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3 years and still can't seem to let go

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  • #81882
    yoda428
    Participant

    Hi All,

    It’s been just a horrible weekend ridden with emotional angst. I’ve been divorced for 3 years and sometimes it feels like it happened yesterday. An unfortunate thing happened Friday night when I was on my daughter’s iPad and logged into Facebook (because it was her account). First thing there was a selfie my ex had taken just a few hours before. Looked like she was dressed up ready to go out. It was like a car crash that you just can’t not look at. I looked at her page and saw all of her posts and all the pictures. Nothing that looks like she’s got a boyfriend mind you but just a bunch of new friends having a good time enjoying herself. But it hit me SOOOO hard, the hours after seeing this were riddled with pain and it’s been there to some degree for the entire weekend. (I’m not a fan of Facebook…I deactivated my account yesterday. I’m just so mad that I didn’t stop looking).

    I’m not sure what I expected but the images are ingrained on me – she’s moved on, she’s enjoying her life. Maybe I think if she was hurting more (like I still am) that I’d feel better. But, she was the one to leave the marriage which wasn’t good for either one of us anyway. We get along fine and do well for the kids but I doubt she’d even know that I’m still aching inside. It is so hard to even see her sometimes…I can’t look at her because I still find her so attractive. I feel like I need to have less and less contact.

    Communication is a one way street as it is. Sometimes she’ll be texting me about something to do with the kids and be playful and joking but if I text her I get hardly any response in return. She just can’t give I guess. She couldn’t give in the marriage either. But I was so codependent and clingy. I treated her poorly and who wouldn’t want to get away from that.

    I’m fairly spiritual so I know all about forgiving myself, forgiving her, meditating, living in the present but by God something keeps me so connected to her and I was just so flippin’ hit by those images of her life moving on without me. 3 YEARS!!! I’m not big on saying I shouldn’t feel a certain way because I feel what I feel, if it’s here it’s here and that’s what life is. But I hate that aching feeling. Guess I gotta be friends with it until it goes away. No shortcuts.

    Sorry for the babble…just trying to get it all out and find some peace. Hope it’s clear where I’m coming from. I look forward to your responses and any advice.

    Thanks,

    Yoda428

    #81906
    Joe Guerra
    Participant

    I feel what I feel and the heart wants what the heart wants but sometimes cannot have it Yoda I am fairly spiritual myself, and the best advice I can give is to say find something you don’t like about her even though as you say she is good looking and every once in a while bring it into the conversation you keep having with yourself, even if it’s you don’t like her relative, but then again who does..By the way I thought Yoda would know the answer to these things

    #81916
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Yoda428:

    What were you doing on your daughter’s iPad and in your daughter’s Facebook? Do you consider this to be an invasion of your daughter’s privacy?

    I have things in mind to write about the rest of your post but your answer to the question above is crucial to me, so I have an idea who I am communicating with.

    anita

    #81924
    lizzy
    Participant

    Yoda428:

    Facebook has a way of making everyone’s life seem so happy and perfect doesn’t it? The other day I was at a restaurant and I watched a mother with her daughters scrolling through social media at the table. Everyone had their face down looking at their phones. No one was talking to each other or laughing. They looked up briefly to take a group picture ( full of smiles and togetherness). Once the picture was taken it was back to the phones – probably to post the picture of their great fun time at dinner. I’m sure everyone who saw the post saw a family having a fun time at dinner. What I saw was a family isolated from each other – trying so hard to capture every moment of the day on FB or whatever social media they were using. They were completely missing the time they were spending together ! My point to you is this- just because your ex was all smiles and seemingly moved on with her life does not mean she does not struggle with the divorce. You are not seeing the whole picture on Facebook.

    I am in a similar situation. I wanted the divorce and I got it. I think about my ex-husband and our marriage every day. Some days I feel sad, others days angry it has been a very difficult three years. I suspect my ex thinks that I have moved on and just go on about my life completely erasing our past but that is not the case. I am trying to work through all these difficult emotions ( as I hope you are). I am trying to understand why our relationship did not work hoping I can learn more about myself and what I need from the next relationship. But it is a struggle. My suggestion to you is that if you want peace, stop focusing on her and focus on you. It takes time but with time it will hurt a little less especially if you make peace with yourself.

    #82023
    yoda428
    Participant

    Anita – fair question. I was borrowing my daughter’s iPad for the weekend to try some things on Skype. I was logging into Facebook to check things out for me but since it’s her iPad it automatically logs in as her, so, boom, there’s a new selfie of the ex. Ugh! Still painful.

    I would appreciate your thoughts.

    I realize since I posted this that I am in a depression which has been going on since before I saw the FB stuff. That only exacerbated things and am having difficulting not ruminating over it.

    #82024
    yoda428
    Participant

    bettywhite – Thanks for your perspective. It was quite comforting. I think there just may be an addictive nature to my rumination. It hurts to keep thinking about her but it could be that she’s a distraction for some other hurt that has nothing to do with her. Boy, it sure feels like I miss her though, even though she didn’t treat me very well in the marriage.

    #82030
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear yoda428:

    I hope you do not go into your daughter’s Facebook account again, whatever it takes, so to respect her privacy.

    Of course what is seen on Facebook is not at all what is so. Photos often do not represent reality, they are just photos.

    To the main thing: you have a need in your from your earliest days on this earth, to be seen, to be valued, to be accepted, to be loved- by your parents. This need obviously was not satisfied then. You were needy adn clingy with your ex wife because of this unmet need perculating in your neurons until you address it adequately. Obviously, in your spiritual journey, you haven’t gotten to that place yet of listening to that need, seeing where it started, addressing the HURT of that little boy that you were, that little boy in you still.

    That “aching feeling” you refer to in your original post, I believ, is that unmet need, from your childhood.

    ““Named must your fear be before banish it you can.” said Yoda. Name your NEED, feel the pain of your hurt when it was not met, that need, when you were not loved. See WHO the person that didn’t love you was (unloving), then you will see you were not un-lovable.

    Loveable you are.

    anita

    #82044
    yoda428
    Participant

    Oh how delicate this mind of mine can be. It’s insanity. Depression doesn’t help any.

    So I’m reading bettywhite’s reply and feeling comfort there as though she’s representing a perspective that I can’t imagine but like the idea of it. Of course then I beat myself up because I like that my ex might be stewing too. I shouldn’t feel that way. But, by golly, I’m free for a little bit and it’s great. Then lo and behold I get an e-mail from the ex asking if I can take our son for a whole week…obviously she’s going away on a vacation. Where? Who with? I’m completely sunk again. My mood is at the whim of these thoughts and it’s frightening to think I won’t be free of them. (Again, depression doesn’t help, in fact it’s complete misery).

    So, Anita makes perfect sense but nothing I haven’t heard or thought about or worked on in therapy for the last 5 years. You’re probably right Anita. I’m so tired of trying to understand my need. I’ve looked at this from every angle a zillion times and the feelings are still here. My intellectualization of this has covered all the bases but yet I continue to flounder with the belief that only my ex holds the key. I can know that that is of course not true at all. I hold the key. I know. I know. I know. I just can’t turn the fricken lock, that’s the mystery.

    I so want to respond to her e-mail with something like, “I can’t deal with this, I’m way too depressed.” The weight of just the idea of that vacation week coming and not stopping my thoughts. It’s almost unbearable. I can only hope that my meds kick in by then or that’ll be the week from hell.

    #82063
    kalashari
    Participant

    Don’t let her know that you are having a hard time. Ex is an ex because there’s a good reason for that. It’s her loss, not yours!

    Also, screw Facebook! It gives you distorted vision of reality. I mean, would you expect people to post dirty laundry on their FB pages? No, they are all “smilling and having a great time”…. Oh, how wonderful life is….

    For all that we know, your ex might be suffering more than you do, it’s just that you don’t know it.

    So don’t let her know that you are in bad mood. Find a way to let her know that you are over her.

    Stop obsessing, go out and meet people. You will soon realize that there are plenty of fish in the sea.

    • This reply was modified 9 years, 4 months ago by kalashari.
    #82086
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear yoda428:

    You wrote: “My intellectualization of this has covered all the bases… I know. I know. I know.”

    In these matters there is only one kind of knowing and that is emotional knowing. When there is no emotion behind your intellectual knowing, your knowing is useless. Unless we are talking about mathematics and physics. But the nature of love- it is not for intellectual understanding- will never due. The knowing that counts is in your emotions. It is a shame your therapist or therapists did not try or did not succeed to make your emotions accessible to you so that you can really know.

    TIny Buddha’s article http://dev.tinybuddha.com/blog/your-feelings-have-messages-for-you-so-stop-ignoring-them/

    is pretty good indeed.
    anita

    #82092
    yoda428
    Participant

    I find this helpful actually:

    http://www.detoxifynow.com/et_pain_body.html

    #82100
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear yoda428:

    I disagree with Ekhart whose work I read before, even studied thoroughly, but did not SEE at the time its folly. Here is one sentence he wrote: “Once the pain body has taken you over, you want more pain. You become a victim or a perpetrator.”

    He talks about the pain that lingers (in our brain) as an Entity that has its own need and want- to continue to exist. This is a twisting of the truth. The pain is not an entity, it is an emotion that persists because it has a message that wasn’t heard. It lets us know we were hurt and need to attend to that hurt, do something about it. It is not an ENTITY to feed or to starve, it is to honor as an energy-in-motion that is stuck because we didn’t acknowledge and did not process it.

    Pain doesn’t take you over and you need to fight its conquering ambitions- it is in its very value a helpful thing, something invisible indeed that gives us INFORMATION. How we lost the way of accessing this information that is easily accessible to animals and to babies- that is a human tragedy.

    anita

    #82194
    Mike
    Participant

    Hi Yoda428, what you’re going through is almost identical to what I’m going through with my ex. We’ve been divorced 3 years and have a kid so I could not just cut her off and move on, I have to deal with her on visitation and child support and will until our son turns 18.

    Because of our kid, we have to stay in contact but she seemed to move on with no problem at all after we split but in her case, she moved right in with the guy she was cheating with and has lived with him ever since. She posts all kinds of pics on FB of her new life which is much better than what I could provide. I only make about $35k a year and her bf makes about 140k. Add to that the $550 per month she gets from me in child support and she has a pretty good life. I have not seen her wear the same clothes twice since we split. He’s taken her to Vegas, Hawaii, the Florida Gulf Coast…and who knows where else. I was never able to even take her out to dinner because money was so tight. She is going to school to get a second degree at the best University in our State and of course the jewelry…its unreal. She lost 40 lbs and now works out and has a model’s body, abs, super confidence etc. and before the final divorce date, I asked her to lunch so I could ask her one last time to reconsider but she just spent the next 15 minutes telling me how great her bf was as a way to show me that I was a total loser in her eyes.

    Anyway, it still hurts me to see her when we exchange our son and she always wears sexy clothes to show off her body and she treats me like crap, won’t even speak to me, text only because I’m below her too much to speak to. She is arrogant, greedy selfish and I can’t stand her personality and I am thankful every day that she left because she was such a bitch but she is soooo sexy and good looking, I have lust for her. But, she was unhappy while we were married and now I know its because I didn’t make enough money. She is a Sagittarius born in the Year of the Rooster, if that means anything to you..it explains a lot to me.

    After the divorce, I was determined to never marry again and besides, on my salary and paying so much in child support, no woman wants me anyway so when I found Buddhism, it showed my how things really are and I was able to let go of a lot of unimportant things that really made me much lighter and happier in my life.. …but not completely.

    I still struggled with feelings for my ex but through meditation and mindfulness, I was able to at least lessen if not eliminate hate, anger, resentment and jealousy to where I could function but what I could not let go of…and still struggle with today, is the way I was treated in court and the anti-men bias. They gave her everything even though it was her that cheated. I got so screwed by the Family court system that even divorced women I’ve told my story to are shocked by how much I have to pay and what they let her do and have.

    So, its been hard to get over that. And of course, having an entire State Justice system on her side only makes her even more arrogant and dictatorial. I really try hard to practice and I meditate and read and study and I’m more mindful than ever but there is still that little pull on my heart when I see her because she is gorgeous, a real head turner. But, you know, I got to thinking, and I realized there is a real good chance that she and her bf are not happy at all. Without going on in detail, I can see cracks in her perfect FB world and I would not be surprised if he is cheating on her or vice versa. Both of them are money hungry and greed never produces happy people. I have been alone for 3 years, never even talked to another woman, I was so happy being alone with my own home, my own life and really had the best peace and happiness ever. But I just missed having an intimate relationship. However, I now know its much better to be alone than with a greedy, arrogant bitch.

    But, a month ago at work, my office door opened and in walked the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She was much younger than I and looked like an angel, had a sweet voice and was the nicest and most courteous person ever. She was an employee at my job in another department and working overtime and she had locked herself out of her office and wanted to know if I could help her. I had keys to her office so I walked with her and opened the door and before we knew it, we had chatted for an hour and a half!

    We clicked on everything. She comes to my office every day we work together now and we talk way more than any supervisor would be happy about but we make it look like work LOL…I know, its stealing from the company. Whatever. We are now very close and we are texting everyday and all night. I told her my age and she was like, “Well, I’ve always preferred older men. My ex is 15 years older than me.” So, I was like, cool.

    We are not just friends. There is a strong emotional attachment and if she let’s me all the way in (to her heart) then I’m ready to commit to her fully. Last night, I took my son to his mom and when I saw her, I felt nothing. Could not care less about my ex other than she is the mother of my son. I don’t envy her bf at all. Even if this new friend of mine and I don’t form a lasting relationship, it is showing me that I still have a life to live without my ex. I’m moving on, its just taking a long time and its real gradual. Plus, I know my ex and her bf are suffering all the ups and downs of life too. All that money does not and will not make them happy, no matter how delusional they are.

    So, hang in there and don’t worry about your ex. Keep trying to remember that she is deluded into believing that all her clothes and going out etc is the Path to happiness when you know its not. One day, we will all die and when we look back on our lives, will we regret that we didn’t buy more clothes?

    #82236
    yoda428
    Participant

    @anita

    Thanks for your perspective Anita. I’ve been really down more and more each day. I got hooked on Tolle one night talking about this pain body and thought I’d stumbled on to a big epiphany….it does make sense and I cn see how my pain body cme out in the marriage. But I’m clinically depressed and felt like I’m going crazy trying to not resist the feelings. Either I’m not doing it right or it just doesn’t work. I’m checking with doctor tomorrow for new Mede as this is so awful. Trying so hard to not call ex. It’s intense.

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