Whether you’re 18 or 108 it’s quite normal to want to work on improving yourself.

That can range from exercising and eating better to learning new skills and languages – anything to keep developing as a person.

For the friend of the young woman in this story, that self-betterment came through exercise-induced weight loss, and she was proud of how she looked now.

But her old friends back home never truly let go of the old version of her.

Read on to find out how this caused problems for them all.

AITA for posting an “ugly” photo of my friend on her birthday?

I am a 23-year-old woman with a friend (also 23 and female) named Syra.

Syra is currently visiting our hometown and coincidentally, her birthday happened to fall during her trip.

We had a lot of fun on her birthday, but I fear it ended on a somewhat bad note and I’m not sure if it’s my fault.

Let’s see what this woman did to upset her friend during her trip.

So for context, Syra lost about forty pounds two years ago.

She is very athletic and pretty now, but she was kind of the person who looked pretty no matter what body she’s in. She can pull anything off, in my opinion.

Anyway, there’s this picture of us back from 2021. We are both at her vacation home, hugging.

I think it’s the most adorable picture ever. It’s almost like a bear hug. I am completely enveloped by her and we look really cute.

Read on to find out how this photo became an issue.

On her birthday, I went to post a collage of pictures of us online, and before I posted it, she got a glimpse, and asked me not to post that particular photo of her.

I asked her why, and she said she feels really insecure of how she looks in that picture. I told her she looks great and I showed her my wallpaper on her chat (which is set to that particular photo).

She replied it’s one thing to have it as my personal chat wallpaper and another to publicly post it since there are a million photos of us since then (post weight loss).

Let’s see how the friend reacted to Syra’s insecurity about the photo.

I posted the picture anyway since it’s my favourite picture of us.

It led to an argument and now she’s claiming I posted it not because I think she looked pretty, but because I look pretty and skinnier in comparison in that particular picture, which is not true at all.

AITA?

It would be one thing if the woman had posted the photo collage without knowing Syra’s opinion of the photo in question.

But the fact that Syra had already expressed her insecurities and asked her not to post it really changes it from an innocent act of love toward her friend, to some kind of ignorance or even power play.

This went from being a nice birthday gift to a drama between the two friends, and there’s only one person to blame here.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person agreed that she was completely out of order.

While others thought her ignorance was unbelievable.

Meanwhile, this Redditor explained that what she loved about the photo says a lot about her.

She completely ignored her friend’s feelings, all because she thought her own opinion – that the photo was a great one – superseded Syra’s own feelings.

That’s not kind, and it’s not friendship.

It’s certainly no way to celebrate someone’s birthday.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a daughter who invited herself to her parents’ 40th anniversary vacation for all the wrong reasons.