Hello, I'm Liu, a heart exploration coach and listener.
As humans, we often have to navigate a lot of different relationships. The main thing is that the context of a relationship often determines the initial role setting between you and the other person. For example, if you're colleagues, the focus is likely to be on work tasks. This is why interpersonal issues can make us feel complicated, because a single relationship can lead to other attributes, such as friendship and competition, from colleagues.
Sometimes we feel a bit confused.
The sudden show of goodwill and familiarity, along with the hidden tension and confrontation in the words, seem to convey a sense of uncertainty in the workplace. It can be challenging to determine the intentions of the person approaching you.
First, "strange" is the key word in your statement, which shows that you're taking a close look at what happened and trying to figure out why. Asking questions shows courage.
Dear questioner,
I believe we should respect our intuition. When we're confused or feel uneasy around someone or something, we should take a moment to talk to ourselves about it.
Throughout human evolution, we've always had the ability to sense danger. Our subconscious mind is always one step ahead of our conscious mind, so it will warn us through some discomfort. It might not always be completely correct, and our intuition isn't always right, but when it appears, please don't underestimate it.
I had the same feeling after reading your question as I did when I first read it.
It's important to be aware of your own psychological changes.
Maybe this will help.
2. If we trust our gut and take this one incident at a time, what actually happened?
It's worth noting that even identical events can seem different when viewed from different perspectives. I think you might also be wondering if you're overthinking things.
Are you being paranoid and thinking the worst of her, or is she taking advantage of you? All these doubts are making you more and more anxious, from feeling strange to feeling anxious. So you try to find clues in your memories, and even think about going back to test whether she is happy because you have left...
There are a thousand ways to interpret this. I'll just share some of my feelings based on the information provided in the question from the respondent for your reference. My answer may not be correct, so please consider it carefully.
1. Sudden intimacy.
And then she was at risk of being fired. You weren't close before.
There was suddenly a lot of social distance, and it was pretty strange. You told her how you felt, thinking that she'd crossed a line, and she got mad. It's hard not to wonder what she was thinking when she suddenly came over to you like that. She's also got a pretty familiar way of acting, like she's trying to be your friend but you can't trust her.
2. It seems like you've become close colleagues, but you're still not sure you're comfortable getting along with her.
How someone acts when they want to be on good terms with you depends on how you feel. If you don't feel comfortable, it's still considered offensive. She acts like she's asking for advice, but she doesn't really expect you to give her serious feedback.
It's likely that her attitude is making you feel drained and unhappy, and it's probably affecting your mood at work too.
3. She made things worse when you left. And the strange thing is, she wasn't the one who left.
This is probably the part that's making this whole thing so hard to take. You told her you might quit, but you weren't totally sure at the time, and she chose to encourage you to leave. She said you two would leave together, but when you really wanted to help her find her next job, she acted like she didn't care. Luckily, you didn't go to her house for dinner, which felt like a trap. Of course, this is just my guess.
To sum up, based on the info you've shared, this "colleague" is pretty strange, and it's not just paranoia.
You might think that this colleague approached you with bad intentions from the start and then encouraged you to leave so that they could stay.
3. Given your situation, I'd like to make a few suggestions, based on my own experience.
(1) If we can't change the past, we've got to find peace and reduce the anxiety caused by self-doubt.
I get it. This situation is bound to leave you feeling disappointed and a bit confused. All those different emotions—curiosity, anger, grievances—they're all mixed up inside you, driving you to try to find some logic in the past fragments to argue for a certain hypothesis.
There's a lot we don't know, so let's focus on the facts. She approached you recklessly. You felt uncomfortable during your time together. She encouraged you to leave, but didn't leave herself. She kicked you out of the work group.
Ultimately, you end up leaving the company.
If we understand this outcome, we need to take care of ourselves and give ourselves time to heal. Sharing these feelings can help to reduce anxiety. I can see that you're thinking about this a lot, and I agree that it's worth talking about. But we can't keep getting caught up in this kind of internal conflict forever.
Every now and then, our brains need a break.
(2) Not all past experiences are worth learning from, but in this case, we can probably learn more to avoid future risks.
The psychological issue here is about "a sense of boundaries" being invaded. From your message, it seems like this "she" has been trying to invade your social boundaries. Her intimacy is too abrupt, and in the name of being good friends at work, she doesn't respect your boundaries. If she has some ulterior motives, such as maliciously competing to suppress her competitors,
The best way to deal with people like this is to just stay away.
We should think about this some more: how to stop being passively involved in a relationship that makes you uncomfortable.
I also want to remind you that in a relationship where multiple roles may overlap, we need to be careful not to put the cart before the horse. Colleagues have their boundaries, and we work to give us a better life. If a similar situation arises in the future, we need to be on our guard.
(3) Learn to be kind to yourself, and think about how you're feeling and take care of yourself.
If you keep testing or engaging in a power struggle with such a colleague, it'll probably affect your own psychological state. I get it. It's like having a stone in your shoe—annoying.
You may have also noticed that there's a lot of uncertainty and turmoil in the workplace. We all want to be happy and comfortable. The most important thing now is to adjust our own state of mind and not let ourselves be overly affected. If you can, talk to someone you trust about how you feel. Or find a professional psychologist to help you work through the emotions that have been building up for so long.
That's all I have to say for now.
I wish you all the best.
I'm a listening therapist, Liu Quanyan.
Please don't hesitate to ask me questions or share your thoughts.
Comments
I can see how tough that situation must have been for you. It sounds like there was a lot of tension and misunderstanding between you two. I would have felt the same way, needing space and respect in a professional setting.
It seems like she might have been looking for support but didn't know how to ask for it properly. Maybe she wasn't aware of how her actions came across to others. In any case, boundaries are important for everyone's wellbeing.
The way she reacted after you mentioned your preference for boundaries shows that communication could have been better from both sides. It's unfortunate that things escalated to this point. Sometimes people don't realize the impact of their words until it's too late.
You handled it with professionalism by focusing on your work and not getting entangled in personal issues. It's clear you tried to maintain a distance and protect yourself from unnecessary drama at work.
Regarding the leadership summoning you and the potential firing, it's possible they were trying to assess the dynamics within the team. Your resignation may have been the best decision for your mental health and career development.