Hey Anonymous, thanks for reaching out today…. To be honest… You just need to BE HONEST! Keep it simple, and don’t over think it!
Leading someone on or simply just not being upfront is only going to hurt someone more down the track.
You need to be true to yourself and real with your own feelings….
Dont get caught in your head about how the conversation will go, what response you will get or what that means, just know what you feel and express that the best and most authentically you can.
It doesn’t need to be a down out situation.
Often we will try to save people from hurt, while actually causing more hurt or just generally making things harder.
If you are sure that you just want to be friends with this person then tell then that! That’s amazing, hopefully you both like and respect each other enough to actually just have a great friendship and appreciate your honesty and ability to just be upfront about it!
& if not then that just wasn’t meant to be so it’s for the best anyway!
However if you aren’t sure yet, or there is something else that’s holding you back and causing you to pull away and “friends” is your safety net then that is also worth communicating and being upfront about too.
The worst thing you can do is not acknowledge where you are actually at and try to go along with ANY situation you don’t feel right about to save someone else’s feelings. Those scenarios never end up sitting right and don’t work out in the long run.
If you just need time or you are just not there yet, but you are on the same page about that & are offered the time, support and patience that you need then you never know…
Dear Diary, how can you tell someone you just want to be their friend without hurting them?
But there is alot of value to be had in a quality friendship so hopefully you can both appreciate the sincerity of your clarity.
xx Jenaya
