Today after some consideration I decided to block someone’s number who I am starting to question my friendship with. This person, who I shall name Mark for privacy sake, was part of a fundamentalist religious organization that we were both previously involved with and reached out to me to see how was doing after some time. However, our conversation diverged into an uncomfortable discussion over a question he asked about my involvement with a church. When I told Mark that I was currently not involved with one because of the highly judgmental and critical nature of pretty much every such organization I was previously affiliated with, he still tried to preach the so-called “importance” of finding a church. I knew he did not have bad intentions. Yet like with many fundamentalist groups he came across as very legalistic and unreasonable with me being involved with spiritual obligations and was persistent with this advice despite my traumatic experiences with religious groups. Because I am finishing up grad school and have other obligations on the weekends like seeing family, reconnecting with long lost friends and my elderly grandparents, I don’t have much time to do extracurricular activities on the weekends, so I got every reason to feel angry and disrespected of my personal space. It's my life for crying out loud! I have not regularly hung out with this dude for over a year and have not personally seen him at all since bumping into him last summer because our different paths in life, as he is 3 years younger than me and still in undergrad at a different department of my uni. Furthermore, I am no longer involved in the organization where I met him. I don’t think I am ready to completely ditch him as a friend yet, but I require more space than others, especially around people who make me feel uncomfortable, so I can process my feelings before bursting out raw feelings like a shaken up Dr Pepper.

Was I right in blocking Mark’s number, whether it be temporary or permanently?