So I started talking to this guy in November. I really like him and he says the same. We are long distance of 7 hours so it’s not so so bad and we see each other here and there when he’s down here for work. Anyways… lately I’ve been feeling self - conscious and scared of him being bored / abandoning me. I had a bad past with my ex (he would compare me to other girls towards the end of our relationship and tell me he’s watching twerking lives to my face). And I’ve had anxious detachment relationships with my dad as we used to fight and not talk a lot so these feelings stem from trauma.
Anyways long story short. I obviously looked through his following. Nothing bad. He was following this one Instagram famous girl who post like thirst pics and whatever (boobs popping out, tongue out, etc) super gorgeous but the photos know what they r doing lol. Anyways, she was live and I joined and I said haha my man follows you. Take in, he liked her picture 2 days ago and it upset me because I don’t look anything like her and he wasn’t even liking my own stories. How do I have other men liking my stories but not him?! Lol. Anyways, I told her that she’s like oh eww girl lemme block him for you. I was surprised and I’m like sure lol. I told her if she can just remove him from her followers list and she did. She and her other viewers were telling me to see if he follows her back because then he’s noticing it. I feel so toxic that I’ve done this and so grossed out from myself. Oh btw, she said he would always text her and send her memes and say she looks good. But she said the last time he did that was November which is when we started talking so it’s fine I guess. But I don’t follow any men who post stuff like that so I found it so annoying that he liked the picture when it should’ve reminded him to unfollow her lol. Maybe I’m just mentally ill.
We also haven’t been talking as much the last couple days because when I found out I felt so gross and then I broke down to him (I didn’t tell him) about how I’m scared of the future and what will happen (I’m seeing him in two days and he said we will talk about it in person) but not texting all day until night (work stuff for him lol) is taking a toll of me . But it’s only temporarily as he’s down here for work but whatever. I get people have lives.
I just feel like I give so much of myself and my happiness, even faking it all the time, to not feel it in return. It feels like men r so interested at first but then they think ur so wrapped around their finger that they can start showing u less attention.
But he is a great guy and he hasn’t done anything wrong except that unless im just crazy. But he does treat me good. I might’ve got too vulnerable with him, he got me flowers and I cried like…. And when he told me to my eyes how much he loves spending time with me and it makes him happy i cried too because im not used to those things and hearing those words. Maybe that was a mistake
Communication. Communication. Communication. Don't try to strategize. Don't try to manipulate the situation to your desired end. And most of all, do NOT "should" him. He is under no obligation to meet your needs or figure them out for himself, and same goes for you. It's just a question of if he is naturally inclined to meet your needs and act according to your values after you clearly communicate them to him. If he is not inclined, then it's up to you to decide how far you're willing to level with him or if you would be better off pursuing a relationship with someone else.
Learn to distinguish your subjective STORIES from what you are actually feeling. For example "I feel like you don't love me" is NOT a feeling. Putting "I feel" in front of some statement does not magically make it valid. "I'm scared this relationship might not last", also not a feeling. Any sentence starting with a "You..." is a story. More truthful: "when you don't message me in X amount of time, I feel insecure, and I start to worry about the future of the relationship". Now you're just speaking candidly, honestly, saying what is actually happening. You're not putting blame on him, just acknowledging something that hopefully everyone can agree is happening (he's not messaging you), and saying what the impact is on you emotionally, and what kind of thoughts it triggers in you. He's following some girls on social media? Can everyone agree that's happening? Okay, how does that make you feel AND, distinct from those feelings, what does it make you think? Please also flip it to positive "when you give me flowers, I feel love and I think this relationship is going well." Clear, straight-forward communication without shoulding. You can also do it on something that hasn't even happened "I'd love to go on a vacation together some day, if we work together for that goal, I believe I'd feel secure, and I'd believe you love me" (you're young and still learning your likes and dislikes, so please be aware that sometimes some ideas don't turn out as great as you hoped, and that's okay). Feel free to try to find a way to make the conversation more natural but stick to the same logic.
You may want to look into this: https://pastebin.com/ZHhS044M
And especially this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication
Yesss!! I've been with the same man for 10 years and we've had so many clumsy discussions when working through feelings, but that's just how communication goes sometimes.
If you're not bringing up your feelings because you're afraid it will end the relationship, that's silly. If that ends the relationship, the relationship would have always ended.
Louder for the back! No one benefits from drawing out a relationship that won't work. Don't be a freak, but be as up front as you can manage.
This is especially important in long distance relationships, where small misunderstandings or doubts can fester without the other person realising.
Fantastic response and comment chain full of help.
How you know this isn’t reddit. “Dump him, lawyer up, and hit the gym” appeared nowhere in this comment.
You had me at communication. That's like 95% of any relationship... Literally everything is up in the air .. Except being on the same page
Thank you. You see I’m like half over it already .. part of me feels guilty for going all out and telling her to unfollow but I honestly just want to see if he notices/followes her again. I feel so bad and I was sick to my stomach because I’ve never done anything crazy like that and I cannot tell him I’ve noticed because I don’t want him to think I’m stalking him you know. We have only been talking and stuff for 3 ish months now. I was going to wait it out, see how it goes the next week and take it from there. If he follows her again then I’ll bring it up to him? I see him tomorrow and we said we were going to talk about stuff because I wasn’t feeling well about me and him a couple of days ago and brought up how I’m worried we won’t work etc etc. I’m scared. I rlly like him but I’m worried this long distance and if he keeps doing this (I will talk about it to him if it continues) will ruin it.
To what end, though? What purpose will it serve if you haven't told him that following those girls is unacceptable to you?
And before somebody tells me it's always unacceptable, that's not true. In my relationship, both of us watch porn, and that's what we consider these Instagram models because they're often selling their only fans. My husband and I have an agreement that I don't care what porn he watches, he doesn't care what porn I watch, we are allowed to pay some only fans subscriptions (not an unreasonable amount, and support small businesses, yo!) Hes just not allowed to converse and develop a relationship with them, and same goes for me. We are very open about it.
What im saying here to you, OP, is that if a behaviour like this bothers you, you need to tell him so he knows rather than just waiting for him to fuck up. Do not operate under the assumption he knows because you may have different upbringings and what may seem obvious to you may not be so obvious to him. Give him the opportunity to be trustworthy in the way you need.
You don't get to 10 years by playing games like this. You get there by both wanting to put in the work, because relationships are work and communication, and most of this is within the first few years.
Additionally, never be afraid of a relationship ending. There is no such thing as "the one", there will always be someone that ticks your boxes, so to speak.
Well this is where you can ask yourself some questions. The shoulding applies to you too. You "should" not be any different from what you are but being very insecure might not be helpful in having your needs met. You can try to take steps to reduce that insecurity. Or you can continue being insecure and pursue a relationship with someone who is willing to go the extra mile to not trigger it. That may not be easy, but you also might get lucky. Are you okay with that, or does that also make you feel insecure?
Put aside the convoluted projections, strategies and what-ifs. You're just trying to have your needs met, and he is trying to have his needs met. It's up to you to figure out if you can do so in unison or not. But the thing is, you WILL find out eventually. You can anxiously wait for the conclusion, you can play around and have fun while you figure out the conclusion, or you can get to the conclusion as soon as possible. But the conclusion is inevitable regardless of how much time you take to get there. Trying to force him to be any different won't change that. You pretending to be any different from what you are won't change that. But I can say that in general, the more people stray away from what is true, the more they tend to suffer.
Can I even be in a relationship if I’m like this? I feel sick thinking about how I can be fucked over and the thought of being heartbroken again. It’s so bad. Do I tell him the thing I did? How I went out my way and got her to remove him as a follower? He will see me as a jealous and insecure girl who’s stalking him. He even said he is also a jealous type so then why would he follow and like her stuff u know? I removed a lot of my followers out of respect. I mean, she was the only thing that had me on edge so i know he hasn’t done anything bad. Idk what to do. I see him tomorrow and we were going to talk about things but I feel so scared.
Girl you're 21. You are so, so, so young. You'll have plenty of time to fall in love for the rest of your life, get your heart broken beyond repair, rally to find your true soul mate again and so on. I get that it's basically impossible for you to really see it that way even if you probably get it intellectually. My 21 year old self would tell this current 41 year old me to go fuck myself for not understanding anything.
Take the hit here, see what happens. Maybe he will think you're a bit crazy or maybe he'll be understanding. If your relationship ends, cry your eyes out, scream and wail and temporarily believe everything is lost. Whatever you're feeling, express it with your whole body, dare to be dramatic, just don't take it out on others. Dance like nobody is looking and cry. Then you'll go on with your life, you'll have learned that well actually, everything isn't lost and you can live with this. Then you'll find someone new and you'll A: be a bit more confident because you'll know you can survive a break up and B: you know more about your needs and values, and you'll know to communicate them early on so there's mutual clarity. But maybe he'll think that your insecurity is cute or so. Maybe he is willing to work with it. Then I HIGHLY recommend that you both look into Non-Violent Communication. Take a course together and you'll form a very strong bond, and you're both better equipped to communicate with each other skillfully. This will help with your insecurity too.
Again, you'll find out eventually which it is anyway. I get that you're scared and no amount of "you're so young" isn't going to make you feel better about it. But you're scared of something that hasn't happened yet. Right this moment, is something so terrible that you can't handle it? Do you have a roof over your head? Do you have people you can talk to? Do you have access to basic necessities? Right at the moment you're reading this, are things bad? If the fear about future starts asserting itself, always ask yourself if you're okay right this moment, or are you just getting anxious over something that hasn't happened.
Also think of it this way: how wonderful would it be if you could just fully be as you are with someone without the need to hide anything? With dishonesty, you definitely rob yourself that possibility.