[erikb]

I hope he took from his down swing how to recognize these. That's a huge negative impact on one's life, having such kind of friends. Even on the good days they suck out your energy without you realizing it. And again, I think even as such a friend you don't have a happy life.

[geomark]

I think he (my friend, not Kim) ended up deciding he preferred his fake friends because they were so much better at being "friends". His real friends would call him out and tell him to get real when he started getting too full of himself due to his new wealth. His fake friends were always supportive regardless of how outrageous his behavior became (and it went way over the top). I guess it is kind of a selection bias effect and the same thing that leads to big-headed bosses surrounding themselves with yes men. I wonder if Kim fell into that trap.

[erikb]

Yeah, we all are like that in our naive form. Only through bad experience and the ability to learn from failure we can overcome that. Only few people have that ability, and some are "lucky" and never have such a bad experience until the end, but I would assume they still feel something missing yet never realise what it is.