A Toxic Friends

There’s this friend of mine who… has a way with words that’s painfully sharp.
Sometimes, when we hang out, they say things like:
“Why are you always so slow? Can’t you do anything right?”
“Seriously? That’s the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard.”
“I don’t get why you even try, you’ll just fail anyway.”
Each time, I feel a mix of hurt and confusion. I don’t know how to respond. I don’t want to fight, and I don’t want to hurt them either. So I just stay quiet, smile awkwardly, or nod, letting the words pass through me.
It’s hard. Part of me wants to tell them, “That hurts”, but another part fears to speak up

. So I remain silent, absorbing it all, silently questioning whether their friendship is really worth the pain.
I’ve realized that staying silent is my way of protecting myself while figuring out how to handle it. Not every battle needs a loud response,sometimes silence is enough.
Have you ever had a friend whose words hurt like this, but you didn’t know how to respond? How did you handle it? 😭