Home→Forums→Relationships→HELP Am I in a relationship but still in love with my ex? Cant figure it out!
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April 10, 2018 at 11:36 am #201671Jenny LynnParticipant
No problem. TTYS
April 11, 2018 at 3:47 am #201731AnonymousGuestDear Jenny Lynn:
A bit of a summary: you and Glenn started dating Nov 30 2016, made it a “committed relationship” Feb 2017, moved in together April 2017 and separated March 31 2018.
Nov 30 2016-March 31 2018. You calculated above, that you spent the past year and two months (Dec/early Jan 2017-March 3018) everyday with him, which makes a total of 3624 hours
If you learn nothing from this relationship then it is wasted time. (And wasted time, by the way, is the norm, not the exception. We people do waste a whole lot of our lives).
Something to learn about anger: Nov 2017, you wrote: “Me and Glen argue a lot… This is so abnormal to me and really bothers me because I DO NOT ARGUE with people… My birthday… he basically didn’t do anything for me. He remembered he just didn’t do anything for me… And then he found himself breaking up with me the next day guys in the middle of an argument… he didn’t budge… after that things were rocky for about 2 weeks and I just broke down and cried… I told him my problems with him. Which was basically his temper. He has a really bad temper… I can’t be my full self with him… He makes me feel bad… He has never even given me flower or honestly any romantic gesture ever. I questioned him about that once. He in so many words said I didn’t deserve things ‘like that’ he admitted the birthday things was to spite me for something I had done earlier that week… He hold a lot of stuff against me….H still acts like I’m a flake who holds guys on the side lines… I have given a year of my life to him…I don’t want to waste anymore time…it’s literally 50/50 half the time we are happy and the other half he’s mad. About &** anything honestly. But its so sporadic I forget almost… Like you were happy for 4 days then mad for 2 then happy for 3 and forget about how ridiculous the past 2 days were dealing with him and his bickering and mood swings… until it happens again…
He comes in with just a stank attitude. Doesn’t want to give me a hug. When he gets mad he won’t hug. Then yesterday just picking and poking at anything to go back and forth about…He does the silent treatment a lot… He gets mad when he doesn’t feel ‘special’. . Changes in plans REALLLLLY annoys him… He gets mad if I don’t text him back in a certain amount of time (unknown time because it literally depends on his mood) Things I literally have no control over… His feelings are facts in a nutshell… he is just really mean. Simple as that; as mean as someone can be without hitting me, calling me out my name, or yelling. He is more manipulative than anything. He does a lot of stuff just to get a reaction out of me or to make me sweat….for lack of a better word ‘punish’ me… I already do walk on egg shells honestly. Border lining pins and needles… something needs to change because I wouldn’t spend the next 30 years of my life the same way this one has went.”
Will you take it from here, Jenny Lynn: what is here to learn, about anger in a relationship, what is there to learn for a better future, for you?
anita
April 11, 2018 at 5:40 am #201747Jenny LynnParticipantWell shit.
I am literally about to print that out and everytime I think about him and get sad I am going to read that.
sadly…..Everything I said was true. And really you’re the only person who really knows 98% of what went on here.
Even since we spoke yesterday I am coming more to terms with the reality of what was happening.
His birthday is tomm..thats making me feel a little anxious. But I just have to be decisive in the decision I am making and keep it moving.
I know without doubt now…he is not the man for me. It just…idk the feeling that I feel as I say that; its kind of just his tug inside my body and simultaneously I picture him in my head for a split second. Then I just have to retell myself parts of what I already know.
I… me…Jenny Lynnn cannot function in a relationship lined in anger. Maybe someone else can…but I cannot.
I made this list of all the guys I dated and highlighted the guys I wouldnt date again and then just labled in one word the base reason why.
From people who were regular incompatible, people who lied, and people who were mean to me. I came to notice that out of the people; I hold the irreparable feelings of “I had enough” “I dont want you” towards the people who were mean to me. I may think about some of my ex’s more than others. They all pop into my head every once and a while but the ones that just never cross my radar more than for a glance and then it passes are correlated to only guys that were unkind to me. (not to say a lie isnt mean, but you know what I mean).
I feel like if I had not lived with him I would have gotten here wayyyy sooner. We both know that though.
Do you think a person who was at one point was not honest with you or maybe even more so just were in situations where that person was deceptive, can change that behavior?
Furthermore can the person who accepted the dishonesty and had to carry the weight of distrust…over time can that change? or be rebuilt in a healthier honest environment?
FYI this has nothing to do with Glen lol
April 11, 2018 at 5:51 am #201753Jenny LynnParticipantdouble post..
I thought I knew what I wanted. That how I got here.
I had convinced myself of what I needed and further more what I was okay with in regards to “A” relationship.
I thought I was down for whatever.
Everything was going to work out and if it didnt I would get over it.
All the preconceived notions I made about what I want like from my ex for example; are the baby versions of what Glen did to me except I was also in a home with him so it was 1000X different and more escalated. You know the , talk to me, pay more attention to me, text me back faster, text me when you wake up, tell me you love me more, your mood was weird today, doesnt seem like you want me around, I dont see any problems with cohabitation, Im not defensive, I’m not nagging, I’m not asking for too much….
I thought living together, personal space outside the relationship, communication and responses…i thought I had it all figured out…which is why my partners didnt fulfill me. Because they SHOULDNT I needed to fulfill me and then whatever they came with would be a addition I decide to accept or decline…It shouldnt have been like that
I thought I had it all figured out. almost as if I wanted someone obsessed with me….
But I now see that what I thought I wanted comes at a price sometimes depending on who you deal with.
I have learned a lot. I am definitely a better person for this…even though I am the worst version of myself to DATE!…However what I understand about myself now…what I know about myself and self worth now…I would probably not gotten here without this experience. I most likely would have continued to put pressures on my relationships after and who knows what mess I would have ended up in while realizing yearsss later that this actually isnt what I wanted.
At the end of the day I thought I wanted something that I completely was not ready for or stable enough for….
April 11, 2018 at 5:57 am #201757AnonymousGuestDear Jenny Lynn:
Yes, Glen was mean to you: not acknowledging your birthday, knowing how important it is to you, on purpose, so to punish you, that is mean. Giving you the silent treatments, not budging, on purpose, so “to make (you) sweat”, that is mean. His intention again and again was to cause you pain, to watch you sweat, to punish you. I don’t think anyone …thrives living with a mean person, being repeatedly punished, especially for … crimes you didn’t commit!
Regardless, being punished repeatedly is harmful for anyone’s mental health. If a man has a problem with you, he should bring it up for discussion and resolution.
Punishing should not be a part of a relationship!
And so, if you meet a punishing man again, one who gives silent treatments, one who wants you to suffer- run for the hills. (You have paid your dues to suffering, if such were required!)
As to your questions: I think that a previously deceptive person can be honest later and trust can be established in a relationship where previously there was no trust. The motivation in the previously habitually deceiving person has to be sincere, long lasting and he (or she) needs the skills to be able to persist in changing.
anita
April 11, 2018 at 7:29 am #201773Jenny LynnParticipantYeah this is true. He was a mean person who did nice things (sometimes).
I may make mistakes but I am a kind person. Kind as in VERB to be kind to be continuously and consistently kind to people and people in my life.
He was nice like a noun to bestow me with a gift of niceness and remove it whenever as well.
Kindness rarely waivers. That’s what supported this whole situation honestly.
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And to the deception question….lets change avenues because I am honestly so tired of talking about Glen ….we need to talk about John, Leo, and Hunt. They were the only ones that were left on my list.
Even though I have no plans on reaching out to any of them just yet…I find myself in thought to distract myself from Glen.
Its funny that as this is happening my friends tell me that they can see me with/ I should be with John..again…instead of giving Leo a chance. Even with what you know which you can scale up and down because some people know more and some know less about all the specific people involved..that is really shocking to me. As well nobody pays Hunt any mind…
So to humor me and to distract me; I will use this for my future reference…what are your points of view?
April 11, 2018 at 7:46 am #201777AnonymousGuestDear Jenny Lynn:
Last thing before I drop Glen (will return to him when you mention him again, wanting more of my input, if I have any more…), you wrote about him: “He was a mean person who did nice things (sometimes)”-
I can’t imagine there is a single mean person in the world (including the blood chilling mean people) who are not nice sometimes, who do not do nice things sometimes. It is only in cartoons and heavy duty fiction that a character is always mean, consistently so.
Glen was mean because he repeatedly punished you, repeatedly aimed at causing you discomfort and emotional pain and did not correct his ways.
Now to John: it crossed my mind today, wondering for a moment if there is a chance for you to be back with John, be back to a good relationship with him. After all, he is in the title of this very thread.
With what you learned, it may work, him or another man from your past. If you contact either one, having a conversation, checking where he is at and if the two of you have common goals and interests in a future relationship, such a conversation or a series of conversations cannot hurt, as far as I can see.
anita
April 11, 2018 at 8:48 am #201783Jenny LynnParticipantYeah that is true. I wanted it to be so black and white so that the decision would be easier.
But it was very grey to me which is why making the decision caused me so much distress.
——–And yes. John is the headliner on this post.
But sometimes I find myself feeling like I always choose the wrong person over Leo…even in this instance. I feel like we never had a real shot ya know.
Hunt, I hesitate because I think sometimes that he may know too much. He may not be able to look past what he knows I have been into the past 3-4 years. Its okay when we see each other every once in a while but I dont know if he would look past it. I have the least invested in him emotionally.
April 11, 2018 at 9:17 am #201791AnonymousGuestDear Jenny Lynn:
What is most important, I believe, is not to.. jump into another relationship any which way but to investigate, through conversations. No longer guess about things but find out information, factual information: what is the other person’s motivation, what is yours, is there a fit. What are the other person’s challenges, what are yours, can the two of you work it out together, etc.
No guessing, no assumptions, no make believe, real life honest conversations. And if an honest conversation doesn’t work out, if that cannot be achieved before a relationship- better not start (or re-start) a relationship.
About Leo- arrange to meet and talk, if you want.
It doesn’t matter how soon you do talk to Leo, or a man you didn’t yet meet, how soon after the ending of your last relationship, that is. What matters is that you don’t enter a relationship blindly or partially blindly, but with your eyes and ears open after a series of honest, straightforward conversations.
anita
April 11, 2018 at 10:17 am #201819Jenny LynnParticipantI agree. Thats a good point I was overly analyzing like there is some timeline in which I have to be on when it comes to living MYY life again.
I do understand what you are saying though about seeing things for what they are, the situations, the factors, and the people.
Believe what people show me and make a decision about if they deserve to be in MY life.
If not, let them go.
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Leo is probably pretty mad at me soooooo. Idk how that will go but I’d probably will have to slowly coax him out of how I probably made him feel due to what was already happening with me and Glen. I was already under his spell. Woops.
John…I dont know what his reaction would be. Hopefully he would miss me as much as I missed him.
Hunt may frustrate me sometimes but I know everything with him is always calm and casual. He doesn’t stress me.
April 12, 2018 at 2:44 am #201937AnonymousGuestDear Jenny Lynn:
There is no timeline. A person can wait five, ten years after a relationship, and yet in the next (ten years after) operate in the same dysfunctional ways as in the previous one, starting with choosing the wrong person. It is about taking your time getting to know a person that matters. You know some things about Leo, John and Hunt, but there is more to know, so you are not done getting to know them (once you resume communicating with any one of them).
It is about making a relationship more of a scientific matter, having goals, learning, evaluating and re-evaluating, through honest conversations and observations.
There are these three individuals, Leo, John, Hunt. And there are men out there you never met. There are advantages to the second category, starting from the beginning, not having to visit the past, like Leo being angry or John missing you or not.
What about Hunt frustrates you?
anita
April 12, 2018 at 10:55 am #202059Jenny LynnParticipantYeah that makes sense.
Hunt just operates on his own time. It’s not like he is necessarily late or not punctual. He just prioritizes himself and his convenience first. He does have a kinda busy life (I used to not understand that).
I respect it really. But it still annoys me.
April 12, 2018 at 11:07 am #202067AnonymousGuestDear Jenny Lynn:
With a person like Hunt then, like with anyone, it would be about making a relationship a Win-Win prospect: win for him and win for you. Basically, it would mean that if you are okay, he is okay, if you win- he wins, and the other way around. This is a functional partnership and the way to go.
anita
June 27, 2018 at 9:48 pm #214509Jenny LynnParticipantHey Anita. Long time no talk. 🙂
June 28, 2018 at 3:26 am #214515AnonymousGuestDear Jenny Lynn:
I thought about you recently, wondering how you are doing. So glad you posted. Please do tell: how are you???
anita
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