I can’t believe that today is two years that you have been gone. There hasn’t been a single day that has passed that I haven’t thought about you. So many things remind me of you- hearing Beast of Burden on the radio, an advertisement for that green Rolex, a Facebook memory of you buying your recliner from years ago…
My dad has been so sick lately. He’s been in the hospital four times in just a month and a half. Today- right now- he’s having an exploratory heart procedure to see if the doctors can pinpoint what is causing the majority of the problems he’s experiencing. It feels like a weird coincidence that my dad is having a heart procedure on the same day you died of a heart attack. I joked to my sister that maybe you would watch over him to protect him, but I know you weren’t his biggest fan. I think you will do it anyway- for my mom and my sister and for me.
The heart is such a fragile thing, in every way. It is so easy to break and so difficult to repair. My dad keeps getting these second (and third and fourth…) chances. I wonder what would have happened if you had just one more chance, too.
My love, this is it. The blog I never wanted to write. I have put it off so many times, dreading having to do it, making it real. You’re gone. I can’t bring myself to even say the word “dead” out loud. Not about you. It has been six weeks now. How is that even possible? How is any of this possible?
The moment I saw your mother’s email, I knew. I feel like I shook my head for hours, for days. No. No. No. It can’t be real. I just wanted to deny it. If I didn’t accept it, it couldn’t be true. After everything you (we) went through, how could this be? It was the week before your 38th birthday.
I have struggled with the end. How long were you alone? Did you suffer? Feel pain? Know it was coming? Were you drunk? Were you going through withdrawal? WHAT HAPPENED? I’m grateful suicide was ruled out almost immediately. I wouldn’t have believed that anyway. I feel actual pain in my chest when I think about you lying there on the floor. I drove by your apartment that Friday night. Were you alive then? I have tortured myself about that. I know there was nothing I could have done to save you or stop it, but why was I so compelled to drive there that night? That can’t just be a coincidence, can it. I cry every single time I think of you being alone. No one should be alone at the end of their life. You didn’t deserve that.
I don’t know how to accept that I will never hear your voice or see your face again. How ironic that only months ago, I dreaded running into you around town. But then I saw you in December and we talked and it was just…nice. It was familiar. You were not 100% yourself, I could tell that, but you seemed okay. You were supposed to be okay. After being so sick for so long, that was supposed to be the ending. You were supposed to get sober and be healthy and okay. And now you are gone.
I am so angry with your family. But then I think about what they have lost and my heart aches for them. You told me so many times you didn’t want a memorial. But they didn’t even do an obituary. It is like they came up here, cleaned out your apartment, took your truck, and poof- you didn’t exist anymore. Nothing was allowed on social media, people wrote happy birthday messages to you days later and didn’t even know you weren’t alive to read them. “Hope you had an amazing day!!” My heart hurts. I am in so much pain. Everyone kept saying to me, “you did everything you could for him. You saved his life many times. You shouldn’t feel guilty. There’s nothing you could have done.” I know that, but I also don’t know that.
We were together for nine years. So many good times. So many difficult times. I loved you. I know you loved me. I picture your hands. All the times over nine years that they grabbed my butt. That they held our niece. That they pet our dog. That they played with the cat. That they flipped burgers on the grill. That they poured another drink. That I held so tightly while you were on life support in the hospital in a coma. What was the point of all of that? I still suffer from going through you being sick…and for what? You just being gone less than two years later? How can that be?
I know you suffered, my love. I know the depression was so dark and deep inside of you that you couldn’t see the light on many days. I know you didn’t want to drink, even as you fell further into the addiction. I know you wanted to be better- for yourself, for me.
I have one of your last voicemails saved on my phone. It was from after you got out of the hospital. You apologized over and over and said, “someday I’m going to send you a letter making amends.” I believed that. I wanted to forgive you, for both of us. Now I will never get that letter. So much is left unsaid between us.
I still just can’t believe you are gone. I read article after article about the stages of grief. I desperately search for anything I can interpret as a sign from you. I feel so alone. I cried nonstop the whole first week and every day since. The sadness is physical. I forget for a bit and then remember you are gone and it is like a pain in my chest. I sleep all the time. I feel numb and then I feel guilty for feeling numb. I’m angry at everyone for the littlest things. I just don’t know what to do.
Sometimes I feel like I don’t have the right to feel all of this. I let you go. I saved myself. Maybe I could have done more? How was I supposed to know this would happen, though? You were supposed to get better. Friends and my therapist “weren’t surprised” that you passed away. “You had to have known this was going to happen.” No. No, I didn’t. I really, truly didn’t. You were so strong, you survived so much. People like my dad have lived for decades with alcoholism. 37. You helped throw me the most amazing 40th birthday party and you will never turn 40. Or 39. Or even 38. How is that possible?
I’m so sorry, my love. I always cared, I never stopped. In my heart, I truly believe you knew that. I just could not watch you self-destruct anymore. There’s so many things I want to talk to you about, to tell you, and now I will never have the chance.
I got confident. Comfortable. I should have known better. I thought my problems with alcoholics were in my past. Naive. Stupid, even.
I have three alcoholics in my life. My father, my exboyfriend and one of my best friend’s boyfriend/father of her baby. And for a short, blissful period of time, all of them were sober. So I thought. My friend’s boyfriend was sober for five months after going to rehab. He was sober for the birth of their baby and was surprisingly a very hands on dad. Until he started drinking a couple of weeks ago…while he was home alone…WITH the baby.
My dad has been sober since Christmas Eve. He’s actually doing very well. He accompanied my mother to babysit my niece every day since my sister returned to work. My mother asked me to come to watch my niece tomorrow because she has to leave two hours early to go to a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon. Because she was not staying at my sister’s house for the full day, my dad decided to stay home instead. My mom freaked out, because technically she is babysitting a three year old AND a 72 year old husband. So, now I am watching my niece the whole day so my mother can stay home to futilely try to prevent my father from drinking. This is a familiar role to me…I have always been the “hero” of the family, the dependable one, the helper, the one who is responsible.
My exboyfriend, who I have written many blog posts about, randomly texted me a couple of weeks ago asking me this question: “when I am ready to make amends, do you want me to write to you or leave you alone?” I responded he could write to me. Naturally, every time I give him an inch, he takes a mile and before long he was texting me how much he misses and loves me and that he has been sober for 101 days. He asked me to go out to dinner with him. I congratulated him, but told him that I have moved on and he needs to do the same. Three days later he texted me a photo of his coffee table covered in empty vodka bottles and the words “I relapsed.” “Because of texting with me?,” I asked. “Yes. You’re a trigger for me,” he replied.
DONE. That is the only way I can explain how I felt when I read that. The years of trying to support him, the months of begging him to get help, the weeks spent watching him cling to life in a coma, the days of researching rehabs he never went to, the hours and hours and hours of tears I cried…it all just blended together and finally (fiiiiinalllly) I. Was. Just. Done. I texted him that I hoped he would get the help he needed and then I blocked his number. So many people had suggested over the past year that I should do that, but I couldn’t. I still felt that twinge of responsibly, that fear that he would try to hurt himself and reach out to me as his last resort. But something just snapped inside of me and after 478 days of keeping the door cracked open enough for him to sneak into my life when it served him, I closed it and locked it.
My cousin’s best friend was just found dead on her apartment floor two days ago. She was a severe alcoholic and although her cause of death has not yet been determined, I will not be surprised if it is related to drinking. Another life ruined. Two young adults without their mother.
I don’t know if I will ever be free from the disease of alcoholism. This, of course, is incredibly ironic considering I do not drink. In reality, my friend’s boyfriend, my cousin’s best friend, and now even my exboyfriend are all on the peripheral of my life. My dad, on the other hand, is an active part of my life, albeit with boundaries that are based on his behavior. He is sober = we talk, are friends on social media, see each other often. He drinks = I see him the obligatory twice a year for my niece’s birthday and Christmas, speak to him as little as humanly possible and I block him on social media.
I read a quote recently that began with, “When a woman is done, she’s done.” It may have taken me 478 days to get there, but better late than never.
My soul and my heart have been CRAVING to write a blog entry…my brain on the other hand, has been getting in the way. Every time I sit down to begin writing, I just feel so overwhelmed.
Ironically, leading up to the one year “anniversary” (can’t there be a different word for acknowledging a date that is bad???!!) of my ex-boyfriend being put into a coma, I was doing pretty okay. March 15th loomed, but I felt like I was in a good place. I decided rather than allowing myself to wallow in nostalgia, that I instead would try remind myself of how far I had come during the past 365 days. And I really have come so far. I currently have virtually no contact with him. Even better, since my father has been released from the hospital, he has maintained sobriety. It is crazy to think that I have no active alcoholics in my day to day life, and although I know that can change when it comes to my dad, I am enjoying it while I can.
I am also so in love. It is still really hard for me to write about him…I don’t feel ready to share him with the “virtual world”, especially since our relationship is pretty private in “real life”. I know as time goes on, I will write about him more and more, but for now all I can say is he is absolutely wonderful and treats me so amazingly well. I am so happy with him being a part of my life. I was fully prepared to be single for a very, very long time after going through what I did with my ex, but I guess it is true what people say about finding love when you are not looking for it and least expect it.
What did make March 15th a sad day for me was knowing how much my ex is still suffering and struggling. After everything he went through, he is still not doing well. I last heard from him a couple of months ago via text and he is dealing with a lot of mental health issues, as well as continuing to drink. I honestly can say I do not feel any responsibility for him at all, but that does not mean I do not want him to be okay. I will always worry about him and I truly want the best for him. Looking back, his hospitalization, infidelity and alcoholism was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through, but the fact of the matter is that I did get through it. I did and finally broke the cycle of codependency in my life. I won’t turn out like my mother and although it took me eight years to do it, I am proud of myself that I did.
So, things were pretty calm…and then this virus and quarantine happened. Luckily, everyone I know is healthy, which I am so thankful for considering my sister is twelve weeks pregnant and my father’s health is very compromised. The high school school where I work has shut down for two weeks (and I assume it will end up being longer), and I am doing distance teaching with my 11th grade English students. It has only been a couple of days, but so far so good. I am trying to be very optimistic for them, because this is such a scary time for all of us. I worry that being quarantined and not really being able to go anywhere is going to trigger an agoraphobic episode for me, especially living alone. I am trying to be proactive by staying busy around the house, walking, and doing schoolwork. The only place I go is my sister’s house, which is two miles away. This makes me feel like kind of a bad person in a way, but I am so relieved not to be stuck in the house with my ex-boyfriend during this time. It is hard at times being alone, but I cannot imagine how stressful it would have been still living with him, confined to the house, with him drinking and behaving the way he was.
This is just so unprecedented and frightening, I keep thinking I am going to wake up tomorrow and will be able to go back to school and teach like normal. I am just going to do what everyone else is doing and take things as they come. It is not easy to live that way when you struggle with an anxiety disorder, but this is a good lesson for me about not being able to control everything. In fact, I think that is what this year taught me the most…that no matter how hard I try, most things are out of my control.
I have always believed that people show love in different ways. I love mailing greeting cards for every occasion possible…it is one way I let the people I care about know that I am thinking of them.
During the 41 days my father was in the hospital and nursing home and ever since he got home a week ago, my mother has been glued to his side. Without knowing it, both my sister and I spoke to our respective therapists about my mother’s weird devotion to him. He has treated her so badly for so many years, it is hard to understand why she even cares about what happens to him.
However, my sister and I were at the hospital and nursing home all the time, too- even when he had psychosis and was acting so horribly. We brought him milkshakes and food he liked. My sister brought her toddler to visit “Papa”. We basically all put our lives on hold to take care of him. Clearly this is learned behavior because I did the same thing when my exboyfriend was in the hospital for 28 days…I sat by his side, putting my life on hold.
I have never doubted that my father loved me (and my mother or sister). I never doubted my exboyfriend loved me either. They both just had such a hard time showing it because of their addictions to alcohol.
My dad showed me love by providing for our family, for making sure my sister and I had every opportunity possible, including going to college. He showed love by making sure we had a beautiful home. He showed love by buying my mother, sister and me matching bracelets for Christmas one year. He showed love by building me a dollhouse that I can pass down to my niece. He showed love by crying when I told him I was miserable and getting divorced. He showed love by helping me with my mortgage for the summer so I wouldn’t have to worry about money after my boyfriend moved out abruptly.
My exboyfriend showed me love by supporting me working through my anxiety. He showed me love by convincing me to give up a summer job that made me unhappy. He showed me love by getting me “just because” flowers. He showed me love by sending me cards, because he knows I love getting mail. He showed me love by embracing my sister and loving our niece. He showed me love by caring about my mother.
Neither of these two men loved me in the ways that I necessarily wanted or needed, but they showed me love in the way THEY knew how and I try to be appreciate of that. I am very happy right now to be with someone who is able to show me love in the way that I need (physical affection, open communication, security) and who accepts my love in the way I give it.
I got a notification from WordPress that it was my seven year anniversary of when I began this blog. I decided to go back to my very first post, which was on January 17, 2013.
I am not really sure where to begin, so I will just start writing and see where it takes me…
I am in my 30s and have read pretty much everything ever published about being the child of an alcoholic. I know all about the roles (I am a hero), the shame, the dysfunction, the warnings…
Well, not much, yet EVERYTHING has changed…I am now in my 40s, my dad is still a drunk and I can now add a very long, very dysfunctional relationship with an alcoholic to my resume. I became the dreaded cliche- the daughter of an alcoholic who ends up dating an alcoholic. The only silver lining to that was that I did not marry him.
My father has been in the hospital or a rehabilitation/nursing home since Christmas Eve. He suffered through a coma and once he was well enough to be moved physically, he went through a mental psychosis, caused by withdrawal or the sedatives. He was irate, hateful, violent, and confused. He thought he was at McDonald’s, he flicked off my two year old niece and said “fuck you” to her when she said goodbye to him, he thought another patient was my mother and yelled at her all day for ignoring him, he believed everything was a conspiracy against him, he blamed my mother, sister and me for “doing this to him”, he asked what plane I took to get there when I live ten miles away, he refused to eat..I could go on and on- his behavior was incredibly disturbing and upsetting.
He seems to be doing a little better with his mental facilities, but physically is very weak and will be moving to a rehab center again tonight. So, now we are up to two different hospitals, two different rehabilitation centers, at least a dozen different doctors and more nurses than I can count. It is exhausting.
My therapist AND my sister’s therapist asked why we go visit him so often, especially when he is being so nasty and verbally abusive towards us. I honestly do not have an answer for that. We have tolerated his behavior for so long. I think a lot of it is feeling like we need to be there for my mother, but I cannot and will not ever understand her loyalty or sense of responsibility towards him. It has just been a very stressful beginning to the new year, after what was arguably the worst year of my life.
Speaking of which, my ex (the above mentioned alcoholic and subject of MANY of my blogs) decided this would be the opportune time to try to reinsert himself back into my life. After not hearing from him for months (at my request), he texted me asking about my father. I contemplated for a while how to handle it and then decided maybe he was just being nice. I gave him some details about my dad and nothing about myself. He basically took the opportunity to fill me in on his life (which only made me pity him) and then proceeded to keep texting me until I had to kindly ask him to stop.
SO much has happened during the past seven years- it is impossible to sum up. Yet, that famous quote is eerily accurate: “the more things change, the more they are the same.”
I hated 2019. Like DESPISED it. In March, my boyfriend of nine years went through alcohol withdrawal and was put in a medically induced coma on a breathing tube and ventilator. It lasted 17 extremely long days. His 28 day hospital stay resulted in his (sort-of) recovery, but the end of our relationship. I was with him the whole time and I feel like I will never get over the trauma of seeing the man I love in that condition. However, I was finally starting to feel a little better this month…I got through Thanksgiving and could see the end of the year finally approaching…a fresh, new start.
And then my father was put into a medically induced coma on a breathing tube and ventilator last Thursday. What. The. Actual. Hell? How do two people that I am very close with, the two men in my life, BOTH end up in comas within the same year??? Thankfully, my dad was removed from the sedation and the breathing tube was removed last night and he seems do be doing ok. Yesterday was touch and go and in the morning, his condition was bad enough for a palliative nurse to speak to us about a DNR order and “quality of life” concerns.
I just can’t believe it. I feel like I keep saying that over and over. How did this happen to TWO people? In ONE year? Six more hours until this horrible, traumatic, heartbreaking, life-changing year is over and I can’t wait.
How? Why? Already? What the actual fuck? IT’S NOT FAIR.
These were my first thoughts after hearing that my ex-boyfriend has a new girlfriend. Then I hysterically cried and vomited. Afterwards, I took time to really think about it and why I had the reaction I did. I made it very clear to him that we were over. I have started to move on and have been feeling better lately. I know he does not have friends or family near him and is probably very lonely. I know that for him, staying sober includes having to stay busy. But…a girlfriend? It has only been a few months. It makes me feel very replaceable. Yet, that is not what bothered me. The idea of him being intimate with another woman…that stings for sure, but also I do not think that was the real source of me being upset. What it finally boiled down to was: it’s not fair. I just kept saying that over and over. He literally broke my heart, he destroyed our relationship, he lied and cheated. I saved his life and he ruined mine. And he moved on first??? And so soon??? And he is supposed to be focusing on his sobriety?? It’s not fair.
I am rolling my eyes at myself writing that. I KNOW life is not fair. And in the bigger scheme of life, my problems with him were minuscule with what other people around the world deal with. I am not dismissing my pain or heartbreak, but I think saying he “ruined” my life is a little dramatic. What happened was the most traumatic thing I have ever been through in MY life, but I know by comparison many people struggle with so much more.
A coworker of mine has two adorable little girls. She is so sweet and kind to everyone. Her 40 year old husband was just diagnosed with terminal cancer and this will most likely be his last Christmas. THAT is not fair.
My best friend’s sister suffered a loss this year. A good friend of hers was estranged from her soon-to-be ex-husband. He went to her house late at night and shot and killed her…in front of their children. THAT is not fair.
My friend, former lover, and colleague jumped off the tallest bridge in NYC to his death a few months ago. He was an amazing person, teacher, friend…the funniest person I have ever known. No one really knew just how bad his depression was. When he jumped, he did not hit the water, but the concrete footer of the bridge. THAT is not fair.
Life isn’t fair. So many horrible things happen and even though it is upsetting and it hurts and I am surprised, my ex moving on is not really one of them. I do not begrudge him happiness- I want him to be sober and be in a healthy relationship…someday. I just don’t feel like he deserves it yet. It is all still so fresh and painful. And I think about dumb things, like is he “really” sober and what does he tell this new girl about me and everything that happened with us and his health and his family? But then I remind myself that absolutely none of that has any effect on my life, except feeling a little emotional about it.
So, as the end of 2019 nears (thank goodness), I am really going to try to put everything that happened behind me. I cannot dwell and feel indignant and hold on to the pain anymore- it is only hurting myself. I am not ready to forgive him and I am not sure if I will be ready when he wants to make amends, but I know that I cannot move forward if I am always thinking about the past. Some things are not fair and everyone feels that way about something in their life.
Steve Maraboli, an inspirational speaker, stated that, “the only thing that makes life unfair is the delusion that it should be fair.” I am not going to say that “it’s not fair” anymore about this situation. What really is happening actually IS completely fair- that life is going on…for him and for me.
I can’t wait for 2019 to be over, especially November. It has never been a particularly good month for me, but I always looked forward to Thanksgiving. It became even more fun when my boyfriend moved in a few years ago. We created a new tradition where we would prepare the turkey the night before. I would make herb butter while he searched around inside the bird for the bag of giblets, which he seemed to always have a hard time locating. He would then rub the butter on, making corny jokes and pretending to run after me with his disgusting hands. We would spend the night together and the next morning, I would put the turkey in and start cooking. My family arrived early. Once we sat down to dinner, he would take an annual photo biting into a turkey leg. My mom always sat next to him at the table and would always lean in to be in one of the pictures. I have a picture of him from each year with a turkey leg. The first Thanksgiving he ate with my family, my dad was looking all around the table for the oversized meat serving fork, only to realize my boyfriend was eating his meal with it.
When we broke up a few months ago, one of the first things I said to my sister was that I was not hosting Thanksgiving this year. Luckily, she bought a house and so it seemed like a natural transition to move the holiday to her place. I am just dreading it. Everything about Thanksgiving reminds me of him. And it is especially difficult because I keep imagining him alone. I know that it is really his own fault that he is, but it still is really hard not to feel sad about it.
Each year, my sister and I attend a local craft show. There is a woman who will personalize Christmas ornaments with names. Each year, I bought a different one with his and my names on it. Last year, it was two little wooden stockings hanging on a mantlepiece that said “and the stockings were hung…”. The red and white stockings had our names written on them. This year, I was looking at the ornaments and noticed the same ornament, but with a solitary stocking. “and the stocking was hung…”. I wanted to get it, but my sister said it would just make me sad to see the ornament on the tree with only my name and a singular stocking. It was just another reminder of everything I have lost this year and how alone I am now.
When I got home from the craft show, I pulled out the box with all of my Christmas ornaments in it and went through them. I took out all of “our” ornaments, but he also had some ornaments of his own, two in particular that were from his godparents when he was a baby. I am hoping to be able to enjoy Christmas more than Thanksgiving, so I decided to mail him the ornaments now, rather than letting them just wait for me to discover them again when I decorate the tree. I packed them up carefully and went to the post office, where I proceeded to cry the entire time. It was like another piece of him gone, another reminder that our relationship is permanently over.
I was not expecting a response from him. He had messaged me a few weeks ago saying he missed me and I did not respond. I found out his grandfather died last week and he did not tell me. It was difficult, but I decided not to send him a sympathy card. We truly have had no contact. However, he did text me and it was not to say thank you. He demanded that I never mail him anything ever again and if I find something else of his in my house to discard it. He also accused me of knowing that he was at 90 days of sobriety and that I was purposely trying to upset him.
I talked to my therapist and told her that my intentions were not the way he interpreted them, although I can see now from his perspective how it might have been difficult to open a package from me, not knowing what it was. I truly thought he would want those childhood mementos and I also really wanted to get it over with as far as returning them. After thinking about it for a while, I have to admit that maybe a subconscious part of me wanted to hurt him. I certainly would never, ever do something on purpose to tempt him to drink and I find it unfathomable that he could even consider that. But I am still hurting SO badly and I feel like I never had the opportunity to really be able to tell him that. I know he knows he hurt me and I know he is sorry, but I do not think he really understands the degree to which I have been affected. I doubt he knows that when I close my eyes at night, I picture his limp body on the hospital bed, with tubes and wires all over him. I feel so traumatized by the experience. I really don’t think he knows that. I think he thinks that I am heartbroken by his unfaithfulness and hurt by how his family treated me and angry about his lies and those are all true, but he cannot possibly know what it was like for me to sit in that hospital room day and night for almost a month, not knowing if he would survive, but also knowing that if he did, our lives would never be the same and our relationship was over.
Growing up with a violent alcoholic father made holidays very unpredictable and often very volatile. I could write ten different stories about ten different horrible things my father did to ruin holidays while I was growing up. I am sure most children of alcoholics can do that. When I took over Thanksgiving and started hosting it at my house, it became a holiday that I could control. It became less about stress and more about the traditions that my ex and I created to prepare the meal. There were never any issues (my father is usually well behaved when he is a guest in someone else’s home). My family would arrive early and leave early and he and I would watch a movie or take a nap. It was just…nice. I feel like I am going to see the turkey leg this year and just bawl my eyes out. I miss him so much. It is so, so hard to not know what or how he is doing. He lives so close, but I feel so far apart from him now. Our lives have moved on separately and now there are things we don’t know about each other. His grandpa died (which I only know because my best friend is his cousin), he started a new job (someone told me he posted on Instagram), I am sure there are things I don’t know about at all. He doesn’t know about the problem I had with a student at school. He doesn’t know that my sister had a miscarriage last week. He is still the first person I want to call when something happens. I just can’t. It just all hurts so much still.
I bought a journal on Amazon at the recommendation of my psychiatrist. It is a gratitude journal where each night you can write three things that happened that day that you are thankful for. I plan to start using it because it is easy to slide down into the rabbit hole of sadness and self-despair and depression and only think about the bad things. I know I need to start recognizing the wonderful, beautiful, happy moments that have been overshadowed for so long.
So, to practice…today I am thankful for:
The hysterical “30 Rock”, which I binge watched all day while grading papers
My sister’s house being a five minute drive away, so I can see my niece every day
Nyquil (bc I am sick and I know it will help me sleep tonight lol)
I had my first “date” since breaking up with my exboyfriend. It felt too soon, but I had to remind myself that the romantic part of the relationship with my ex ended far earlier than our break up. I had not been intimate with anyone (including him) in well over a year.
It was a guy I knew from high school, but not very well- more like we had mutual friends. We both agreed we did not want a relationship, rather just a “friends with benefits” situation. I am not sure why I thought that was a good idea for me because I overthink EVERYTHING. But, I also knew this guy is not the one for me and I just wanted to put myself out there in an effort to move on from my ex, so I figured I had nothing to lose.
I was very nervous but everything went well and I enjoyed his company. I was surprised when he continued to call and text me every day- I was not really expecting that kind of communication, but it was really nice. We made a second date, which he canceled on the same day and then another second date, which he also canceled (one hour before). Both times he canceled he blamed work (which I believe because he has a demanding job), but he never attempted to choose a different day. It has been two weeks now and I feel like if he REALLY wanted to see me, he could have carved out some time. It’s like that movie, “He’s Just Not That Into You”…if a guy wants you, he will find a way. So, I did what I always do and started asking everyone’s opinion on what I should do- my guy friends, my girl friends and my sister and took their advice (which really ended up not being what I probably would have done) and maturely told him it wasn’t working out. He was snarky back and said he “gets it, I don’t trust men” and told me he doesn’t “do complicated”.
I think calling me “complicated” was presumptuous on his part. I mean, let’s be honest, I definitely AM complicated, but I did nothing during the time talking with him for him to be able to fairly make that assessment about me. I didn’t call or text him and I was totally okay with the first cancellation. I know I didn’t do anything “wrong”, but yet I feel like I messed up.
My sister asked me why I feel the need to ask SO many people their advice and opinions on what I should do and without even thinking I responded, “because I don’t trust myself.” My answer caught me off guard, but I realize that it’s true. I feel like I have made so many bad choices and ignored a lot of red flags in the past and now I am not comfortable trusting myself to make decisions . She also asked why I was settling for this guy. Not that he is a bad person or anything, but he does not have the qualities that I want in a partner. Again, without thinking, I blurted out, “because I have low self-worth”, which I also realized is very true.
I was enjoying talking to someone new because it felt good and I liked the attention and it was a good distraction from everything that happened with my ex. But then, I just started obsessing and worrying and analyzing and questioning everything about this guy. I think I just need more time. And I know that I need to focus on myself more and deal with some unresolved issues.
I don’t know why I think I do not deserve to be happy or to have a wonderful person in my life. I sadly wonder who would really want to be with me? I think my exboyfriend accepted me and the problems I have because he also suffered from mental illness and he was so sick himself. I feel so flawed and damaged and…complicated.
Anxious ACOA 