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Post by mixedsyles on May 27, 2020 6:12:55 GMT
I’m totally over my ex but I’m not really over the betrayal hi did to me. I think about it from time to time and I see clearly how it changed me.
I know he is very regretful. He doesn’t reach out so often anymore but sometimes times when he did we would get into an argument about his betrayal. It’s strange because while we were together we didn’t have so many serious arguments. Some small disagreements about finances and some plans. We never argued about cleaning the house for example. I felt safe and I was happy. I loved his family, they loved me too. And my ex he seemed happy, he said often he was happy and that he loved me.
I couldn’t see it coming. No one could. He reassured many times that it had nothing to do with me and our relationship. He took full responsibility for his actions and said I did nothing wrong.
Because of this betrayal I don’t want a traditional relationship again. I can’t trust fully. I do want children but I’m thinking about insemination or have someone nice to co-parent, date non-exclusive and definitely not leave together.
It seems like It doesn’t matter how nice someone is to you and how great a relationship is, they can still fuck up with everything if they want to.
As a FA, how do you deal with betrayal?
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Post by anne12 on May 27, 2020 6:46:57 GMT
Betrayel/infedellity can give you a chock/trauma in your nerveussystem and it can push you further into a more insecure attatchment style. It's very understandable from a nerveussystem perspective.
"A trauma is any event that breaks through the body's stimulus barrier and leads to overwhelming feelings of helplessness. Freud We are being traumatized if our ability to respond to a single threat is overwhelmed in one way or another (too much, too fast, too early especially if we can't reach successful resolution.' (Peter Levine)"
Some people work with this in SE/chock trauma/ attatchment therapy.
Just because one person betrayed you dosent mean that all future partners will betray you.
Have you tried to work with this in therapy ?
I have posted something about infedellity in the healing desorganised thread and the "how to create a long lasting relationship" thread, "healing a broken heart threa d" ect - general discussion forum.
Sounds like infedellity will be on your list of deal-breakers in the future.
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Post by mixedsyles on May 27, 2020 7:06:11 GMT
Betrayel/infedellity can give you a chock/trauma in your nerveussystem and it can push you into a more insecure attatchment style. It's very understandable from a nerveussystem perspective. Some people work with this in SE/chock trauma therapy. Just because one person betrayed you dosent mean that all future partners will betray you. Have you tried to work with this in therapy ? Thank you for answering! I haven’t tried therapy. I thought it wasn’t necessary since I was doing fine. It didn’t influence my job and I was living my life as usual. Maybe I should try therapy. I’m not unhappy with life in general but I miss sometimes the extra well-being feelings I had while being a married. I think by doing “casual” but kind of deep casual relationships I’m seeking after a good love conexion but without putting myself out there to the risk of being betrayed again.
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Post by anne12 on May 27, 2020 7:23:51 GMT
Just because that the betrayel happend in your lovelife dosent mean it will "fuck up" the rest of your life. To me it sounds like you are protecting yourself from getting hurt in the future. The "casual love relationship" with the guy you are seeing can be okay for now. It can be okay for a while, but it can also be like "dating" safely, like driving a car with the speeder and brakes pressed down at the same time and like always having a backdoor open..
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Post by mixedsyles on May 27, 2020 7:51:53 GMT
anne12 I would never give someone the power to the destroy my whole life! As I wrote I’m happy and satisfied with life most of the times. When I wrote “fuck up” the whole thing I meant that by being unfaithful they can destroy the beautiful relationship we have. I’m pretty conscious about that I’m trying to protect myself. I’m getting some of my needs for connection met without being in a exclusive relationship. In all exclusive relationships there is a chance that someone will break the deal of being faithful. I just don’t want to take this risk again. I will take a look at it! Thank you!
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Post by alexandra on May 27, 2020 8:06:11 GMT
Isn't being too afraid to engage in full intimacy, though it was something you wanted before, letting your ex eff up your whole life?
A lot of people don't cheat. They try to talk and work through issues, and end relationships before moving on. Cheaters often have bad communication skills.
Never fighting also is usually a sign of bad communication. You may fight more now because communication was blown open by the betrayal whereas before he was acting happy and not complaining to anyone, but in reality was shoving his feelings down until he couldn't stuff them anymore and acted out instead.
I think the difficulty in feeling how you are at this point is not because you don't trust future partners, it's because you don't trust yourself (to know how to choose a partner who won't betray you) or your own boundaries (you're clamping down totally rather than risking letting someone in in a healthy way). This is understandable -- you were blindsided, you were hurt, you were betrayed, now you'll question everything you thought you knew about your romantic relationships and partners.
Though you need time to heal and mourn, shutting yourself down isn't resilient or moving forward. It is hurting yourself more out of fear. That is a typical problem for insecure attachment types, especially FA. You may not feel you know what else to do, you did your best before and still got hurt, so what now? If you don't trust others or yourself, then you simply shut down or try to convince yourself you can control your environment (control yourself and others by choosing relationships without real commitment, even if that's what you really want as you enjoyed being married until you were betrayed). Insecure attachers want to feel in control of themselves and their surroundings, even when it's not things they actually can control. But it's an attempt to combat feeling powerless and fearful.
To combat this, it isn't about gaining more control. It's about strengthening your own sense of identity so that if you get betrayed, you don't abandon yourself. Based on what you said happened earlier in your life, a good therapist probably can help you untangle some of this and give you better tools so you don't feel powerless and distrustful of others and of your own ability to choose good partners. That's what you're asking, what can be done about this ie what are better tools? That's one of the things therapists are supposed to be able to provide.
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Post by mixedsyles on May 27, 2020 9:22:25 GMT
Isn't being too afraid to engage in full intimacy, though it was something you wanted before, letting your ex eff up your whole life? A lot of people don't cheat. They try to talk and work through issues, and end relationships before moving on. Cheaters often have bad communication skills. Never fighting also is usually a sign of bad communication. You may fight more now because communication was blown open by the betrayal whereas before he was acting happy and not complaining to anyone, but in reality was shoving his feelings down until he couldn't stuff them anymore and acted out instead. I think the difficulty in feeling how you are at this point is not because you don't trust future partners, it's because you don't trust yourself (to know how to choose a partner who won't betray you) or your own boundaries (you're clamping down totally rather than risking letting someone in in a healthy way). This is understandable -- you were blindsided, you were hurt, you were betrayed, now you'll question everything you thought you knew about your romantic relationships and partners. Though you need time to heal and mourn, shutting yourself down isn't resilient or moving forward. It is hurting yourself more out of fear. That is a typical problem for insecure attachment types, especially FA. You may not feel you know what else to do, you did your best before and still got hurt, so what now? If you don't trust others or yourself, then you simply shut down or try to convince yourself you can control your environment (control yourself and others by choosing relationships without real commitment, even if that's what you really want as you enjoyed being married until you were betrayed). Insecure attachers want to feel in control of themselves and their surroundings, even when it's not things they actually can control. But it's an attempt to combat feeling powerless and fearful. To combat this, it isn't about gaining more control. It's about strengthening your own sense of identity so that if you get betrayed, you don't abandon yourself. Based on what you said happened earlier in your life, a good therapist probably can help you untangle some of this and give you better tools so you don't feel powerless and distrustful of others and of your own ability to choose good partners. That's what you're asking, what can be done about this ie what are better tools? That's one of the things therapists are supposed to be able to provide. Thank you for your comment! I didn’t mean that the betrayed destroyed my whole life but it destroyed the beautiful relationship we had. I’m happy with my job, with my friends, with my family, with the new guy I’m seeing... Life goes on! I’m not depressed or something like that. When I think about what happened I see how it changed me. I never said we didn’t fight, I said we didn’t have too many dramatic fights. We could argue about economy and future plans and some small things. But both of us were good at talking and coming to an agreement. There were no pushing and pull and unhealthy patterns in our relationship. No anxiety and fears about the relationship for the first 9 years... Then I find out about the affair. We did try to save the relationship for a whole year, because yes I tried to rationalize what happened: We were too young when we met, just 20 years old. We got married after 3,5 years together. At early twenties people are not ready to make a long life commitment to someone. I thought, we had a great relationship so I would not let this affair destroy the whole relationship but it did. I became very avoidant. We stopped being affectionate to each other because I felt disgusted by his touch. I started fighting about everything and even if the fight had nothing to do with the betrayal it always came up. So actually I wasn’t fighting about the small things. And later I just stopped fighting all together, I could barely look at him, I felt like I had nothing to say. I would be polite when he talked to me but I liked it more when I was alone home or when he was quite. Than I decided to leave. It was uncomfortable to see him sad and trying to make things better and back to how it was before. But I couldn’t look at him at the same way anymore. I‘m conscious that I’m afraid of engaging in full intimacy again. But I don’t feel unhappy in a casual relationship as long as I feel respected, heard and seen. I learned that happy partners can also cheat. We don’t stop thinking that other people are attractive just because we are in a relationship. Some people are better at controlling their desire and respecting the deals we have in a relationship. I know I would always respect my partner and the deals we have but there is no way to know if the other person would the same for me/us. So by now, I’m happy by keeping it casual but kind of deep.
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Post by alexandra on May 27, 2020 9:42:30 GMT
What tools are you looking for, then? If you feel that you're content with your situation, what work will you be motivated to do to change?
Betrayal is a violation and can be hard to process, but processing it is another form of going through 5 stages of grief.
Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
You may be in bargaining right now (with yourself). That's normal and on track, you just don't want to get permanently stuck in any stage before the last one.
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Post by mixedsyles on May 27, 2020 10:46:31 GMT
What tools are you looking for, then? If you feel that you're content with your situation, what work will you be motivated to do to change? Betrayal is a violation and can be hard to process, but processing it is another form of going through 5 stages of grief. Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. You may be in bargaining right now (with yourself). That's normal and on track, you just don't want to get permanently stuck in any stage before the last one. I’m not sure if I’m looking for some tools. I’m interested about how other people have experienced being betrayed. It was kind of traumatic for me. It changed my expectations about relationships. There are a lot of people being sad about being single, feeling down because it’s hard to find a good partner, miserable being in a shitty relationship or specially woman stressing about the biological clock. I was happy while in a relationship but I’m not struggling by being single either. I find out that people can be happy in less “traditional relationships” too. Right now the only thing I expected from a romantic partner is physical affection and consistency. I don’t want a ring, I don’t want to live together, I don’t want exclusivity, He doesn’t have to take me on dates, I can do funny things on my own or with friends... it would be nice if he wants to become a father in a non-traditional family, but I’m not worried about it either because if I want to become a mother I can do an IVF. I have the economy to take care of a child on my own and a family support I can always use if I need to. I’m not sure about where I am in the grief process. It felt like hell when it happened but not anymore. I don’t think deeply or often about it anymore. When I do it feels sad, a little bit of nostalgia about the good times and later the thoughts feeds away. I don’t know if it is a FA thing but I don’t forget bad events in life but I will not ruminate about it either.
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Post by tnr9 on May 27, 2020 11:48:51 GMT
I’m totally over my ex but I’m not really over the betrayal hi did to me. I think about it from time to time and I see clearly how it changed me. I know he is very regretful. He doesn’t reach out so often anymore but sometimes times when he did we would get into an argument about his betrayal. It’s strange because while we were together we didn’t have so many serious arguments. Some small disagreements about finances and some plans. We never argued about cleaning the house for example. I felt safe and I was happy. I loved his family, they loved me too. And my ex he seemed happy, he said often he was happy and that he loved me. I couldn’t see it coming. No one could. He reassured many times that it had nothing to do with me and our relationship. He took full responsibility for his actions and said I did nothing wrong. Because of this betrayal I don’t want a traditional relationship again. I can’t trust fully. I do want children but I’m thinking about insemination or have someone nice to co-parent, date non-exclusive and definitely not leave together. It seems like It doesn’t matter how nice someone is to you and how great a relationship is, they can still fuck up with everything if they want to. As a FA, how do you deal with betrayal? Honestly, it sounds like you adopted a different mindset based on the betrayal and are happy with everything in your life...so I am trying to figure out what you are trying to learn from others? Because grief is a rather individual thing.
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Post by mixedsyles on May 27, 2020 12:24:29 GMT
I’m totally over my ex but I’m not really over the betrayal hi did to me. I think about it from time to time and I see clearly how it changed me. I know he is very regretful. He doesn’t reach out so often anymore but sometimes times when he did we would get into an argument about his betrayal. It’s strange because while we were together we didn’t have so many serious arguments. Some small disagreements about finances and some plans. We never argued about cleaning the house for example. I felt safe and I was happy. I loved his family, they loved me too. And my ex he seemed happy, he said often he was happy and that he loved me. I couldn’t see it coming. No one could. He reassured many times that it had nothing to do with me and our relationship. He took full responsibility for his actions and said I did nothing wrong. Because of this betrayal I don’t want a traditional relationship again. I can’t trust fully. I do want children but I’m thinking about insemination or have someone nice to co-parent, date non-exclusive and definitely not leave together. It seems like It doesn’t matter how nice someone is to you and how great a relationship is, they can still fuck up with everything if they want to. As a FA, how do you deal with betrayal? Honestly, it sounds like you adopted a different mindset based on the betrayal and are happy with everything in your life...so I am trying to figure out what you are trying to learn from others? Because grief is a rather individual thing. I think it’s interesting to read about how coping mechanism works differently for different people. I always wondered why the horrible things I have been through didn’t affect me that hard. When I learned about attachment theory I thought maybe I am so resilient because I was secure. But it makes no sense when I think about some episodes in my childhood. Than later I thought maybe I am a dismissive avoidant, suppressing the uncomfortable emotions and thinking that everything is just fine. But I do feel anxiety when triggered and none of my friends, parents or even romantic partners never complained about me distancing myself from them. So I’m pretty much trying to understand what hell is wrong with me. Maybe a therapist could help!
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Post by tnr9 on May 27, 2020 12:43:35 GMT
Honestly, it sounds like you adopted a different mindset based on the betrayal and are happy with everything in your life...so I am trying to figure out what you are trying to learn from others? Because grief is a rather individual thing. I think it’s interesting to read about how coping mechanism works differently for different people. I always wondered why the horrible things I have been through didn’t affect me that hard. When I learned about attachment theory I thought maybe I am so resilient because I was secure. But it makes no sense when I think about some episodes in my childhood. Than later I thought maybe I am a dismissive avoidant, suppressing the uncomfortable emotions and thinking that everything is just fine. But I do feel anxiety when triggered and none of my friends, parents or even romantic partners never complained about me distancing myself from them. So I’m pretty much trying to understand what hell is wrong with me. Maybe a therapist could help! I think a therapist is the right approach. My therapist has helped me tremendously. I highly recommend an SE therapist because sometimes trauma gets locked inside the body and an SE therapist can help work that through. I know of at least 1 DA on this board who found her therapist really helpful. Good luck.
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Post by fabnewlife1 on May 27, 2020 19:39:54 GMT
It gets better and it's essential to go NC . In 9 months i'm almost at the forgiving stage .Once the trauma bond us broken and you have detoxed you can fondly remember the good times you shared . If they are not aware it's hard to condemn their behaviour. Toughen your boundaries and remember knowledge is power .
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Post by mrob on May 28, 2020 2:43:14 GMT
I’ve both betrayed and been betrayed. I’ve been married where there were very few arguments, but a hell of a lot of suppressed emotions about dealbreaker stuff. It’s not a way I ever wish to live again. I’ve made the same decision in that I’ll never live with anyone again. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop this stuff from coming up. Its an opportunity for growth, however painful it is.
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