I am pretty well aware of what so many of these people are doing, from reading their posts and looking at their pictures, regardless of whether or not they come out and directly state on FB what they are doing. I witness lots of FB interactions between people who USED TO be in my life (plenty of them still live geographically close to one another) setting up happy hours, trading inside jokes from the bar, posting pics the morning after, etc. Others blatantly describe in words what they drank, how much and with who, what so-and-so did exactly, etc. Mostly I have just been a bystander and said nothing, look at the pics and comments and move on to the next post. I have never worried that it would cause me to relapse because I have absolutely NO DESIRE to drink alcohol, hang out, go to a bar, etc. So I thought, "Well, I'm not worried about relapsing so it's not hurting me to stay FB friends with these people. I'm just networking."
I think what has finally gotten to me was the recent posting of photos of a husband and wife I used to know, at a party, with a bunch of obviously drunk women, doing a bunch of drunk stuff. I am sure you all know what kind of "drunk stuff" I am talking about because these are the behaviors that we talk about every single day. I guess I was just disgusted. I read other people acting out their drunkenness and codependence on FB, getting into arguments and being downright nasty. I guess you call that "being dysfunctional"?
So much of what I witness on FB is the OPPOSITE of what I believe in, the opposite of my values. So why do I continue to voluntarily witness it? Is it because I am afraid to hurt someone else's feelings by unfriending them? Is it because I am afraid I will miss out on something? Miss out on some entertainment? On some opportunity? How is ANY of this either an opportunity or entertaining? It is SAD, actually. To see these people who I left behind, STILL doing the same old stuff but now just OLD and still doing it.
Why have I let down these boundaries that I set up almost 15 years ago? Why have I invited it all back in? Do I need to even KNOW WHY? Or do I need to just take action?