The Beast
I simply have to get rid of my best friend. I hate who I am when I am around him, I hate the way he lives and his influence on me. I have attempted to breach with him that I want to change things about myself, lose weight, save money, go back to school and finish my degree, etc. Here is my imagined conversation with him, based on real responses he's given me in the past.
ME: "Well, I'm not going to get some ice cream, I'm going to bed, get up early, and go to the gym. I need to lose some weight."
THE BEAST: "I don't know why, I think you look good. You shouldn't have such low self-esteem. Why waste your time at the gym, when you could just learn to like yourself?"
ME: "I have to save money to go back to school. I only have a semester left."
THE BEAST: "School isn't going to be that much. You need to be saving for our trip to Vegas." After pestering me for months, I finally relented to going on a trip to Las Vegas with him and his family, even though he KNOWS that will take money away from where it needs to be.
ME: "I need to be working more hours."
THE BEAST: "You are just going to burn yourself out if you do that."
ME: "Myles is coming to Texas to see me next month."
THE BEAST: "I don't know why you don't get a real boyfriend in your own state. Long distance is dumb. You guys probably won't make it any way."
ME: "I need to be eating more meals at home, not restaurants."
THE BEAST: "I hate eating at home. If you don't have the money, I'll pay for you." Then he makes snide comments about paying for my meal.
I told him that I didn't want to hear anything about Myles, because that stuff was really pissing me off. The rest of the stuff I try to just shrug off, but it is just getting to be too much. I had to dip into my saving to pay rent this month, something I swore I wouldn't do, because I routinely spend 20$ a day on dinner, money I don't have. The other part of the equation is that he doesn't drive, and therefore depends on me for transport. He left his work ID in my van last night, seemingly on accident. But now I have to pick him up for work today. He does things like that all the time.
- Wake up around 2 in the afternoon.
- Play video games until your retinas bleed.
- Eat something expensive and unhealthy.
- Go to the movies.
- Eat more.
- Play more video games.
- Go to sleep, having successfully avoided any physical activity.
He also works with me, and is in management (not my direct supervisor, but on the same level as my supervisor). Rebuking him altogether is out of the question; he goes to bat too frequently for me at work. But I need to find a way to phase him out of my life. But to be fair, I wouldn't spend time with him if it wasn't fun to spend money and be lazy, with no thought of the future. But it isn't the way to get anywhere. He himself never finished his degree for A&M, and if that isn't a cautionary tale, I don't know what is.
I must slay the beast.