Home→Forums→Relationships→I just rejected someone today, please help?
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September 4, 2017 at 5:45 am #166834AnonymousGuest
Dear Mina:
I wasn’t well aware of what you meant by sacrificing until the last couple of days: your sacrifice included not telling your ex boyfriend how you feel. Sacrificing meant pretending to him that you are okay with the breakup, while the breakup was discussed. Your sacrifice was about pretending you are okay so to prevent him from feeling any concern about you. Am I correct so far?
If so, your sacrifice was not a good idea. Honest sharing of your feelings is a good idea for you and for him. It is for your benefit and for his benefit to face reality as it is. Reality as-is included your feelings!
You mentioned before thanking him for having been your boyfriend, and you mentioned it again. I don’t understand: do you believe he did you a favor being your boyfriend? That he did not benefit from it himself? What is behind your desire to thank him?
anita
September 4, 2017 at 6:49 am #166844MinaParticipantAnita,
You wrote : “Your sacrifice was about pretending you are okay so to prevent him from feeling any concern about you. Am I correct so far?”
100 percent correct. This what what I truly meant as a sacrifice.
You asked : “You mentioned before thanking him for having been your boyfriend, and you mentioned it again. I don’t understand: do you believe he did you a favor being your boyfriend? That he did not benefit from it himself? What is behind your desire to thank him?”
Reading this from you made me realise how similar you and my ex is. Might sounds weird but I can feel that he would say the same thing as you did about my whole thank you speech.
You asked : “do you believe he did you a favor being your boyfriend? That he did not benefit from it himself?”
Not exactly that. I mentioned before how he thanked me for supporting me through his whims, do you still remember? I did not reply to that text message.
I have a lot of things that I did not get to say during the break up. I remember writing to you that I did not say anything to him except for the fact that I was very much disappointed in him because in a sense he did not “fight” for the relationship. That was the only word I said. I wished him luck and after that I did not say anything regarding the break up, ever to him.
I am regretting for not saying what I truly feels. More than that, I am very tired of pretending that I am fine. It was hard processing the break up but lately I know what I want to say to him now. Even though I might be very late.
You asked : “What is behind your desire to thank him?”
The desire to be understood by the most important person in my life. To be heard by him. I have a few questions that I really want to ask my ex boyfriend. I know that we have no chance of getting back together, it is never my intention to reach out to him to get back together again. I just want to be honest … with a hope that he would also be honest. I need him to CONFIRM what I am holding on to right now is true.
What I am holding on right now is : the idea of why we broke up and the way we feel about each other right now. we broke up because we love each other so much and it was just getting too hard for him to continue our relationship not because he does not love me anymore. the way that we feel for each other is still love, even though it might be a different kind of love, we will always care for each other as friends or past lovers or whatever …. he was someone that matter in my life and I was the same to him. That the relationship was something very important to both of us.
I needed to confirm that from him. I sound really desperate and crazy, I am aware. It is killing me.
-Mina
September 4, 2017 at 7:02 am #166848MinaParticipantIf there is any moment that I truly regret is when he told me that he wanted to break up with me, I accepted it without any fight or fuss. All I can say is that weak “I am very disappointed” line that I regret very much.
I wish that I had told him that I want him to stay and fight for me and that we will work this out together somehow or maybe we should take a bit of a break and space to think things through instead of agreeing with a impulse break up that he only thought about for 3-4 days.
Maybe things would be different, who knows.
Instead of saying all those things or beg for him, I let go of him while thinking that letting him go is the biggest present and the biggest kind of sacrifice that I can give to someone that I love very much. I am in a constant struggle between Mina that wants to tell her ex about how she feels honestly or Mina that wants to be the un-selfish ex girlfriend that let go of her ex boyfriend once he wanted out.
I do not want my ex boyfriend to remembered me in a bad way – I want him to remember me as Mina, the person that he loved very much and that ex girlfriend of mine that was so nice that even after I broke up with her, she sent me a warm happy birthday message.
I want him to continue to remember me that way. I do not want to show him or anyone my “depression” state for that reason. I want to remain as a good and lovely memory for him. I do not want to turn into those crazy ex girlfriend that will embarrass their ex boyfriend, my ex boyfriend was respected by a lot of people – I cannot turn my boyfriend`s legacy and reputation in this college into nothing.
I still dress up, put on my make up, put on a fake smile everyday in order for everyone to believe that I am fine so they won’t send my boyfriend weird message like how Mina is going crazy etc, I have to put on a mask in a sense. He is the last person on earth that I want to tell about my current condition.
But lately – it gets unbearable for me like I have mentioned.
-Mina
September 4, 2017 at 7:06 am #166850AnonymousGuestDear Mina:
Your sacrifice is not a good thing for you or for him because you sacrifice your honesty, the most noble value of all, honest sharing of feelings.
You wrote that behind your desire to thank him is “The desire to be understood by the most important person in my life. To be heard by him”- how can you possibly be understood by him, be heard by him if you are not honest with him, if you don’t share your feelings with him?
You wrote that it is 100% true, that “Your sacrifice was about pretending you are okay so to prevent him from feeling any concern about you”- my goodness, Mina: you were so worried that he will be okay as he proceeds with his university and military service, so eager to protect him from emotional distress, that you were blind to who really needs help- you! It is you who is not okay with your life.
Go be honest with him, tell him how you feel. He is probably stronger than you are, he can handle it. You need to be heard and understood- then voice what it is that you want him to hear. Don’t complicate things unnecessarily, trying to protect him from the truth. The truth will set you free and it will benefit him as well. Just say it to him as-it-is.
anita
September 4, 2017 at 7:15 am #166852MinaParticipantAnita,
Do you genuinely think that it will be a good idea to express how I feel out of the blue, even though it has been 2 months ever since the break up?
Do you genuinely think that my ex boyfriend wouldn’t be burdened by hearing all those things that I wanted to say and express to him?
Do you think it is possible that maybe …. he will get mad or think I am weird?
I overthink just like him, what if he overthinks this?
Sorry – I sound really annoying right now, probably.
-Mina
September 4, 2017 at 8:11 am #166860AnonymousGuestDear Mina:
Yes, I genuinely think that “it will be a good idea to express how I feel out of the blue, even though it has been 2 months ever since the break up”- because you are currently, after two months, feeling as strong as you are feeling about him and about the breakup. Your feelings are relevant in the present.
Regarding whether your “ex boyfriend wouldn’t be burdened by hearing all those things that I wanted to say and express to him”- maybe he will be burdened. But pay attention to my following point:
If you expressed to him your thoughts about you not wanting to live, basically, wanting to give your life to another and be rid of your pain, that may burden him and understandably so. It would be unfair to him to be given the responsibility for your very life, for you having no desire to live.
But if you share with him your feelings responsibly, telling him how much you miss him, and in response, “he will get mad or think I am weird”- then he will be rejecting who you are, your very person, your heart. And if so, if he thinks who you really are is weird and offensive (causing him to get mad, angry), then …. what was this relationship all about? What have you been thanking him for?
Thing is, it is you who is thinking that you are offensive and weird for feeling the way you do, so you hide it, think it is wrong and hide it. You learned it at home, this is what I referred to in your other thread as your “family dynamics” (started prior to your ex boyfriend being in your life): your feelings were rejected, treated as if they were offensive.
anita
September 7, 2017 at 3:05 am #167630MinaParticipantHello Anita,
I am here with a new update and new way of thinking.
Do you remember my very first thread here? I told you that I wasn’t sure to continue my study here or not. I was at lowest point in my life regarding my love relationship and my whole future. I felt like I did not have any purpose to live at all.
I realise that it was all because my ex boyfriend`s thinking had influenced me. When he talked about his hard times, I relate to him … and in a sense he showed me a way out of it by moving college. I loved and trusted him so I naturally think that in order to be safe again… I have to follow my ex boyfriend steps. He moved college because he was having a really hard time, I am also having a hard time right now so I keep thinking about doing the same thing.
I thought my ex boyfriend was the most perfect person in this planet. He is very nice, gracious, respectful and smart. He is also funny and very thoughtful to others. He is a leader that everyone loves and respect. He does not like conflict, and is always trying to meet halfway with everyone. He was a good person and he still is, even now. But I also understand now that he is also human. He is not perfect, and I shouldn’t be making life changing decision based on him.
I would tell you the amazing story on how my ex suddenly decided to move college : it was because he had lost a precious gift from his parents (a watch), the gift that was a congratulations gift for getting into our prestige university. That one watch that changed his entire life and future.
He mentioned on how he felt like he cannot be himself in student council, but it is not like he’s going to be the president forever. He just needs to hold it in for one more semester and he can live his life without student council. He mentioned how he does not like the exclusivity attitude in his major and class, but that is life. You cannot expect everyone to be nice. My ex boyfriend came from a small exclusive international school, with only less than 2o people per year – it was natural for him to be surprised that there are a lot of people in this world that are different and might be difficult to deal with.
But instead of dealing with it … he ran away from his responsibilities. He admitted this to me during our relationship. I was the one that did not want to admit it. I keep wanting to contact him after the break up in order to get his support and acknowledgement to move college. I was a coward for hiding behind his decision. I made a lot of reckless statements and decision based on that influence. I am not saying that the influence was a bad thing .., maybe for my ex it was the right thing FOR HIM to move, but for me – it is not. He made questions my dreams and plans, and because of that I am thankful because he re-assured me that I am currently doing the right thing instead.
I am not him. I am different from him. I will not run away and I will no longer hide. And for the first time ever since the break up, I can see why he is NOT the one for me. Instead of living a fantasy world that only I live in, I am starting to look at the reality and living it in.
I am sorry that it sounds so random and sudden but I realise how much power my ex boyfriend still had over me. He was so perfect … until today. I have no desire to be understand or to be heard by him anymore because I realise that his opinion over me does NOT matter. It is my life not his. I should be the one making every decision not him.
He shook me up and turned my life upside down for a reason, it was because I needed to find myself and my passion. For someone who did not even have any short term goal before I met him, he became a reminder that I need to find it. I need to be sure of what my goal is so I shouldn’t be so easily moved by a simple break up.
-Mina
September 7, 2017 at 5:03 am #167664AnonymousGuestDear Mina:
Your writing is amazingly skillful, polished, neat, intelligent, very impressive. That was my first impression this morning reading your latest post. I am… genuinely impressed by your writing, and you being nineteen capable of such writing.
As to the content of your post:
“I am here with a new update and new way of thinking“- in my last post to you I wrote about your feeling. I want to rephrase my message there: what you feel is very important. Your feelings matter and need to be attended to, primarily, by you. I would like you to have a … better relationship with your own feelings, to listen to the message behind them, to not reject your own feelings, to not be afraid of your feelings. I would like you, over time, to make friends with your feelings.
Your rational intelligence is strong, your thinking is excellent. To have a good life, this is not enough. “Emotional Intelligence”, or being friends with your feelings, is necessary.
“Do you remember my very first thread here? I told you that I wasn’t sure to continue my study here or not. I was at lowest point in my life…”- yes, I remember.
“I thought my ex boyfriend was the most perfect person in this planet. He is very nice, gracious, respectful and smart…He is not perfect, and I shouldn’t be making life changing decision based on him.”-
I agree. There is enough quality in you and you should make your life changing decisions not based on him, but on you.
You wrote: “I am not him. I am different from him. I will not run away and I will no longer hide. And for the first time ever since the break up, I can see why he is NOT the one for me. Instead of living a fantasy world that only I live in, I am starting to look at the reality and living it in.”
Back to my feeling-message: the first thing for you to not run away from is your feelings. Pay attention next time you feel distress (and it will happen, as it will happen to me this very day), pay attention: are you holding your breath, are you tense? Take a deep breath and notice, form the intent to relax into what you feel. This way there will be less distress, over time, more peace of mind.
I am all for you not living in a fantasy world and looking at reality, living in it. And indeed your focus on your ex boyfriend (of only four months, for crying out loud!) has been excessive. He is not perfect and he is not a god of any type. As wonderful as he was or is, you are wonderful too, no less.
You wrote: “I realise how much power my ex boyfriend still had over me. He was so perfect … until today. I have no desire to be understand or to be heard by him anymore because I realise that his opinion over me does NOT matter. It is my life not his. I should be the one making every decision not him.”-I agree, I concur, absolutely. Your focus on him all this time was indeed excessive, unreasonable, unhealthy for you.
“I shouldn’t be so easily moved by a simple break up”- I again agree. And again, your thinking in your last post is quality thinking. It is making friends with your feelings, with your emotional experience, that is necessary for your calm, peace of mind over time.
anita
September 7, 2017 at 9:54 am #167704MinaParticipantAnita,
I am so delighted to read your compliments towards me. Thank you very much, that means a lot to me. I genuinely think that you are probably one of the only person in the world that truly understands the way that I think, you never once minimised my pain or my feelings for my ex boyfriend during the break up recovery period. I needed to be heard and to be understood during that time, and you heard and understood me … just like how my ex boyfriend did back then on his birthday – thank you, once again. People sometimes forgot that, I do not really need their advices or support, sometimes I just need them to listen and understand.
It felt good to really saw my ex boyfriend as he is. That was the main of it all. I was able to finally saw my ex boyfriend as a person again. There were a lot of times during and after the relationship where I had defended and tried to understand the motive of his actions. His actions were very unpredictable and for a 19 year old – I sympathise with his confusion and the fact that he was having a hard time. My deep love confused me and blinded me for a while, but now I can see things more clearly
The reason why I felt like I was a stranger to myself was because I trusted him more than I trusted myself. Every single thing that I had done (from making friends, to the way I treat or think about people, or see people) I was actually seeing things from his perspectives. My ex told me to be happy, and I was going to be happy only because he told me. If he had told to me to go die and be miserable, maybe I would have done it too. Everything that he says, he does or thinks – it became me. He became my guide book and my reason to live. I became him in a sense after the break up.
I realised that I failed to notice something important in my boyfriends decision. His decision to move college was a decision he made by himself for his own life. He left the person that he loved and friends in this college to go get his dreams. He trusted himself the most to made the decision, he did not made it based on his parents or his girlfriend. That is what I should have learnt from him. To trust myself, that I am doing well even without him or without anyone really. I am alive and I am well and I will be alive and well in the future as well.
These days, I remember my high school days like it was yesterday – I was probably 1 out of 20 person that came into the school when there was a flooding in my city. I was 3 hours late and still came in to the class all wet. I used to be the model student that would came during extra lesson even though I got the highest grade in my school. I do not know the meaning of “giving up” or “running away” – I have always faced my problems and deal with it, no matter how hard. During the break up, this Mina wasn’t here. I ran away and I was going to give it all up for the wrong reasons.
Regarding my best guy friend – I was wrong. I feel like I have to apologise to him, somehow. I am not feeling sorry for not feeling the same as him but I am feeling sorry for leading him on a lot of times. I was definitely not in a good mental position, I had hurted and toyed with a lot of people`s feelings. I was very selfish. All I can think about was my problem. My break up. My ex boyfriend. It was all about me.
I do not feel like I am particularly sad about my ex anymore. He was and will always be a precious memory for me, and more importantly he taught me an important lesson that I have to always trust myself and trust my own dreams instead of trusting someone else`s dreams.
-Mina
September 7, 2017 at 10:36 am #167708AnonymousGuestDear Mina:
You are very welcome and thank you for your words of appreciation: they mean a lot to me.
I like your thinking, your strong analytical capability. You understand why you felt a stranger to yourself as a result of this relationship and breakup- you looked at yourself and at life through his eyes. You abandoned yourself and almost became him. What a shame it would have been if that was to continue- your thinking, your capabilities are too valuable and too uncommon to abandon. What a shame that would have been, indeed.
What you learned, I don’t think it is your ex boyfriend that taught you those things. You learned all by yourself using your experience, trusting your eyes, your ability to analyze and understand.
Whenever you find yourself, if you will, focusing on him again, or on anyone else, keep returning to yourself, switch your focus back to yourself. You are your best chance for a good understanding of people and of life. You are your best chance for better and better functioning in life.
Regarding your friend, apologize to him if you led him on, and then forgive yourself. Please do not wallow in guilt. Once you sincerely apologize and then, in the future, correct your behavior, then guilt has served its purpose.
anita
September 7, 2017 at 7:29 pm #167788Lisa24ParticipantWhy did you break up with your boy-friend? As the pastor said, keep faith. I once had a break up of my own, and I can feel what you are saying, there were endless cries.. and I could understand what they meant when they said that you “break your heart”. However, I was not in a healthy relationship, he was not the worst, but I was not in a healthy relationship. It took me time to actually leave, but when I did, it took lots of time to move on as well. I ended up doing some other mistakes from which I learned a lot. I cannot say that I have found my purpose in life, but neither can we say that having a boy-friend/man will help us find our purpose in life. Only we can do that for ourselves, and I think that it is a long journey with all of its ups and downs. All I can say though, is that time has passed, I am super happy that I am not in the same relationship, and am very happy to have grown more. I do not want him or anything that has to do with him, although I would not wish him harm. Having said this, I am not connected anymore, not in a good way and neither in a bad way. It’s just that the ties has been cut free. So, to cut a long story short, life WILL GET BETTER, you will turn back and see that things were not as difficult or important as you thought they were. I am in another relationship, I do not think that I am where I am supposed to be neither, and I am confused myself about it. However, I know one thing for sure, he is 100% better than my previous one, and although I am not where I think I should be, I do feel that lots of improvements have been done. And this relationship has helped in other ways. If nothing, I now at least know what it means to have a guy who treats you with respect. Again, I don’t think that perhaps it is my place, because there are some problems regarding mental and emotional connection, which is always making me very confused. However, I can say one thing for sure, that life did move on, that I am in a better state, and that there is a beautiful reason to live for. xxx
September 8, 2017 at 6:06 am #167834MinaParticipantAnita,
You are always welcome, you deserve to hear those things 🙂
You wrote : “Your feelings matter and need to be attended to, primarily, by you. I would like you to have a … better relationship with your own feelings, to listen to the message behind them, to not reject your own feelings, to not be afraid of your feelings. I would like you, over time, to make friends with your feelings.”
I understand what you mean by this. All these time, I have been trying to make a sense out of him and the break up in a very logical way (which is by thinking) so I ended up neglecting my true feelings. My last post to you was very important to me. I finally understand why it was so hard for me to let go of my attachment to this person. These days, I am very comfortable spending alone time with myself …. and I actually feel like I am myself again after the break up. I am not desperate to feel like I am loved or cared for, I am able to see couples on the streets and smile. Because I used to be them, and I understand how it feels to be in love. To have that someone special. Instead of feeling bitter and jealous, I forgive myself and him for failing. Life is full of trials and failures and that break up was one of them.
You wrote : “What you learned, I don’t think it is your ex boyfriend that taught you those things. You learned all by yourself using your experience, trusting your eyes, your ability to analyze and understand.”
I agree with you on this one. What I meant by my last post was that I met my ex for a reason. If I hadn’t met and dated him, maybe I wouldn’t be able to experience and learn from such experiences. I feel like regardless of how painful it was, it was a very valuable lesson for me to learn. I cannot imagine how my life is gonna be without this experience, it changed me and it re assured me of who I am. What my values are and what values that I am looking in a friend or partners or society in general.
You wrote : “Regarding your friend, apologize to him if you led him on, and then forgive yourself. Please do not wallow in guilt. Once you sincerely apologize and then, in the future, correct your behavior, then guilt has served its purpose.”
I am not sure If I am guilty or not. Am I guilty for enjoying his support during the break up? For sharing my deepest darkest feelings to him? Am I selfish for that?
I rejected his feelings twice, the last rejection was very cold and embarrassing for him, probably. I told him this indirectly :
“I do not love you. That is all … that is my true feelings. There isn’t any other reason, I just dont love you. Even seeing you shedding tears, it did not hurt my heart.” (it is a song lyrics)
He posted my favourite song on Instagram and I felt kind of violated … I know that it was his “code” that he is thinking of me and missing me. I, decided then to post those lyrics as a reply into my Instagram. He immediately deleted his Instagram post about my favourite song, but …. again I do not feel anything when he deleted it.
My ex boyfriend told me once to try to be nice to guys. Especially guys that has feelings for me, to let them down politely and gracefully because he told me that guys are same as girls. They have feelings and they get hurt deeply too. That was the main reason why I was being so nice to guys that like me including my best guy friend, I was trying to slowly reject them to not let their feelings get hurts. Because I know, that was what my ex boyfriend had wanted me to do.
Things are different now – I do not see things the way that my boyfriend sees things, and I will not treat anyone the way my ex boyfriend treats people or how he taught me to treat people, unless what he had taught was indeed the right thing to do and I felt comfortable doing it. I personally, was having a hard time keeping up with the whole fake nice thing that my ex taught me. I wish we can sincerely and purely be good friends and support each other but nothing more. I wanted to be more clear on that.
I am not sure what I should be apologising for to tell you quite honestly
-Mina
September 8, 2017 at 6:19 am #167842MinaParticipantLisa24,
Hello Lisa. Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it.
You asked : “Why did you break up with your boy-friend?”
Hm, love is about timing sometimes right? Maybe we would have been perfect in another lifetime and another timing in this world.
We broke up mainly because my ex boyfriend was going through a lot of unpredictable changes in his life that is very scary to him. To tell you the reason more specifically – he was going to move college and is preparing for his mandatory military service as a Korean guy – he did not want me to wait for him and continue the relationship when at this moment, we do not really see it going anywhere.
I am sorry to hear you going through something too at the moment. I am not sure that I understand it 100 percent but you aren’t happy with you current partner? or you are not sure about him?
-Mina
September 8, 2017 at 7:30 am #167854AnonymousGuestDear Mina:
I am glad to read your sensible thinking and resulting improvement in how you feel.
Regarding apologizing to the guy you refer to as your best guy friend- you wrote earlier: “I am feeling sorry for leading him on a lot of times.”- leading him on meant to me that you flirted with him, that you intentionally expressed reciprocation of his romantic/ physical attraction feelings toward you. If you didn’t do what I just stated, then you didn’t lead him on. If you felt that simply sharing your feelings with him (as one would with a best friend) was, in itself, leading him on, then … he really is no longer your “best friend”, maybe he was, but is no longer.
A hopeful boyfriend cannot be a best friend, maybe it is time to drop the title “best friend” when you refer to him?
anita
September 8, 2017 at 7:33 am #167856AnonymousGuest* did not get submitted correctly…
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