My boyfriend keeps pressuring me to hang out with his friends.
I have not met any of my boyfriend’s close friends. I am rather introverted and not a big fan of meeting new people. I prefer to keep to myself. However my bf is adamant I hang out with his friends. He typically spends the weekend with them twice a month. And l stay back and have my me-time. He constantly pressures me and guilt trips me about it, saying things like “you’re not allowing us to grow”. Or he’ll give timelines saying I expect you to hang out with them within the next few months.
I’m very thankful he wants to include me and wants me to be apart of his life in that way but it’s never been something I want. I think it’s great he gets his seperate time with them. I feel comfortable having his whole friend life seperate. Or meeting them on my own terms (without the pressure) in my own amount of time. I really am grateful he likes me enough to want me to join but I just feel so pressured and it makes me not want to hang out with them even more and makes me feel uncomfortable. It feels like such a huge issue now that it’s been pressed. I feel like he’s not respecting my boundaries when I say I don’t want to. No part of me wants this, I really enjoy my me-time. But I also get that it’s something he wants.
I realize it’s silly but it stresses me. I’ve tried looking at it from the opposite perspective but I truly don’t think I’d mind if he really didn’t want to meet my friends and I’d respect his feelings. Is there advice on how to tell him I don’t want to without coming off as rude? Or am I being silly and rude not wanting to hang with them? And should I just man up and do it to be polite?