I took a 1 year long 1-1 mentorship from J and she helped me a lot. This was 2021-2022. Then In end of 2022, I ended up finding a great job, which happened to be the same industry my mentor was in. Anyways there were some times when J would say “you should help me when you learn some stuff from K” (k was my boss from new job) and “but don’t tell K that’s your plan haha”. She’s also forwarded me K’s newsletter and basically wanted to be featured in J’s services and just times where I felt uncomfortable as if I needed to introduce my mentor and bring her business to my boss and like help out my mentor.
Anyways last November I quit my job and mentor doesn’t know. She texted me during that time asking for advice and if I heard anything in the business world as things are slowing down and that she misses me. I didn’t reply, I was stressed out from toxic job, family and health issues. She texted me next two months with “hey how you are” “hi are you doing well” then I finally was gonna text and just tell her things are rough rn and I need time. But then the day after she messaged “we need to speak” and I froze. The day after she called and I didn’t pick up.
I don’t know. Is this how a mentor supposed to be? I feel like she just wants my help because o who I used to work for. Am I over reacting? Like I’ve always had this little feeling after mentorship ended and I got a new job, she would try to get help from me only because of who I worked for. I felt a bit taken advantage of because I feel like bc she mentored me I owe her?
Trust your gut. You know the answer already but want to chalk it up to overreacting or something similar... don't do that. Our guts are rarely (if ever) wrong.