Home→Forums→Relationships→very confused-new girlfriend, ex-girlfrend. Help me please
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May 11, 2018 at 5:26 am #206877AnonymousGuest
Dear John:
I suggest that you don’t tell your current girlfriend too much but not that you will be dishonest with her. Tell her nothing but the truth, but not too much, not your whole truth (which is your inclination, perhaps). So not to hurt her or confuse her unnecessarily.
If and when you communicate with your ex girlfriend, my suggestion is the same: say less, cut down on the dramatics, the explosive expression of emotion, the .. expressions of what is more typical to a teenager-in-love Express yourself as a serious adult, not exaggerating.
anita
May 11, 2018 at 6:56 am #206893JohnParticipant“How long exactly has it been after the break up that both of you are in new relationships?”
For me, i self destructed. I wasn’t in relationships, i was “messing around” within a month. I’m very ashamed of that btw. I ended up sleeping around with 5 different woman off and on for about two months before i met my gf. I stopped everything once i met her. Again, something I’m not proud of. I was very depressed and hurt. I seriously was a mess. I was contemplating doing the worse…
For her i think it was a month and a day exactly when she met him. From a post she put on Facebook and he commented on, i’m guessing they were sleeping together within a month and a half to two months.
When i asked her about him. she said “she met him in Dec. but didn’t start dating till jan or feb or whatever” Then she said” I’m not even really with anyone. He’s out of state for the next 2 years. I will see hime maybe twice a year. So if it makes you feel any better i’m still as f%&*ed up as i was before. I’m not good enough to be in any real relationship. So go enjoy your new found little family.”
“You wanted her to put you first”
I didn’t want to be first. I just wanted to feel like i was part of her life. Any time any thing happened. I got pushed off to the side. It felt like i was on stand by. I just wanted to be part of her family.
“You are basically asking a person to strip down their pride, their self-esteem and give it all to you. Would you do that for someone?”
I did do that for her. I swallowed my pride several times. I stood down when i should of stood up for myself. And yes if she would of asked me to relocate down there, i wouldn’t have thought twice about it. I would of found a way even with my kids. She used to tell me over and over and friends of hers that I had the patience of a saint. Cause i did. I waited and never made an issue out of things. She also told me not to be a doormat, not even for her. Any time our plans got cancelled. (usually because of her oldest son) I never said anything or bitched about that. In fact i told her she needs to do what she does for him. I never told her that i felt like i was getting pushed aside until after she left me.
“Perhaps you are going through something difficult in some other sphere of your life… Your job does not give you satisfaction, Maybe you feel you are not able to give your children a lot of time that they deserve, maybe you do not get enough time to pursue your hobbies or activities that made you happy other than love and romance”
Before i met her, things were great. My job is great(can’t ask for a better place to work), i do have fun with my hobbies, and i get my kiddos week on and week off. Even my relationship with my ex-wife is fantastic. we are like best friends. I was just looking for love, and I thought i found it.
“Think of your actions, from her perspective. She: I was in a beautiful relationship with a man but instead of taking care of his affairs, he meddled into mine (Children are the greatest thing to a mother, that is solely her affair unless she accepts a man worthy enough to be their father). I was in love with him, I missed him but I did not miss the way he regarded me as a weak woman who needs help at every step. I am not that woman. A few months later, he tells me how sorry he was for his actions and I forgive him because of his regrets. But I am still not sure of his actions, after all, he did change unexpectedly when we were together. Who knows if he does the same again. But still, let me be in touch with him and see how he is now.”
I wish i could of seen it this way along time ago. I never thought about it like this. through everything, I just wanted to help. She seemed so miserable with all her problems and i just want to help it all go away so she could be happy. She was a very independent woman and she did tell me several times that she needs to deal with it on her own. I’m the type that wants to be there to help. I guess i couldn’t see that i really needed to be just there to listen to her and not anything else.
Well I’m not going to contact her. Not going to send her any cards. I’m going to take some time and figure out what i really need. At this point, i don’t think i will ever have another connection or love someone the way i did her. That’s okay i guess. I do like the woman i am with now. but i do need some time to get my head straight and make sure i don’t like her just because she is there.
thank you for your help. I wish i would of found this forum at the end of september last year. It might of save me from wrecking that relationship. I do feel like i failed her. and that hurts.
May 11, 2018 at 8:13 am #206897Ik09ParticipantPeople make mistakes John and that is how we change for the better, we become more experienced with life. I am sure it is going to be a difficult journey ahead, being away but slowly with time it will get better. This forum is great, I got the help I needed to move on here.
And the feeling of guilt, she had her demons too and I am sure she hasn’t taken care of them as well. It is easier to neglect than solve problems. If she had, then if nothing else, she would have talked to you about everything in an elaborate manner. Don’t blame yourself. Remember, It requires two hands to sound a clap. In the same way, unless both of you had issues, the relationship would not have fallen down.
All the best and if you need any more help, the thread is still open.
May 11, 2018 at 9:50 am #206919JohnParticipantI do know that she felt like she was disappointing me and could give me what I needed. She said that too. But you’re right. If she could of actually sat down with me and had a conversation about how she felt and told me those things and that they were causing her to rethink our relationship it would of made a difference. Looking back there was a lot of things she said that if I could of read between the lines it would of helped. For example before our break she was always telling me things I should do with my girls to make them better and be more responsible. And after our break she would say something then say it’s not her place to tell me how to raise my girls.
hindsight really sucks.
May 11, 2018 at 10:38 am #206929Ik09ParticipantI understand but it was unfair on her part to think that you could read between the lines all the time. Women often do that, I used to do that a lot too till the guy I was dating made me realize my mistake. Reading between the lines is okay sometimes but only when the girl is leaving hints behind, if not then it is unfair to think of our partner as a magician who can take care of everything without us telling them the issues.
As for anything else she helped you with, there is only one rule with all relationships between humans, effective communication. Too much of it is bad, too less is bad. You and your ex-wife are on good terms and will take care of your daughters very well. It is only a matter of time, I am sure they will make both of you proud.
Don’t keep reminiscing about things, it is the what holds us back. keep writing whenever you have any outbursts. here to listen. 🙂
May 11, 2018 at 12:53 pm #206937BrandyParticipantHi John,
I read what you shared about last September’s Vegas wedding (you were not included on this trip) and also about your ex’s recent family weekend back to Vegas. So your relationship with her was very strong before the Vegas wedding, and she then started to show signs of pulling away from you during/after that trip. Similarly, she was initiating text messages with you before her recent weekend in Vegas, and then during/after that trip completely stopped doing that. So you see a possible pattern here and you are trying to figure out what could be happening in Vegas to motivate her to change course with you both times? As you say, it could just be a coincidence. Is it possible that she met her new BF while at the Vegas wedding? I guess it would be difficult for you to determine that for sure. I know in a previous post you said that she may have even spent time with her new BF (they are in a long distance relationship) during her recent weekend Vegas. But again, you aren’t privy to this information so you won’t be able to determine if he is what is motivating her actions. But I’m thinking that if he was present during both these Vegas trips, then there is a possibility that he is motivating her actions.
But there are other possibilities too. It’s obvious that her 19 year old son isn’t particularly fond of you. He flipped out when he found out you were planning to attend the wedding with them and then used that opportunity to tell his mom that he had enlisted in the Marines and wants the wedding trip to be a family trip without you. My oldest child is also a 19 year old son, and if he told me today that he’d enlisted and will soon be leaving for boot camp, my entire focus is now on him, so that explains to me why you’re suddenly not part of the wedding trip. So she goes on this family Vegas trip with her two boys, one who is soon leaving her, and btw he doesn’t like you. There is a possibility that on this trip she decided that she doesn’t want any tension within her family, especially now that her son is leaving for the military, so she decides to choose him over you. As for this recent Vegas trip, you indicated somewhere in this thread that this same son is back from the Marines for a few weeks. Was he with her on this recent Vegas family weekend? If so, there you go….that could be why she pulled away again. I would not blame her for this btw. I could see myself doing the same thing. The bond between mother and son is a strong one.
Another possibility is her brother. Have you met him? If so, how does he feel about you? Both times that she decided to pull away from you, she’s been with him. Could it be that she is getting advice from him about the relationship with you?
Just some thoughts to explore. Consider each with a grain of salt as I’m just throwing possibilities out there. What motivated her to pull away from you could be combination of all these scenarios or none of them. In my opinion, none of it really matters, does it? I mean, you couldn’t have controlled any of it. As they say, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas (sorry, bad joke). A better way to put it would be that your ability to sort out what really happened is limited because your ex hasn’t been forthcoming with the information.
You say that you failed her. Well, there is a lot about this situation that was way out of your control.
B
May 11, 2018 at 3:22 pm #206945JohnParticipantIt very well may have been her oldest son. She did tell me that he told her she ruined his high school years because of her divorce. That tore her apart. And during our relationship when ever I heard his name come up, I knew we weren’t going to see each other and we didn’t. There was always drama when he was around or even when he talked to her. I think I did interfere too much and was trying to help when I should of just backed off. One other thing is that I was her first real relationship since her divorce and she always talked highly of me to her son. Almost comparing me to his father. He did not go on the recent trip. But if she was having thoughts and talked to her brother that may be a big factor also.
I know what’s done is done and it is out of my control. I guess I feel cheated. Like I didn’t get the opportunity to better myself (because I was unaware -even if it’s my own fault) before she ended things. I feel like I was there for her through all the bad times she was going through. Waiting for it to get better and now she has gotten better. She does things with her friends now , when she never wanted to before and gets out of the house. Before I met her she was a hermit and was in depression from everything. She’s said she’s always been grateful for me and that I helped her out a lot with some of her issues.
Just sucks. But lie your be said I need to let it be and move on. It’s just hard because of what we did have together.
May 12, 2018 at 6:48 pm #207049JohnParticipantWell I talked to my girlfriend. I told her how I feel. I’m braking her heart now. Mine is breaking too. Maybe I’m just meant to be alone.
May 12, 2018 at 8:45 pm #207053BrandyParticipantNope, no way, I don’t believe that. You are not meant to be alone. You spoke your truth. You had to do it. She has probably sensed that something’s been up for a while anyway. You did the right thing. Are you doing okay?
Im typing this from my phone and hope it posts okay.
May 12, 2018 at 11:00 pm #207057JohnParticipantHonestly. I’m pretty messed up.
I have this woman that I would give anything for that has throughly confused me as far as what she feels.
Then I have this other one that I have strong feelings for that I do have reservations about that would be everything I need and want.
I know I’m still in love with my ex. I’m worried that that feeling will never go away. And it will always prevent me from loving someone else the way I should.
May gf or New ex? (I do t know what’s happening there now) told me she thinks I’m still In Love with me ex and that I need to call her and see if there is anything there. That maybe I need to here from her that there is nothing left.
I think she is right but if I do that then I’m being needy. And as much as I do love her I don’t know if she could ever give me what I really need.
OMG. what’s wrong with me?
May 13, 2018 at 5:18 am #207083AnonymousGuestDear John:
This morning I re-read and studied your posts, and I am ready to answer your question: “what’s wrong with me?”
You answered your question here: “I needed to be #1 right there and then. And I didn’t feel like it”- you need to be number one, to be the one on the stage performing to an audience. The audience was your ex girlfriend, is your current girlfriend and all who responded to you here on your thread.
Like an actor in a theater, you exaggerate everything so to create a strong emotional response in the audience. And then, no matter what a member communicates to you, you will be okay with the reply because all you need is attention. It doesn’t matter to you what I am typing right now. All my reply means to you is that I am paying attention, that I am in the audience watching you perform.
You have a relationship with a woman and you’ve been thinking about an ex girlfriend. That is all that has been happening, no catastrophe, really, nothing recent and catastrophic, yet these are some of your expressions: “I needed to be #1 right there and then… it freaking sucks.. it’s killing me… killing me though… sucks…OMG. This is so hard… sucks… I will never be the same again… there is still a hole in my chest… I’m so screwed up… I’m so lost..”
Yet, nothing really happened: you had a relationship that has ended long ago. You have a new relationship. You have been thinking and feeling for the ex girlfriend for some time. Nothing dramatic happened in real life, yet you are acting on a stage as if something dramatic, urgent and catastrophic is really happening.
You are stirring up a storm that doesn’t exist so to get that attention that you need, getting more and more excited by your own performance. It is the performance that excites you, performing for an audience.
How does it feel for you when you are off the stage, alone, at night maybe… how does it feel when there is no one there?
anita
May 13, 2018 at 11:09 am #207109JohnParticipantWhen I’m alone. I feel lonely sometimes and sometimes I’m content. I gues. It depends on the day. I know that I want to have a relationship. I want to come home to my significant other everyday. And do things together. I don’t want to have someone that I can show my love to all the time.
Maybe I am dramatic. I’m just telling you how I feel though.
May 13, 2018 at 1:27 pm #207117AnonymousGuestDear John:
Your express yourself as if there is great urgency in your life situation, as if it is getting worse by the minute, as if the sky is falling down.
Nothing much happened for a long time in your love life, nothing changed. You want to ask your ex girlfriend if she will consider resuming the relationship with you. Ask her then, clearly, directly, with no dramatics, no excess words, no going on about how you feel. Be pragmatic, to the point. Let her know that you will not argue with her answer, that you will not plead your case, that you will accept her answer graciously and make the call short.
anita
May 14, 2018 at 12:46 pm #207351BrandyParticipantJohn – How are you doing? -B
May 14, 2018 at 2:21 pm #207357JohnParticipantI don’t know. I’m kind of hurt. hurt about learning about myself. Feels like i’ve had to learn a lot about myself in the last week or so. Very difficult hearing all this about my self. I’ve learned that i’m somewhat of a drama queen that needs attention? AM i right?
I’m really torn. I guess i’m scared to be honest. I want to do like anita says. Just call her and be to the point, not pleading or begging. Just ask her if she will consider trying again and accepting what she says respectfully. But i’m afraid. For one, i don’t know if nowIf she says yes, am i setting myself up for heartbreak again, or ?? and if she says yes, what about my friends. None of them care for her or have any respect for her anymore. Would be tough. Although i know i need to do what i need for me, not anyone else.
If she says no, then i will be hurt again, but at least i will know that this road has ended and there is no point in trying anymore. and i won’t have this what if feeling anymore. Maybe it would be the absolute closure i need to move on…
Now is just finding the right time to ask. I know she has been dealing with some more shit lately.
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