Hi Anita

I decided to come back and write about my experiences a few months after from when I left this post. I don’t journal (maybe I should) but wanted to sort of sort through some of my recent experiences. I hope you’re doing well. I recently read a reply that you wrote to someone regarding your top psychotherapy and factors which made it a good quality psychotherapy. I have since stopped seeing my therapist (unsure if I disclosed this) and can see now that it was a good decision to have made particularly as my therapist was mostly quiet and this lack of positive affirmation when talking about my past/trauma is not at all validating! And makes it even harder to expose my self. So thank you for providing that little nudge.

Regarding the man I lost my virginity to… its so funny and also not funny but the intensity of feelings I had for him and still somehow have for him (I dreamt about him last night) has left me even MORE confused. Anyone I date now cannot compare to him, I think I am still somewhat grieving what could have been. The man ended up being inconsistent in terms of what he said and his actions and because of that I got scared and pulled out with dating before he did. Though I kept coming back to him and he kept returning too. We are both emotional messes I think but I am quite sad because I was becoming infatuated with him and he also seemed to me a beautiful soul and from the get go one of the only men who I felt safe around. I remember the sheer excitement when meeting him and how he made me FEEL again. I remember thinking he was so handsome and just so happy to be in his company but also so at ease in a way I hadn’t experienced before when dating. However I could see he was not without his problems and at times he was slightly critical of me out of the blue, as well he would message me inconsistently. And yet I still long to be with him and get excited when he would text me after weeks of no contact. (Stupid I know). It is what is is, and eventually I asked that he doesn’t text me again because clearly we want different things. He insisted he wasn’t this way just because he just wants sex from me, and had other problems. The past me would have enquired about these other problems- made his problem mine, but I now know that despite any problem someone has, if they want to be with you, if they are excited about you, if they like you, they will find a way to communicate these issues and not pull them out of the box like a hattrick. Am I making sense? I felt as though he was trying to reel me in with this talk of ‘other problems’ so I would forget the ill treatment from him- which he did acknowledge towards the end. But still.

And yet, I cant help but still long for him. I have gone on to have some more sexual experiences, I enjoyed one very much and the other two not as much as they felt devoid of real passion. I wonder if I am someone that just requires an emotional connection to feel sexually aroused? Im unsure. I’ve decided to take a little bit of a break from dating until I get myself together again and where it can feel like fun again. At times my HOCD can be bad, but some day’s I wont have it at all! In addition I am able to notice when it gets worse, I am usually having a stressful time.

I have also just quit my job. I had two interviews for really big companies within 2.3 weeks of ending my job. These interviews were really exciting for me because they were really great roles for really great organisations and I somewhat couldn’t believe that I had the opportunity to interview with them. I didn’t get the jobs in the end and am still applying/ preparing for a new interview, but the knowledge that I do have the opportunity to work somewhere new, with a far better salary and that these companies were interested in my potential, made me feel validated in the fact I quit.

Regarding friendships. This one is my most trickiest dilemmas- I’m unsure if you remember my other post here, but since psychotherapy I have had huge issues with friendships. I have left 2 years of psychotherapy feeling misunderstood and disliked from everyone in my social circle. Prior to therapy I was very good at leaving my emotional issues out of my friendships- maybe to a fault in that I never felt I was able to open up about my problems to anyone and always hiding in a way. Now I have done a 180 and somewhat cant stop focussing on my problems, how self conscious I feel, insecure, basically negative. I admit that it must be draining on everyone around me. I am more teary and needy I admit BUT I also express more when boundaries have been crossed whereas before I was way more conflict avoidant.

So I am in this place whereby I do not know if the issue is me or my friends, Im unsure. Last weekend I visited some old friends from University- including one of my friends who I mentioned having previously felt feelings for. We had resolved our friendship and I thought that we were really good friends. However when I saw him last weekend with my other friends, he suddenly behaved very angrily towards me. He felt I guess uncomfortable because one of our mutual friends ‘Sally’ seemed to be angry at him and the group did seem to be divided somewhat in passive aggressive digs. I was getting a little sick of the dynamic, especially as one girl, Sally, seemed to be putting him down quite a bit and is also used to going unchallenged by the boys (they usually kind of worship her and it makes all of us girls annoyed). Out of all the girls I would say that I am the one who got on with her most, although I was the only girl there today other than Sally. I suggested we go for a walk and find ice cream and my friend Jay agreed. Eventually the whole group decided to come with us and as we were making our way towards a shop with ice cream me and him were joking around regarding his height (its a common joke we regularly make). Anyway I was just being my silly self and jesting saying that I cant believe he is the height he claims and that he gotta prove it- silly joke I know. However he suddenly took a step back, looked at me with disgust and asked if I was broken in an aggressive manner. I was so shocked that initially I just asked what he said, he said ‘nothing’ and insisted I carry on walking with him but I decided to not do so and walk and join everyone else. Just before this when he could sense that I was going to react to what he had told me, he said something along the lines of ‘oh no don’t be pissed off at me too and join them’. I then ended up crying when joining everyone so as the comment was so out of the blue, I admit I was feeling extremely hormonal and the whole day I felt a little on edge anyway due to the slight passive aggressiveness between the group that I was with, that I lost it.

Anyway Sally ended up comforting me, and eventually the group re-joined. When they did so I explained to another member (Ben) and especially Jay angrily and whilst still crying that I find their comments and jokes towards me hurtful and that with Jay especially I will never be able to forget those words and that he has the habit of being hurtful. Jay then also cried, he has just broken up with his girlfriend, and Sally went to comfort him. After this he ended up apologising to me and re-joining the group. It was just a terrible day, but for a few hours we seemed to get over it and seemed to enjoy a meal at the restaurant. However, when me and Jay were due to get a train together, with Ben but not Sally, it was clear that he was somewhat angry at me- and started condescendingly correcting me on what I said. In addition to this, he also made me feel uncomfortable on the train ride back and rather than argue with him I decided to literally ‘grin and bear it’ taking his put downs with humour and when he revealed to me he was annoyed that he cried in front of the group and has never done that before, as though it’s my fault that he couldn’t deal with his issues with Sally and decided to attack me!

Anyways all this to say Anita, I just don’t want part of the dynamic anymore. As well Jay’s behaviour has not only hurt me considerably, but it has me doubting the clarity for which I see things. I thought we got on well and that we were good friends, but the way Jay acted towards me on that day with such contempt just confused me. I did say I felt he was emotionally abusive as it seemed he was trying to make me feel on edge just because he felt anxious. However what has me feeling worse about the situation is that I was completely blind sighted by his anger towards me, I felt he later went on to again make me feel on edge/ uneasy and I had seen him the prior week and he hadn’t at all been that way, in fact we hung out for six hours together and got along just fine. That day he made me feel like a freak somewhat and I don’t understand. As well I am so angry that the origin of the issue seemed to be his inability for Sally and him to resolve their disputes. And I am annoyed at the power that Sally seems to have over the boys in that way. I tried to draw it to her attention that he lashed out on me because he was feeling on edge with her later over messages, but she feigns cluelessness, acting as though she has no idea why he believes her to be angry. HELLO YOURE ALWAYS PUTTING HIM DOWN AT EVERY TURN.  I am getting sick of her having this power over the group’s dynamic and its just annoying to be honest.  I just feel betrayed to be honest and don’t feel like talking much to any of the group anymore because I feel it has become toxic and that day I became Jay’s emotional punchbag.

In addition to all of this, Jay’s reaction to me, as well as recent issues with my dating life has shown to me the extent to which I seem to be drawn towards men who do not treat me well. My issues with my father make me sensitive to any sort of emotionally abusive treatment from men, and Jay’s behaviour for me crossed that line. When expressing this to Sally, she didn’t agree with this and I was annoyed but whatever, as a survivor of domestic violence I just have to accept that people won’t be able to see things that I can.  I just feel as though I cannot continue with Jay anymore as before and the group will probably see me as hypersensitive. As well as I approach my mid twenties my friendships are dwindling and I am aware that I cant keep cutting off friendships as am now feeling lonely. Its just hard to know when to draw the line but I just believe that the group has become quite toxic (so many other factors are also at play that I cant go into due to amount of time it’ll take)

Anyway I am not sure what I am expecting from writing to you, but I guess I would like to know from you, do you think I should continue my friendship with Jay and this circle or not?