The Friend Zone

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I don't believe in the friend zone. I don't like the concept. I feel like it is unfair to people's romantic wants and needs. There is no friend zone. You are either someone's friend or you're not. You may be someone's friend and you have romantic feelings for them but the other friend doesn't feel the same. While this isn't a comfortable position to be in, why should they feel bad about their feelings? They shouldn't.

I've been on all three sides of the coin... if a coin could have three sides. I've been the friend with one-way romantic feelings for another friend. It sucked. It hurt to see him go through relationships with different women when I had a flame burning for him, but I couldn't force his feelings.

I've been the friend who another friend had feelings for but I just didn't feel the same. This also sucked because I was made to feel bad for not reciprocating feelings for a nice guy. But "nice" doesn't always translate into "romantically attracted to."

I've been the friend who got into a relationship with a friend who I didn't have romantic feelings for because he was nice and everyone said he was good for me. This probably sucked the worst because the relationship was just as one sided as my affections and the friendship could never be reclaimed.

All the scenarios are not ideal. But no one should be made to feel bad about having or not having romantic feelings for someone.

What are your thoughts on "the friend zone?"