Venting has an end. If every call is a two-hour dump with no question about you, it’s not venting anymore.

Support is mutual by nature, and what keeps it sustainable is that it runs both ways over time. A relationship where one person is always the audience and never the subject has turned into something else, usually without either of them choosing it, and the one absorbing it often notices only as a slow tiredness. Seeing this clearly is not selfish.

Pay attention to whether you are ever asked about your own week. Try taking a few minutes of the call. If the shape cannot change at all, you are allowed to be less available for it.