months ago but I'm still hurt over it. For context I had just managed to land my first ever big art job with a game I really enjoy, with a decently big community, drawing an important character. I'd been anxious about the release for several weeks because I was scared people wouldn't like how I did it, I had only been a professional artist for 3 months by that point, didn't even really have a "niche online artist" phase to get used to first, and on the day of the release the team wanted to do a meeting call to reveal everything to us, the team, first. To me this meant hearing peoples' live reaction to my art so I was even more freaked out. I have an anxiety disorder, I really wish I'd been happier at that moment but all I could feel was dread.
Two hours before the meeting my best friend started venting about their own life and struggles, and an hour in I had to tell them I needed a moment because I got too overwhelmed and anxious. I did try to get them to talk a bit more once I settled but they didn't. When I tried to crack a joke about what I'd do if the community didn't like it they went off on me, calling me ungrateful, saying I should think about people that can't land a job at all before complaining so much and that they'd been hearing me talk about this for weeks, and the one moment they decide to vent I can't listen to them at all.
I don't wanna go into detail but they were so hurtful with their words, even with me asking them to stop talking to me like that they just said they wouldn't soften it so I can "get a grip".
Am I really the asshole? It was one of the most important nights of my life and even when the release was successful and people loved it I coudn't really feel happy about it because I was so hurt. There has been several other issues but this one's the most recent and I don't feel I can even breach the subject again, they rarely ever apologize for anything. We're both autistic, for context, so miscommunication is a huge issue often.
Posted Jun 12, 2026, 11:48 PM UTC