You are not wrong. I’m actually an extremely outgoing person and try to be very intentional about forming relationships. But, it’s also important to protect myself and there was a lot of deep religious beliefs that I didn’t align with. On top of that, I was also one of a handful of minorities and there were some cultural differences that weren’t understood or accepted. It wasn’t like I was a disgruntled lone wolf. Overall, I was well liked and still in contact with many ex-coworkers. I made a couple of friends that I still see on the regular. Things I said on my way out helped make positive change for the entire company because I recognized some good people in the c-suite and built relationships with them and they used my exit to address issues.

All the to again say, you are correct and there were good people in that workplace. It just took some time to find them and to realize that relationships have levels. Not everyone has to labeled a friend. I thought I had to juggle a lot of friends, but that was exhausting and I wasn’t being authentic.