Home→Forums→Relationships→Break up, Is it really all my fault? Am I crazu
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April 29, 2018 at 7:39 am #204681MikaParticipant
I went through a painful breakup lately. I know our relationship was toxic, and I take full responsibility of my part in it. Still, I feel so miserable and devastated.
I was the one who initiated the breakup because I just could not take it anymore. I really dont know what is what anymore. Maybe I am the crazy one. Maybe I was the toxic person in the relationship. I just dont know.At first everything was perfect. I saw some red flags, but I ignored them. This woman told me that she is spoiled, negative and complaining. I am not 100% sure of this, but I think she also said that she does not forgive to people who hurt her. When she was talking about her ex, she put all the blame for him. She told me that she has a problem with eating. She told me that she wants to be thin, and to me it looked like she was obsessed about that. I work in psychiatric hospital and I constantly people who have this same problem. She said to me that she has not many friends and she does not like to be around people. She also said the she does not feel any connection to animals. In general it looked like she hates herself, and that she carries a lot of resentment and anger. Of course she had good qualities. She was very “girly girl” as she put it, and I loved her sense of dark humour.
It was a long distance relationship, and the problems started to arise when I returned back to my home. I saw her becoming more distant (I did the distancing at first, maybe this is my projection?). I told her that I feel like she is not that crazy about me anymore, and that I feel lonely in this relationship. At first, she said she is sorry and she asked if we could talk about it in skype. Well, when we talked everything was completely different.
She told me she is annoyed. I was really confused. Did I do something wrong? I think I just wanted more intimacy…and now she was doing everything she could to make me feel guilty about it. She told me that I am drastic, negative and complaining. I did not know what to think. And I still dont. Did I do something wrong? Why was she so angry at me?We had planned that I would return to her country in last jan. I was thrilled to see her again. I was already asking if I could rent an apartment in her town. And out of sudden, she told me she has to work double shifts all that time. When I told her that this is not okay, and I am going to travel somewhere else, she of course got really pissed of. Later, I asked her if there is room for compromise and I could come little later. I asked her if she could talk her boss. In my own head I was hoping to find a solution that makes both of us happy. She got really angry again. She was asking if I only want to go somewhere warm (she knew I hate winter). She also said she was silly for thinking that I want to see her. This was so unfair. I did everything I could to save money for the trip, because I wanted to see her. And now she tried to manipulate me to make me feel guilty of not doing exactly what she wants. I told her that maybe the most loving thing for me is to walk away. And I did. I have to admit that at this point I said things I deeply regret now. I did not do any name calling or anything, but I put my words in a way that I could not care less. I take responsibility of my own mistakes.
I wrote her and email couple of days ago. I asked her if she wanted me to go all along. I also told her that I am now in counseling because I want to learn from my own mistakes. I said I am sorry about things I said. I said I am sorry that I hurt her. Actually, this is not the first time I was saying I am sorry. I also told that I am not the only one to blame in our failed relationship. She did not take any responsibility of anything that went wrong. It was all the same. She told me that I am a person who only cares about myself (What!?) and it is very selfish that I still write to her after I left her. She told me that I do that only to feel better of myself.I told her that its true. I want to feel better about myself. But I also want to make sure that she does not carry all the guilt. She also told me that I should think first before I speak sometimes so I wont end up saying things that will hurt other people. She said that it does not matter if I apologize thousand times when the harm is already done. She also asked me not to contact her again.I told her that there is always two persons in relationship and both parties make mistakes. I also told her that I do not know if she ever wants to take responsibility of her own wrong doings. She was very, very hurt about what I did. And I have to admit that I was doing some manipulation as well, and I was not always completely honest. Still, I can not believe that she tried to hit me under my belt by attacking my personality like this. She is well aware that I feel guilty, and by saying something like was extremely cruel. She is fully aware that I do care.
And now, when I write all of this, I can only think that I did not write things accurately enough. That I want to show myself in a good light. The thing is that I feel like nobody cares what I feel about this whole thing. Like nobody cares about my side of the story. And I completely understand that this just my point of view. She would probably tell things very differently. Well, it felt good to write all of this.
April 29, 2018 at 9:11 am #204741AnonymousGuestDear Mika:
I suppose you came into this (now past) relationship with your issues, your unresolved conflicts and she came into it with her issues, her unresolved conflicts. I don’t know if there are any two people who enter a relationship otherwise. Issues may be big or small at any one time, upon entry into a relationship, but issues exist, on both sides.
Question is: are the two people entering a relationship willing to work together for the benefit of each other and the relationship; are the two parties in a relationship willing and able to help each other?.
You wrote: “I was hoping to find a solution that makes both of us happy”- this is in line with helping each other, you wanting to help yourself and help her in the context of the relationship.
Were there any efforts on her part to help herself and to help you in the context of the relationship?
anita
April 29, 2018 at 10:04 am #204757MikaParticipantThank you Anita for your answer. I guess the answer is yes, but only after I gave in. She never agreed to go to therapy. She told me she was not ready. That she needs her pain. She never, ever gave me any credit when we disagreed about something. When she was sad, I was doing my best to understand what she was thinking and feeling. When I was feeling sad, it was just about me being demanding, complaining or negative. She never said she is sorry (like she ment it). Not a single time. It was always 100% my fault. And she really knew what to say to make me feel really bad about myself. And I think she chose her words to do exactly that. It was like I became her enemy or something, like a burden. And now she says that I am selfish and only care about myself. Seriously? Now, when I write this I can almost hear her voice in my head saying things like: “Now you are crying about your stuff in internet forum. PATHETIC!” “Stop lying!” “This is not what happened!” “I was acting like I was because you were so selfish!” “You were not good enough!”
- This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Mika.
April 29, 2018 at 10:16 am #204765MikaParticipantAll I wanted that we could help each other to be happy. That we would support each other. And now, I feel betrayed. Maybe she was seeking revenge. If that´s the case, she got what she wanted.
April 30, 2018 at 3:11 am #204829AnonymousGuestDear Mika:
You wrote about her: “This woman … she is spoiled, negative and complaining… she put al the blame for (her ex)… she has a problem with eating.. wants to be thin… obsessed about that… she has not many friends and does not like to be around people… she does not feel any connection to animals”
She told you that you are “drastic, negative and complaining.. a person who only cares about myself… very selfish… that I should think first before I speak sometimes so I won’t end up saying things that will hurt other people…that it does not matter if I apologize thousands times when the harm is already done.”
My input: I think that you attending counseling is a very good idea. I see a lot of hurt in you from a time before you met this woman, a hurt that is projected into this past relationship.
My first paragraph above includes quotes of your complaints about her, the second is what you mentioned to be her complaints about you. The fact that you complained about her eating and thinness concerns as well as her lack of connection with animals (topics that are not related to a relationship with you) leads me to think that you are trying to build a case against her, suggesting she is a sick and/ bad person.
Her complaints about you, on the other hand, do not include items that are not relevant to a relationship.
Seems to me that during the troubled part of the relationship, you projected into her pre-existing unresolved issues. According to your sharing, it is my understanding that she felt that you didn’t see her for who she was, that she felt invisible, unheard, unknown by you.
anita
April 30, 2018 at 4:10 am #204843MikaParticipantNo,Thank you again Anita. I think you are right, and I have to take responsibility of that. So do you think it is true that this is all my fault? Or do you think this was an encounter of two broken people? Im asking this because those feelings of being invisible, unheard and unknown apply to me as well. Maybe the old saying “water seeks its own level” is true.
April 30, 2018 at 4:28 am #204851MikaParticipantActually I agree with you 100%. She said to me once that she is not like the other women II have met. And now I understand what she ment. I think its me who was abusive, narsistic, selfish punk. How was I so blind? I feel so ashamed now that I could just crawl in the hole where nobody finds me…
April 30, 2018 at 4:35 am #204853AnonymousGuestDear Mika:
You are welcome. You asked if “this was an encounter of two broken people?”-
I don’t know personally of any person who is not injured, who was not injured in childhood, somewhat, somehow. And so, any two people coming together bring their past injuries into the relationship, I believe.
One very important element in a healthy relationship is that each person takes responsibilities for the consequences of the injuries suffered earlier in life. By responsibility I mean, really, not blaming the other for what they are not guilty of. For example, you feel lonely- it doesn’t mean she neglected you, might very well be nothing wrong that she has done. Let’s say she feels invisible, doesn’t mean you don’t see her.
The two people have to communicate effectively, to ask questions and listen to answer, so to check and find out what is from the past, the then-and-there, and what is from the present, the here-and-now.
When you inaccurately project your past into her, you don’t see her. If she does the same, she doesn’t see you.
* just saw your recent post- please don’t take all of the responsibility for what happened. It is hardly ever the case. Two people are responsible for a relationship.
anita
April 30, 2018 at 5:06 am #204863MikaParticipantWell, I guess there is nothing I can do to repair the damage I have caused. I know she will never, ever forgive me. All I can do is to hope that she will be very happy in her life and pray for her. So sad. We were so good to each other before things got messy.
April 30, 2018 at 5:36 am #204869AnonymousGuestDear Mika:
Reads to me that the relationship is indeed over. Best you can do is learn all you can from this past experience. Learn what you did that you can do better next time.
It takes two to make a relationship work. Figure out what about a potential girlfriend is okay for you to accept and what is not. Then do not proceed in the future with a woman who is not a good choice for you, where a healthy relationship is not possible.
If a heathy relationship with a particular woman is possible, see to it that you are attentive to your behavior, that the communication is effective, that is, that you are heard and she is heard, and take it from there.
anita
April 30, 2018 at 6:06 am #204875MikaParticipantYeah, I hope that too. I was hoping that she goes to therapy so she can heal her own pain, not because I thought there is something wrong with her. Her father left her and her family when she was baby. Now when I think it was not bad luck or anything that we met. We both have terrible fear of being abandoned (she told me she is afraid that I disappear). I think by acting how we act we make sure that this trauma keeps repeating itself. And this is the reason why I believe that in a perfect world we would share the responsibility of our failed relationship. It is unfortunate for her that she did not want to do that. I hope that in some day she understands her own part in our failed relationship and gets free from this own relationship patterns and find somebody who truly loves her in a way she deserve to be loved.
April 30, 2018 at 6:13 am #204881AnonymousGuestDear Mika:
Your thoughts read reasonable to me; you are making good sense.
It is a good thought: two people fearing abandonment getting together and providing that comfort for each other, neither abandoning the other. It is easy to think this, to put it in a sentence like I just did. But in real life, any one of the two people fearing abandonment, coming together are more likely to abandon the other because of this fear.
anita
April 30, 2018 at 9:59 am #204929MikaParticipantThank you Anita, especially for helping me to see my part on this. This is always the most difficult part. I also understand that it is very difficult to see your own flaws sometimes, and the big part of personal growth is to own your own shadows. Altough she did some hurtful things to me, I know she is not a bad person. She carries a lot of anger, lot of grief. The most difficult part of this is that I really wanted to help her to help herself, and instead of that I only caused more pain. And at the same time I know I have to forgive myself. I know I did not want to cause harm. I just did not know what I am doing. And I think this applies to almost everybody. People do not intentionally hurt each other. It makes me really sad that she thinks that my apologies had 100% selfish motive. What I tried to do was validating her hurt feelings and make sure that she does not take all the guilt. I have to admit that I needed that too, so thats why I went to counseling in the first place. With her I was never able to get that validation. But again, her reaction tells me that she really cared about me and I let her down. I have always felt so unlovable that it was impossible to believe that somebody really loves me and will be there for me. I hope that maybe one day she understands that I cared about her too. I know that right now she does not think that way.
April 30, 2018 at 10:21 am #204939AnonymousGuestDear Mika:
As I read your sentence: “I just did not know what I am doing”, before I read your next sentence, I thought to myself isn’t it true to so many, many people. It has been true to me too, for the greatest part of my life. Your next sentence is: “And I think this applies to almost everybody”.
You wrote: “I tried to… make sure that she does not take all the guilt”- but she may not have been inclined to take any guilt, from what you shared, no? It may be that you inaccurately projected that to her, that is, believed that she is inclined to feel guilty because this is your inclination. May not be at all hers.
anita
April 30, 2018 at 12:27 pm #204961MikaParticipantI talked with my counselor today. I told her everything I have told here, and some other things as well. We talked about my childhood and my mother as well. I am not going to details, but this breakup is MOST DEFINETLY not my fault only. All I am going to say is that I am really happy that she is not in my life anymore. It does not mean that I do not wish her well, I really do. Now I am safe again.
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