I am not a parent myself, so I feel like I shouldn’t really have an opinion

This is one of the biggest lies in life. If your goal is truly to protect/care about children, then that’s absolutely what you should do (though not through any kind of cops, including cps etc, if possible as they just make things worse). You don’t need to be a parent to recognise when another person is suffering, but make sure they actually are and don’t go off of mere suspicion. That way you can work with them to make sure they are getting the care and understanding they need. Maybe offer to look after them ocassionally if you can and would like to.

I’m not a woman, but I feel like this is a universal experience. Mods feel free to delete me if this is innapropriate.

Friends should be a source of support. They should give you energy when you’re low in it, and relieve stress when you’re burdened by it. Spending time with friends should be something you look forward to, and feel better after having done so.

I’ve had a couple of my oldest friends phased out of my life in recent years. It took a long time to get to the point where I decided i just wasn’t going to spend time with them anymore, but I’d been seeing them less and less for years. I just didn’t enjoy being around them anymore, we weren’t connecting in any meaningful way and their personalities just weren’t people I wanted to be around anymore (one still acted like he was 20 and the other got sucked into the right wing manosphere shit). It’s difficult to give up on people that feel like they are family, but just knowing someone for a long time is not enough of a reason to spend your energy on them, when you get nothing but stress and anxiety in return.

I see plenty of people who still hang around with old friends that they simply don’t like anymore, just because they have been friends for years. It’s a tough decision to make, but you’ll feel better for it. Maybe you might even reconnect with some of them in the future if things change. Do what’s best for you, life is too short to spend your energy on people that you don’t actually like that much.

If you don’t already, make an effort to connect with your long distance friends. Set a regular online catchup for drinks or watch a movie together or something. Let them know how much you value them and make the effort to connect with them as much as possible.