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He has a gf but I am the Ex he still loves.

HomeForumsRelationshipsHe has a gf but I am the Ex he still loves.

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  • #175709
    Gigi
    Participant

    Of course. I didn’t feel loved because of the very reasons you mentioned. And I left because it had become too much to bear, and the emotjonal cheating seemed to worsen a month after we lost our child. It was really hard, and perhaps I listened to the wrong people in the end. What happened between us was a socio-economic difference. Despite both of us being middle class, he was raised by ivy league parents, in a political and policy centered area. His work is very high-profile and he’s surrounded by people like him. Hence, he would often make comments about how surprised he was to love me, I didn’t have that educational pedigree, and to have chosen me instead of the other women who had a similar educational or professional background as he did. He made sure to let me know of this flaw of mine for most of the relationship, and also post-breakup, when he would let me know the accolades of the women he was dating.

    This was hurtful, and I worked on my self-esteem, to a point in which today I see it as a dark and elitist side of him, not a fault on my part. However, his new girlfriend, has gone to three Ivy League schools, is professional and powerful in politics, and Academia(professor at a famous university).  They are becoming a power couple to their friends and associates. So, I know he chose what was best for him, which still leaves me puzzled of why he can’t move on without feeling guilty about me. In other words, perhaps that is all he truly feels, guilt.

    #175713
    Gigi
    Participant

    When it came to his style of loving, he was very giving. As in gifts, and creating this incredibly romantic moments. He would criticize things about me, and praise other qualities a lot. I often mentioned how I understand love, but I believe he thought that buying me a gift or bringing something beautiful for the house in writing beautiful letters or songs that he will later record in a studio what’s the best way to apologize apologize, that, and intimacy. He often requested me to be careful with my words and questioned why I didn’t compliment him enough. When I see him in therapy I wonder if I should compliment him to have a peaceful time, but he seems to not need it so much anymore, I attribute this to the fact that he is with someone more his equal now. And to the fact that I am not his partner anymore, so he doesn’t need it for me. Or simply because he has no interest in me.

    • This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by Gigi.
    #175719
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Gigi:

    He values prestige, and his current girlfriend has the prestige he values. What he doesn’t seem to value is loyalty, so he has not been loyal to you and is not loyal to her.

    People are motivated to seek what they value. It reads to me that he is like a little boy throwing tantrums, crying and wailing, saying something like this: I know I have the girlfriend with the prestige, but I want this girl too. I want them both. And then, I want this girl and that girl. Why can’t I have them all…

    Maybe I can…

    anita

    #175727
    Gigi
    Participant

    I agree. Completely… though I was hoping someone else would see it differently. He said his new girlfriend knows that we “catch up over drinks” after each session. This is something I said to him we should avoid, but he seemed very upset about it . I wonder if this is true, because there is no way she’s happy about it. He has talked to a best friend of ours and expressed how scared to new girlfriend is of my memory, and believe me, I am a ghost. I purposefully initiated not contact and I am doing this now but I know it will end soon.

    He is very jealous, not just romantically, but professionally, socially, and he values loyalty a lot. The way I remember him,  he was very jealous and I had to be careful about how I dressed,  where I was at all times,  setting up mutual schedules,  and I needed to explain why I was late by minutes.  Knowing other friends and women he had dated in the past,  I have come to the realization that he was not like that with any of them,  so I think this was something between us. In fact, me being loyal, has always been something he praised. I think he can be loyal. I don’t think he’s cheating on his girlfriend, though he seems to straddle his approach toward me every time he sees me. He is  touchy one moment, next he starts crying and pulling away saying that he has to be appropriate. I don’t touch him or get close to him, but somehow his actions make me feel as though I am the one to blame. I know I go to therapy because I want to make sure that I’m heard, that there is a witness to what happened to us, that our dreams mattered, that our child mattered. And this is the only opportunity I have for that. I believe he may end up marrying this new woman, and having a valuable family with her.

    #175729
    Inky
    Participant

    Gigi,

    I’m so sorry to hear how you lost your baby. That is much worse than what I went through.

    Listen: Your engagement mattered. Your child mattered.

    But get this: You matter.

    When you truly “ghost” ~ leave him alone, no contact, no response, nothing, nada ~ for a full year (and a day!!) HE will realize with gravity, that you DID matter.

    One does not treat people like this. I would never “neg” a BF, DH, ex, friend, whoever by openly admiring other people like that. Dear One, he wants you to get emotional over him, get jealous over him, not get over him.

    Be strong and truly Ghost.

    Good Luck,

    Inky

    #175731
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Gigi:

    From your last share, he values your loyalty, not his own.

    I think it is about what you value, after all, that matters in your life, in the choices that you make. Do you value prestige yourself as something that makes one person superior to another; do you value mutual loyalty in a relationship.

    What is it that you value about him, what makes him valuable, in your mind?

    And most important: does part of you believe that you deserve to be treated as less than another woman, as the un-chosen one?

    anita

    #175733
    Gigi
    Participant

    Anita, you’re right. He values my loyalty because of how it makes him feel. He values my artistic inclination, but that’s not something he can grow from. His value system is based on prestige, yes, something I do not have. When we were together, I felt like my job was to be a good-looking companion. In this new relationship, though I am sure he finds his new woman attractive but her stronghold is her accolades. So I wonder if what he misses is the Attraction part. Also, we were building a family together, and I hope feelings of those dreams were important.

    I value the good moments we shared. I have come to split this man into two. The man who loved me; with all incredible moments we shared. And, the man who hurt me; with all of the very hard times we lived. It was easy to miss him, and and yet near impossible to trust him. I value that he wanted to make a difference for the people around him, I value that  he could make me feel loved so deeply  at times, I value how artistic he was, how intelligent he was, how he would take care of me when I was down, even when he put me down. How we could play together ,  experience the smallest little things  as if we were children, and how we could dream together. To tell you the truth, his career or where he went to school or his apartment or anything that he has or the gifts that I left behind, none of it seems to be of value to me.

    #175735
    Gigi
    Participant

    Thank you. This is why I am going to this therapy, even though I am not sure it will make a difference at this point. It is not to separate him from his girlfriend, or to torture her. I try by all means possible to have healthy boundaries, even though he confuses me sometimes.

    I am sorry to hear about your loss, it is a difficult process, and I hope you’re feeling better today. For me, it has been so hard that I grieve every day.

    Thank you for your words on how my baby and I mattered.  How I matter today. I think this is why I go, because I want to find the voice to let him know this. For my own peace. And, I ghosted him for 7 months, until he approached me with the therapy offer. I imagine once the sessions are over, there will be no excuse to see each other again.

    #175751
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Gigi:

    You value some things about him, mostly you value how you felt with him, at times.

    All that you felt with him during the good moments is not all a factor of who he was, but who you made believe that he was. I think that you made believe he is trustworthy.

    You wrote: “how he would take care of me when I was down, even when he put me down”- you did indeed split him into two people: the one who took care of you when you were hurt and the one who hurt you. If you realized the two were one, you would get away from the person who hurt you.

    anita

     

    #175795
    Gigi
    Participant

    Dear Anita,

     

    That is possible. It has been so long, my memories of the relationship are moments. Some of which I remembered again during therapy.  I loved and admired many things about him, but they seem so far away, and knowing him today, I don’t know if they are real. I am sure these sessions will end soon. And hopefully they will serve as lesson.

    I have stayed away from the man who hurt me, and I hurt. I think this is an important oart of the whole “Ex-Girlfriend” misconception. We are exes for a reason. If we leave them, new gf should figure out why. And if they can’t let go, we are not always the ones to blame. And we don’t always want to jeopardize your new relationship. Maybe the man doesn’t want to be with us either.

    #175867
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Gigi:

    You wrote: “If they can’t let go, we (ex girlfriends) are not always the ones to blame”-

    when a man still longs for an ex girlfriend and has contact with the longed for ex girlfriend, and the new girlfriend is blaming the ex girlfriend, and not the boyfriend, for the mutual contact, then the new girlfriend needs to blame the ex so that she can continue her relationship with her boyfriend.

    Her blaming the ex is not based on an objective reality but on her emotional need to continue her relationship with an “innocent victim” of a blameworthy ex girlfriend.

    anita

    #175873
    Gigi
    Participant

    I totally agree. However, one thing I’ve learned is that we should place reality and blame where it matters. It is the boyfriend’s  responsibility to  respect and honor the new partner, not the ex’s. This is sad but true. Moreover, in the case of a man who won’t let go, why would the new partner want to have a portion of the affection? Sometimes the ex isn’t even in the picture. We all need to be honest and careful about that.

    #175891
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Gigi:

    It is the boyfriend’s responsibility to be loyal to his girlfriend and it is the ex girlfriend’s responsibility to not be the other woman, and it is the current girlfriend’s responsibility to not share her boyfriend with the other woman (whomever the other woman may be, an ex girlfriend or otherwise).

    anita

    #175893
    Gigi
    Participant

    Absolutely.  That is my point exactly.  Yet sometimes, the ex girlfriend is not a participant “other woman”.  And herein lies the issue.  We -all women really, should be able to gather ourselves and know we deserve more than half the love.  Especially if the one hanging on is the man, not the ex.  Reality is hard, but necessary.

    #175897
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Dear Gigi:

    You wrote:  “all women really… deserve more than half the love”-

    The man you described, seems to me, most of his love was not available to you and is not available to his current girlfriend. And so, if a woman wants to be loved, he is not a good choice regardless of whether he is occupied with another woman or not. In other words, there is not much to share. 50% is not good enough, but neither is 100%.

    anita

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