Oh, there's a lot to unpack here. First off, do you have romantic feelings for your friend? Because, if you don't, then it's NOT emotional cheating to be friends with a member of the opposite sex. If you were visexual would she just expect you not to have any close friends? If you think about it, does your wife do anything to push you away from other potential friends and family members? My two closest friends are men (I'm a woman) and if a partner told me I had to choose between him and them, I'd pick my friends every single time.
I lied because I was afraid of what my wife would say; we have had many issues throughout our relationship of me leaving it details because I don't want to justify them (things like what food I eat, what games I play etc).
This is extremely concerning and its pointing towards some big control issues from your wife and/or some sort of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria from you. (Both problems can exist together so don't dismiss her behavior if you do have RSD tendencies.) You shouldn't have to feel like you're walking on eggshells for simply feeding yourself or doing something you enjoy. If you're feeling like you're not allowed to have enjoyment or do something as innocuous as eating, then something is seriously wrong. The only exception to the food thing I can think of is if you had a medical condition like diabetes or something.
I'm a coward and she's very strong willed
Absolutely the fuck not!! You are NOT a coward and whoever made you believe that can fuck off right to hell.
Your relationship with your wife sounds really unhealthy my friend, and it's sounding like maybe the bulk of issues are with HER behavior, not yours.
I was in a relationship with a similar dynamic once. Spent 10 years with my high school “sweetheart” and he constantly made me feel inferior and stupid for liking certain things. He'd criticize me so much that I felt like I wasn't allowed to like or do anything. And so for years, I didn't. I dropped all hobbies, dropped all my friends, dropped most of my family, and I was miserable. I lost any sense of who I was and molded myself to his likes. His likes became my likes so he wouldn't make fun of me, even down to the music I liked and what I wore. When that relationship ended I was so lost because I didn't know who I was anymore. I had surpressed everything about myself for years and didn't know where to go from there. Eight years later, Ive finally been rediscovering myself because I've only recently realized why I feel so lost and it's because of that relationship and undiagnosed ADHD and autism that was triggering big fears of rejection.
Don't lose yourself to someone else's overbearing nature. You deserve better than that. You deserve someone who will love you despite whatever goofy things they think you do.
Get yourself to individual therapy if you aren't there already. It sounds like you may really benefit from it. Choose peace, whatever that looks like for you. Hugs ?
You know her better than I do, but it smells like a fucked up loyalty test/power play tbh.
She breaks up with you, you chase her, you take her back, and she gets to feel desired and secure in the fact that she can fuck around with your feelings all she wants…and you still won't leave her.
Not very hot to see why you suspect BPD.
The problem is that that sort of insecurity isn't just cruel to you – it's cavernous. It wasn't filled with round #1 of this. It wasn't filled with round #30 of this. It's not going to be filled by rounds #31 to #99999.
You're either going to be stuck in this cycle indefinitely, or she's going to ramp up with a new level of loyalty test…which is what that Tinder shit sounds like.
At best, you can try to bargain with her to pick some other way to feel safe.
But you already have.
And she wasn't interested.
She doesn't want to give you a straight answer. She doesn't feel any nee d to change. She just wants you to keep playing the game.
Seems like you have 2 choices:
1) Set the boundary and hope she's able/willing to take potential consequences seriously, once they're actually in sight. Maybe she genuinely tries therapy. Maybe she at least admits that this is a BIG problem.
Or
2) Accept that she's not going to change. And figure out how, exactly, you plan on living with this. Be prepared for the risk that when it stops being rewarding to her, you'll just start being tested in other ways instead.
Like her actually flirting with dudes on Tinder to see if that'll make you leave.
If it were not for the location services being disabled all of a sudden, I would have said that if she hasnt cheated, she is trying to. However, there is only one reason to disable location services, and that is to prevent people from seeing where you actually are in fact going. That is just my interpretation based on what you described.
I had a small convo in the car with him a few days ago after posting this but this was like right after posting. I had no idea this post blew up until yesterday and have more things to say to him now that some redditors have pointed things out to me.
Basically I said my job is to finish school right now (he’s said that to me before) and your job is to figure out your moms housing situation. Because she can’t online with us forever. He said that it’s her job to find one which I agreed but I told him that it’s been almost a year and she has no plan and that we can’t move out because she can’t afford to live here and then he said that he was just planning on moving when we found the house we want and she would have to figure her situation out. Which I said that cannot happen because it sounds like she doesn’t have a plan or is working on a plan and we need to make sure she has a place so she won’t come on-line with us again. He said okay.
He is telling you something about himself. Listen!!
When he does things for other people he views it as transactional. If I do this for you then you to that for me.
Porn addict
Yes it’s his choice to treat his girlfriend as second best and she should dump him.
Oh, there's a lot to unpack here. First off, do you have romantic feelings for your friend? Because, if you don't, then it's NOT emotional cheating to be friends with a member of the opposite sex. If you were visexual would she just expect you not to have any close friends? If you think about it, does your wife do anything to push you away from other potential friends and family members? My two closest friends are men (I'm a woman) and if a partner told me I had to choose between him and them, I'd pick my friends every single time.
I lied because I was afraid of what my wife would say; we have had many issues throughout our relationship of me leaving it details because I don't want to justify them (things like what food I eat, what games I play etc).
This is extremely concerning and its pointing towards some big control issues from your wife and/or some sort of Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria from you. (Both problems can exist together so don't dismiss her behavior if you do have RSD tendencies.) You shouldn't have to feel like you're walking on eggshells for simply feeding yourself or doing something you enjoy. If you're feeling like you're not allowed to have enjoyment or do something as innocuous as eating, then something is seriously wrong. The only exception to the food thing I can think of is if you had a medical condition like diabetes or something.
I'm a coward and she's very strong willed
Absolutely the fuck not!! You are NOT a coward and whoever made you believe that can fuck off right to hell.
Your relationship with your wife sounds really unhealthy my friend, and it's sounding like maybe the bulk of issues are with HER behavior, not yours.
I was in a relationship with a similar dynamic once. Spent 10 years with my high school “sweetheart” and he constantly made me feel inferior and stupid for liking certain things. He'd criticize me so much that I felt like I wasn't allowed to like or do anything. And so for years, I didn't. I dropped all hobbies, dropped all my friends, dropped most of my family, and I was miserable. I lost any sense of who I was and molded myself to his likes. His likes became my likes so he wouldn't make fun of me, even down to the music I liked and what I wore. When that relationship ended I was so lost because I didn't know who I was anymore. I had surpressed everything about myself for years and didn't know where to go from there. Eight years later, Ive finally been rediscovering myself because I've only recently realized why I feel so lost and it's because of that relationship and undiagnosed ADHD and autism that was triggering big fears of rejection.
Don't lose yourself to someone else's overbearing nature. You deserve better than that. You deserve someone who will love you despite whatever goofy things they think you do.
Get yourself to individual therapy if you aren't there already. It sounds like you may really benefit from it. Choose peace, whatever that looks like for you. Hugs ?
You know her better than I do, but it smells like a fucked up loyalty test/power play tbh.
She breaks up with you, you chase her, you take her back, and she gets to feel desired and secure in the fact that she can fuck around with your feelings all she wants…and you still won't leave her.
Not very hot to see why you suspect BPD.
The problem is that that sort of insecurity isn't just cruel to you – it's cavernous. It wasn't filled with round #1 of this. It wasn't filled with round #30 of this. It's not going to be filled by rounds #31 to #99999.
You're either going to be stuck in this cycle indefinitely, or she's going to ramp up with a new level of loyalty test…which is what that Tinder shit sounds like.
At best, you can try to bargain with her to pick some other way to feel safe.
But you already have.
And she wasn't interested.
She doesn't want to give you a straight answer. She doesn't feel any nee d to change. She just wants you to keep playing the game.
Seems like you have 2 choices:
1) Set the boundary and hope she's able/willing to take potential consequences seriously, once they're actually in sight. Maybe she genuinely tries therapy. Maybe she at least admits that this is a BIG problem.
Or
2) Accept that she's not going to change. And figure out how, exactly, you plan on living with this. Be prepared for the risk that when it stops being rewarding to her, you'll just start being tested in other ways instead.
Like her actually flirting with dudes on Tinder to see if that'll make you leave.
If it were not for the location services being disabled all of a sudden, I would have said that if she hasnt cheated, she is trying to. However, there is only one reason to disable location services, and that is to prevent people from seeing where you actually are in fact going. That is just my interpretation based on what you described.
I had a small convo in the car with him a few days ago after posting this but this was like right after posting. I had no idea this post blew up until yesterday and have more things to say to him now that some redditors have pointed things out to me.
Basically I said my job is to finish school right now (he’s said that to me before) and your job is to figure out your moms housing situation. Because she can’t online with us forever. He said that it’s her job to find one which I agreed but I told him that it’s been almost a year and she has no plan and that we can’t move out because she can’t afford to live here and then he said that he was just planning on moving when we found the house we want and she would have to figure her situation out. Which I said that cannot happen because it sounds like she doesn’t have a plan or is working on a plan and we need to make sure she has a place so she won’t come on-line with us again. He said okay.
But I want to talk about it again with him