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anitaParticipantHey π Confused: not focused now but hope 2 b focused Tues am. Back 2 u then
anitaParticipantNo, no, no, Thomas- I scrolled down using my phone and accidently I clicked on the “report for inappropriate content” – I apologize. It happened a few times so far: I reported my own posts for inappropriate content. Something about using the π± vs the π₯
anitaParticipantHey Con-fused: I just read your most recent post and yes, you still make sense.
We talked about the anxious-avoidant (insecure) attachment style -i.e., “perceiving her as a great girl to be with to wanting to run away basically overnight”- at great length, well I did, in earlier pages.
And it makes sense to experience it in adult relationships after growing up in certain home dynamics.
This last relationship was long distance and you met her in-person once for 3 days (how many hours aprx did you spend with her in those 3 days?), and the other relationships, were they LD mostly..?
(I am asking, but as always, you don’t have to answer if you’re uncomfortable answering, or for whatever reason)
π Anita
anitaParticipantOh, it’s not even morning here but early afternoon ..
anitaParticipantWow, that was a double posting where you and I submitted our posts at the exact time, hour and minute. I’ll be away from the π± for a while
anitaParticipantGood π Confused (hopefully, but not necessarily less confused when you’re reading this):
Our recent exchange reminds me of The term Ematophobia, fear of emotions (or in your case perhaps), fear of no emotion.
There’s no objective reality to be afraid of. The fear is of a subjective reality, that is of feeling an emotion you don’t want to feel, or of not feeling an emotion you do want to feel.
At this time in my life, I am way less afraid of my emotions, or lack of.
That’s all I had in mind this π Plus, I appreciate your sense of humor: I don’t have it in front of me, but you referred to Nov as the birthplace of Confused π
Anita
anitaParticipantDear Tom:
I marked your birthday on my calendar so to send you a happy birthday message with lots of emojis tomorrow π. I hope you do enjoy a Euro trip with your partner as well as somehow celebrate this evening the closing of 3οΈβ£0οΈβ£ with a sense of optimism for 4οΈβ£0οΈβ£
π€π€π€Anita
anitaParticipantHey Dear Less-Confused:
Your previous version.. your current version. I think you are a loving and lovable man who is fine just the way you are. No versions required.
We’ve been talking daily, often multiple times a day, since Dec 19, I think it was. And I experienced you as a loving, caring person.
You don’t have to be “crazy in love with her”, no π€ͺ in-love required.
Just be you. Again, you don’t owe her or anyone to feel this or that. What you feel is your business.
You can love her while not being emotionally indebted
I hope I’m making g sense so close to my bedtime π π΄
π€ͺ β οΈ π π· π Anita
anitaParticipantHey Confused:
You made my Women’s Day Evening special when you wrote that what I said made you feel better (even if it’s for a short time only).
If you think of feelings like the weather, you had a long summer before Nov and then clouds gathered, β οΈ, sun hidden behind clouds, then π coming out from between the clouds (warm feelings), then sun disappear behind clouds, and repeat.
It’s just how the weather/ emotions happen. No eternal summer (that would lead to drought and death).
That she told you that she likes you just the way you are- that’s special. I like her for having said that.
Try to relax about how you feel at any one time, it’s just the dance of β οΈ (aversion) and π (warm feelings). No big deal unless you make it a big deal.
I know how highly you think of her, and I understand why. But regardless, you don’t owe her or anyone to feel this or that. What you feel is your business. It’s in your right to feel-or-not-to feel at any one time.
There’s freedom in acknowledging this right, this freedom. Is there, for you?
π β οΈ π€ Anita
anitaParticipantMollie,
Your post made my International Women’s Day very special π , the fact that you quoted my words- that made me feel special π
And thank you for saying I make the world a better place. If I make your world just a bit better today, that’s making the bigger world π a better place.
Happy IWD for you too. I am fortunate to have met you here.
π π€ β¨οΈ π Anita
anitaParticipantHey π Confused:
Thank you for wishing me a happy women’s day π
Yes, I do think it all makes sense. The “yeah, but” is part of what makes sense.
I am glad that you felt happy with her earlier today, and for having warm-loving feelings for an hour or so. And I am not surprised you “switched to distance” afterwards.
Seems to me, and I am not an expert, that it will be like this for some time, and if you expect it to be over for good (feeling nothing but love from here on), that expectation will get in your way.
What if you accept it to continue as it is for who knows how long, so you can relax and not get alarmed and re-alarmed every time you find yourself distant from her?
I am sure many loving couples experience this but accept it, no harm done. By no harm done, I mean, they keep being loving to each other (like sending flowers foe Women’s Day π ) regardless of what they feel or don’t feel at any particular time.
How you feel (warm feelings or distance)- that’s your business, really. You don’t OWE anyone to feel anything.
The love for her is not gone. I can tell by what you shared over time. No requirement that you feel it at any one time, or endlessly, as in “And they lived happily ever after”- that’s fairytale stuff.
β¨οΈπ€β¨οΈ Anita
anitaParticipantHello Mollie π
It’s truly a delight to read your message: so much self awareness and healing taking place for you.
You are making it happen π
I hope that your family’s new challenges resolve. Maybe it’s an opportunity for you to practice that balance between loving yourself and loving them during a real-life challenge.
You worded it all so well, I can’t improve on it. So, I’ll jump straight to the questions you asked me:
What does selfless (vs selfish) means to me: selfless needs to be temporary, while attending to someone in urgent or elevated need. Let’s say engaging with them in a supportive conversation, helping with housework, etc.
But then, within the same day or night, there needs to be a return to self, a grounding, an anchoring βοΈ within. The balance is in making the return to self a regular, routine practice.
Selfishness is repeatedly, or continuously (beyond an incident here, an incident there)- not considering how my words and actions are negatively affecting others, or worse, not even caring.
I just heard that it’s Women’s Day, happy π women’s day to you, Mollie!
βοΈ π π€ β¨οΈ`Anita
March 8, 2026 at 12:28 pm in reply to: growing up – becoming adul / procrastination – in connection to childhood trauma #455789
anitaParticipantDear Robi:
Thank you for the update, especially for typing it out while low on energy.
It feels like spring here too, although raining. The π is out right now and it feels nice!
Reading your update I feel way more positive about the future of your relationship than I felt before ( generally, I tend to be pessimistic, need to work on that).
Feels like it was an honest exchange. So, is she herself troubled in regard to her close/ too close relationship with her mother (beyond how it affects you)?
Interesting how your body reacts to emotional stress and how you feel trapped upon return to Romania- your parents and then.. adapt.
Had no idea it’s Women’s Day. Well, π women day to me and to all women in the world! (I’ll π· for it later).
π€ Anita
anitaParticipantDear πΊ Alessa:
I just typed my name backward and middle-outward, but no emoji showed up π
Thank you for the tech advice regarding using my π± but I am tech disabled (ADD, learning disabilities), so even the thought of trying to learn a new tech skill makes me feel uptight.
Thank you for your empathy π regarding growing up in a country hated by neighboring countries. In a circumstance like that people either grow up with compassion toward fellow citizens, or with aggression, taking advantage of the weak and defendeless.
My mother trained me to passively accept abuse, to not even detect it, or to doubt it was happening. That didn’t prepare me to avoid or defend myself from abuse by others, as an adult.
Thank you for saying it’s the little things that show that I care π€
Thank you for the Canine PTSD Therapy techniques! When I read those earlier this morning, Bogart was spread out on my lap as he often does. I was feeling his warm weight and indeed it feels good every time, it’s Calming.
Also, I already pet his fur mindfully. I’ll try to synchronize the breaths and invite him to sit/ lie down on top of me when I feel particularly anxious π
Yes, what you say makes sense: she wanted me to be a baby for, well, forever. I suppose I felt it and that’s why physically maturing was embarrassing for me. To this very day, I try to look as young as possible (the way I dress, keeping body weight as low as I can- hardly ever feels low enough), and I avoid the πͺ)
And thank you for saying some people like to be analyzed. Well, analysis has its place, but in moderation and only if a person asks for it or agrees to it (I should ask first before going analysis-π€ͺ)
Yes, I too like the conversationalist style π (don’t know why this emoji showed up). It sure is way, way better than my past (I’ll try to leave it in the past) academic, essay like, dry, analytical posts.
π π π€ͺ π€ πΊ π· Anita
anitaParticipantGood Sunday Morning, Confused:
Confused, thank you for explaining all of that so clearly last night. I think that I understand things better this morning π
What you described last night makes a lot of sense β not in a ‘something is wrong with you’ way, but in a very human, very understandable way.
It sounds like you were caught between two strong needs at the same time:
1. The need for closeness (to be together with her)
2. The need for safety and space (to be alone, away from the overwhelming intensity)
When someone has a strong fear of abandonment, closeness becomes a doubleβedged sword: they want it deeply, but they also fear losing it, and they fear messing it up. This creates internal pressure (not pressure from the partner). That pressure becomes overwhelming. And when overwhelm hits, the body says: ‘I need distance to feel safe.’ Not distance from her as a person. Distance from the emotional intensity.
And because you were afraid that expressing your needs might make her leave, you kept everything inside. That kind of internal pressure can absolutely lead to the βgut reaction,β the shutdown, the numbness, the loss of words β all of it. Itβs a protective response, not a conscious choice.
What youβre calling βconfusionβ is actually your system trying to protect you from both abandonment and overwhelm at the same time. Anyone with those fears would feel exactly what you felt.
And the way you describe it β the dreams, the emotional battery dropping, the feeling of wanting everyone far away but not wanting her to leave β thatβs not you being broken. Thatβs you being overwhelmed and scared of losing someone important.
Youβre making sense. Your reactions make sense. And the fact that you can reflect on it this clearly says a lot about your selfβawareness.
π€Anita
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