Dear Annie: My sister, \u201cErin,\u201d has always been a bit dramatic, but lately it feels like she\u2019s manufacturing chaos. She\u2019s going through a divorce, and while I understand that\u2019s difficult, she\u2019s started calling me multiple times a day just to vent — about her ex, the kids, her job, our parents, her neighbor\u2019s barking dog — anything and everything. I\u2019ve tried to be supportive, but it\u2019s exhausting. I work full-time, have two young kids and, honestly, I dread seeing her name pop up on my phone.<\/p>\n
Last week, I let one of her calls go to voicemail and she texted me five times in an hour asking why I wasn\u2019t picking up. When I finally called her back, she accused me of not caring about her. I told her I needed some space, and now she\u2019s barely speaking to me.<\/p>\n
I feel like I\u2019m being forced into the role of emotional caretaker, and I don\u2019t know how to set limits without causing more damage to our relationship. How do I support my sister without sacrificing my peace of mind? — Stretched Thin in Spokane<\/p>\n
Dear Stretched Thin: You need to let go of your fear of letting Erin down; she won\u2019t be satisfied with anything less than 100% of your attention, and unless you\u2019re prepared to keep giving her that, she\u2019s going to try to paint you as the bad guy.<\/p>\n
Tell Erin, kindly but firmly, that you care about her but you\u2019ve got a full plate and can\u2019t be on-call. Suggest she speak with a professional who\u2019s equipped to help. If she sulks, let her. She\u2019s allowed to be upset, and you\u2019re allowed to have boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow Can I Forgive My Cheating Partner?\u201d is out now! Annie Lane\u2019s second anthology — featuring favorite columns on marriage, infidelity, communication and reconciliation — is available as a paperback and e-book. Visit http:\/\/www.creatorspublishing.com<\/a> for more information. Send your questions for Annie Lane to dearannie@creators.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n COPYRIGHT 2025 CREATORS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Annie: My sister, \u201cErin,\u201d has always been a bit dramatic, but lately it feels like she\u2019s manufacturing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[97,259,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-212004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}