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Chau

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Viewing 15 posts - 76 through 90 (of 130 total)
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  • in reply to: Taking a break #434922
    Chau
    Participant

    Thanks Anita

    I re-read again. When I read you said the anger part took over and made me do stuff that I normally don’t(being empathetic etc), I do agree. My feelings were my head was exploding, and i was a bit out of control. The pattern you found was accurate, I started to blame my closed one. I don’t think I leashed it out without regulation at all, sometime I do leash out, sometime not. I do not think I threatened to leave etc, but the emotions and the pattern  is there indeed. The pattern was not resolved as well.

    in reply to: Taking a break #434919
    Chau
    Participant

    Hi Anita and Helcat,

    Thanks.

    I think you two and the community have been very supportive to me. Thank you Anita for being mindful when you tell me your thoughts. I don’t feel offended or take it negatively. I read it when i first woke up and i re-read it again when I was in transit. I think you have a point, that my emotions just go up and down or go in no directions WITHOUT any concrete/ specific outside of my mind’s trigger, that include anger, which also means I have some emotions inside of me which is triggered by this incidence, or may be throughout my relationship with her (and other people).

    I do feel this was a lot more severe when I first share in this forum. I do give credits to my current on a break partner, I think she did try to make me feel a lot more secure. Once I am secured, I don’t have the fear/ anger responds, other than at times I overreact when things go unexpected.

    I don’t think(just for my perspective) that the current relationship is abusive. My previous one might be indeed, the indicators were more obvious, i was more explosive like my dad. I don’t know how to evaluate the current relationship, I feel my judgement may be clouded by the fact that I am in it. There were argument or misunderstanding in between, but definitely no verbal abuse(bxtch etc), no physical abuse. Emotionally I also don’t think so, I don’t think I threaten her/ gaslight her in any sense, nor did she. But I know I have a very serious look when I get irritated or angry, she might be sensitive to other upset/ and this has stressed her out, even sometime I didn’t say a word. There were times when she didn’t know want to talk but I did want to talk about my emotions, and she felt stressed to listen or confront them. I think that’s the  most of it.

    These few weeks been challenging for me, and so a lot innermost, or even primitive coping strategies are out. These involve going from fear to anger, or go into the misery and sad place to mourn things. basically just jumping from one place to another.

    For the letter, I was deleting some old photos and I saw some of hers. I did miss her a lot when going through these and so it prompted me to write something to her. After I did I wanted to send to her, but I was thinking about the break that we have so I hesitated and didn’t do so.

    I shared the letter with one of my closest friends, I was afraid this was too much to her . So I found someone to help me evaluate it. My friend thought it was simply some insights that I had during the break that I would like her to know, with no invitation to reply, plus she agreed that I could reach out if i needed to. But I re-think and I am afraid this would inevitably create an expectation / stress for her to reply. Also she may not want to know this now. So I didn’t send

    i might just print it out for her to read on the day when we discuss about the relationship again, I feel this my message can be better conveyed if so.

     

     

     

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434896
    Chau
    Participant

    hi robert

    thanks.

    i didnt send. i guess i just wrote it down as i wanted to express myself.

    she said i could contact her if there is something on my side, and what i wrote are some insights that i think is important.

    I don’t necessarily need to send, or not now may be

    thanks for your inpur

    Chau

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434884
    Chau
    Participant

    Dear Anita and Helcat,

    Thanks. What do you suggest me to write in the journal?

    I have drafted an email  for her, I don’t know if i should send it out at all. My therapist did suggest me to write email/ letter to her and I did suddenly want to talk to her.

    But I am really unsure if I should send

     

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434856
    Chau
    Participant

    Thank you Anita

    yea it breaks my heart to think that she is breaking up with me.

    i will try to make sense of it and stay strong

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434854
    Chau
    Participant

    Dear all

    Last night I had a dream, I dreamed of her breaking up with me.

    I woke up in the middle of the night, and was very upset. I think probably related to me detached from the apps etc.
    I realized i clinging to my upset feelings this morning, was going down the spiral and I tried to distract myself. I also downloaded the ’15 things you can’t control from here as well. it did help.

    When I first agreed to this break i was thinking it does take a month to really figure out if you miss someone. No contact may be good since she knows how it is without me(given I have very clear ground rules, I was struggling so much the first week without those) But in practice, it is really difficult for me,  I probably wasn’t really ready for the possible bad outcome(whihch is break up for me) at that point, logically I think that my be a solution. And  also probably because I am the one who is more attached to the relationship. I realized now that I am very attached, sometime may be just to the idea of the relationship, sometime it is indeed her. This obsessive feelings have been here since childhood, probably from when I felt out of control when I was young.

    Then I realized I am very good at thinking, but not very good at practicing. I need to practice how to let go out things that can’t be controlled, knowing isn’t enough.

    I still feel the cloudy/ muddy feeling in the chest, will deep breath!

     

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434817
    Chau
    Participant

    Hi Anita

    It’s funny, your words reminded me of what I would say, but typically. If I encounter difficulties at work, I can be very logical and just stick with the plan, even if it’s hard or takes a lot of energy. this is what’s agreed on, then just do it(I typically sound very chill and relax when I say this to colleagues or myself). When it comes to personal things, my emotions overwhelms me at times, which cloud the other part of my brain(and heart)

     

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434815
    Chau
    Participant

    Hi Anita

    it is hard to find the balance: Her needs and my needs. How to deal with the emotions when I take care of her needs(such as now when she needs space which conflicts with what I want); and how to be mindful of her needs when she takes care of me.

    For now, i am very mindful of not giving up hope, and expect/ imagine that we will break up after these few weeks

    Balancing is hard indeed

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434813
    Chau
    Participant

    Hi both,

    No doubt I have grown a lot throughout the years. One thing I  need to remind myself: It matters what I do with the situation, not how the situation is. No doubt I have my resilience, been in even tougher situations.

    I am still sharing some accounts with her (deliveroo/ netflix), i often see traces of her in those apps. I got notification that she ordered for a group of people on a Monday lunch time to our place, which is a bit unusual. This can be neutral but I started to go into the loop: Why is she not working? who are those people who went to our place etc etc

    I catastrophized and thought : she must have forgotten about me and she is happy without me.

    Then I remember what Anita said: I needed to think in her shoes. Her operating system is different from me. I need alone time to deal with the pain; She may need to have other people around or even ‘not think about it’ to deal with the pain. She may have really forgotten about me, or,  she is just dealing the pain. I just don’t know.

    It took overnight for this to sink in. Last night, I decided to hide all her IG stories and also log out of the app, so that I won’t know what is happening to her. I was very upset as I felt the last connection(and hope may be) is lost, but I felt this is something that I needed to do.

    I cried a lot last night, but this morning I told myself it’s again another day, so it’s again closer to the date when we evaluate things

    thanks both

    in reply to: Taking a break #434778
    Chau
    Participant

    Hi all

    Thank you all.

    I think this has revealed a lot of my and her challenges. I agree with what you both have said. I do appreciate her effort throughout the years.

    I will try to breath and exercise, instead of thinking too much now

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434755
    Chau
    Participant

    Hello Anita

    Yes, the first one year was a a bit turbuelent for us. I think the main reason was because i was insecure with her then ex. Before we got together, they were on and off for many times, before they eventually broke up.

    They broke up after I reconnected with her, which was around a month after I said i needed to take a break back in 2018. I contacted her after I disconnected with her for a few weeks. Soon after we reconnected, she told me they broke up. We eventually got together in Jan 2019

    She still kept in touch with her ex after that. I was upset about that, but she said once it was over it was over. I was still insecure as she kept the stuff her ex gave her in the house(there was a guitar of her ex, some stuffed animals which were gifts from her ex etc), with her still in touch with the ex, I felt very insecure  at that time, 1) is the history of on-off rellationship she had with her ex; 2) Her ex’s stuff is still in the house and I think this made me feel uncomfortable.

    She eventually put them away/ returned the stuff of her stuff. I think they stopped contacting each other as well. But it made her feel I was a sensitive person and she didn’t understand why I would be insecure, while i think my feeling were valid and i didn’t understand why she didn’t understand instead.

    Now as I am thinking of the past, this feeling of not being undestood was here from the very beginning. I do not feel empthaized or understood well.  I think I need someone who is more sensitve, not necessarily over-sensitive, but sensitive to feelings/ emtions

    She said I brought her new perspective and I am someone whom she typically does not interact with

    She said it recently when we were reviewing our relationship. I asked her why did she like me in the beginning. She said I was  kind person and empathetic, she also said the above. So I asked if those things were gone, if i changed, or did you change. She said no(which made me puzzled also, coz you still like the characters that I have, and you say you don’t like me)

    I think she tends to interact with people who do not handle their feeling/ emotions. she hangs out with a bunch of people for drinks/ just get together for games etc. She does have some friends whom she talks about their problems, but I think they are talking like what typically men do(no offense, I just think most men think in a different way than women). They are all in the head, and everything is compartmentize and doesn’t go into the heart.

    I do think my image stays the same even I have changed. I also told her the same like what your mom did. I understand this is human nature to be more sensitive to danger.

    After last night I think I would continue to wait and see, i comforted myself that another day is gone, and I am closer to the day when we reconnected, I agree that I am swayed by my emotions, when emotion arise, like yesteryday , I wanted to end it and I kind of just want to do somethinig about it. Part of me know I really want to end this, part of me i really want to know what she would say at the end and honour the promise

    Yes, lack of control is distressing for me, throughout the years I have learned and a lot of the things(with the exception of relationship), I have learned to follow the flow

    Thanks for listening, it is indeed a tough time for me

     

    in reply to: Taking a break #434734
    Chau
    Participant

    Hello Helcat

    For now, if i can initiate a break up this is something i can control of. But if i keep waiting this is something i don’t have control of.  Honestly, I don’t know if this is just a fleeting anger or if this persists. But I think i always have an option to make it a stop if i really want to.

    Honestly, I am unsure what i want now, I am also starting to doubt if she is the person i should be with, doesn’t look like we are in sync on these

    Thanks

    in reply to: Taking a break #434732
    Chau
    Participant

    Hello Helcat,

    Thank you, I got confused of what is right what is wrong already. I am unsure if i am angry at myself instead. I just don’t want the situation to continue i guess. I wish it can end, even if it meant breaking up.

    Just now i took a deep breath and just distracted myself with other stuff.

    Thanks for your blessing always

    in reply to: Taking a break #434729
    Chau
    Participant

    Hi all

    Just now i had an angry feeling. Primiarily because after I told her about my mom, she didn’t reach out to check on me. I feel like any ordinary friend would check on me.

    I thought of breaking up with her just to end things. While she knows this is challenging for me,  she still insist on the break. When I think of that, I think she does not care too much about me.

    While on the otherhand, i do want to know what is in her mind, I don’t even know if the two weeks break is making any difference, and what is happening on her side? I have no idea of it and I don’t think this work

    I may be looping, talking to her would seem to make things worse(she would think i am clingy?I don’t honour the promise?) But not talking to her makes me feel insecure.

    While On the other, other hand, 3 weeks isn’t too long from now, I will have an answer by then.

    Any insight is helpful, you all may have a more objective perspecitve on this

    in reply to: Taking a break #434725
    Chau
    Participant

    <p class=”p1″>I do agree I took a bit of the personality of my father. He probably suppressed( ignored) his own emotions to a point where he could only explode or not feeling anything, nothing in between. I also think while others are being vulnerable, it made him very uncomfortable because he needed to be vulnerable( to an extend) to understand or communicate with that person, aka facing his own vulnerability. He only knew how to shut it down by rejecting it. I got his stubborness and jugdemental problem when i was younger, but i worked hard to change it once i realized where mine came from</p>
    <p class=”p1″>i do not think i overreact normally,initially yes, when things were unsure and turbulent. I feel she imprinted that image of me being over sensitive when we started dating . i have changed a great deal but her impression remains.</p>
    <p class=”p1″>in fact most of the time when i am at home with her, i am very silly and funny. i tried to let that part of me out, and that part i dont let it out too often.  but somehow, i can still sense she is very cautious of what i say and tip toe. it is as if she needs to “deal” with me, so she acts in a certain way or do certain things. </p>
    <p class=”p1″>she could go travel with fd for a week, and i didnt comment anything at all other than i miss her( but if someone is tired of you i guess that makes them uncomfortable still) . i guess i felt her uncomfortable, and that made me feel i overreacted and so i tried not to say much, i do ocassionally overreact as you said, when i didnt express myself enough. but in retrospect, It was not that serious honestly, at least until before she didnt respond to my question on whether she likes me or not.</p>
    <p class=”p1″>one thing that she mentioned she liked about me, was how kind i was. i am empathetic and try to understand. she said i brought her new perspective and i am someone whom she typically does not interact with, it is as if i gave her another world to be in. </p>
    <p class=”p1″>i get what anita says, with suppressed emotions, because they arent regulated well, it felt like a suddent pump of air to the chest, to a point i didnt know what how to deal. </p>
    <p class=”p1″>i do lack the habit of expressing. i think i disconnected myself for a while, due to various people around me( parents/ my on-a-break partner) . they all have expectation, i also have expectation on myself on how i should behave in front of them.</p>
    <p class=”p1″>one thing i wana share, i have picked up running again, and i did it 4 consecutuve days( i stayed in a hotel ocassionaly and they do have gym) I want to join gym again to maintain this habit, i think the endorphines help to lift me up and it helps me to regulate my emotions.</p>
    <p class=”p1″>will share again, thanks all</p>

Viewing 15 posts - 76 through 90 (of 130 total)