Stop saying you love me
I have friends that often say "I love you", or "you love me" and it just makes my skin crawl. I personally reserve declarations of love for my partner and my family. My therapist says I just have different boundaries, and it's okay and healthy to maintain them.
My question is, how do I tell my friends to just sorta back off a bit and respect my personal boundaries? Especially if some of them have been doing it for YEARS and I've just put up with it.
@TeaCupPangolin
If they're friends perhaps you have room for a bit of banter or just making a joke about it. Every time they say they love you ask them to prove it by sending you a diamond/car/anything? (or something equally silly but demonstrative of the fact that you don't accept this sort of love declaration lightly) Hopefully they would soon get the message and it would fade away.
@TeaCupPangolin
Maybe just something like "I care about you a lot too. I'd prefer if you could tell me that instead of 'I love you.'"
@TeaCupPangolin
Iam quite the same myself so I get you