I need help navigating and processing a breakup


Home Forums Break Up Advice I need help navigating and processing a breakup

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #946244 Reply
    Joy

    Hey guys, I was broken up with by an someone whose behavior, background and personality might track as FA a few week ago. I will give a run down of the relationship and the breakdown of the relationship. I need help navigating the break up and the no contact period.
    I have been in no contact with him for 6 weeks now, I blocked him everywhere. I just need clarity on the situation. I have known this person for so long but we reconnected last year. It started as friendship which progressed into a loving relationship with no abuse or infidelity. 
    In the first month of the relationship he ghosted me for a few days. He shutdown because he was going through a lot of personal stuff. He didn’t tell me all this but just stopped talking to me. I had to call and send multiple messages. Then I told him if he doesn’t respond, I will assume he ghosted me and I’ll move on. After that he sent a lot of texts saying how much he loves me and the last thing he wants is to break up. He was just going through something and I should just give him space and he would come back. I did just that and gave him space till he came back.
    This became a habit, he would randomly ghost when going through something and he’d expect me to just know and give him space. I thought I was a securely attached person but his ghosting and coming back randomly triggered my anxiety. I used to send messages on multiple platforms or try to call just to know why he ghosted and stuff like that. Other than this shutting down, he was a good partner to me.
    He was also scared that I’d leave him and would panic all the time, ask for reassurance that I won’t leave.
    He left the country later on, we started long distance. And before he left, I asked him not to shut down when things get hard. He agreed and I trusted him on this.
    2 weeks after he left, he just shut down, stopped talking to me. I didn’t know about attachment styles then. So him being 1000 miles away from me, triggered my anxious side, I was sending messages on various platforms, calling etc.. I had to reach out to his family member and that’s when he sent an email saying he is going through a lot, is depressed and he needs a break. All I wanted from him was that, he should at least talk to me beforehand, then I’ll give him space. I left him alone but I used to check in with him once or twice in a week during that period.
    By this time my anxiety was already triggered and was no longer secure in the relationship. Small things or small change in his behavior would trigger me. He came back 3 weeks later but was cold and distant for no reason. This triggered me more. At this stage he stopped answering my calls at all but was texting me daily though at a reduced frequency. He stopped saying I love you to me unless I said it first and this continued till the relationship ended.
    When I brought this up, he used to say I should just give him time, and that things between us will go back to normal soon. 
    My birthday came around, I’m not sure what happened that morning, but maybe my anxious side was activated. I was just craving for more attention from him I guess. We texted a little bit that morning. I tried calling him that morning. I called several times and he hang up on me. I spiraled and started leaving messages telling him, I do not appreciate how he is treating and that I don’t think he loves me anymore. We stopped talking for a like 3 weeks, but somewhere in those 3 weeks, he said he still wants to be with me and he doesn’t want to be away from me but he just needs to sort out his personal life, so I should give him time.
    When he came back, it was still the same. Poor communication, slow replies but was still asking me to be patient with him. This had been dragging on for 5 months. It was affecting me because my needs weren’t being met and all I was being told was to be patient. Our anniversary came, he sent me a happy anniversary message. But went on to ghost for 2 days. I told him I do not appreciate being treated that way and he broke up with me via text.

    After that I reached out to him and he just confused me more. He said he doesn’t want to be with anyone else but me, that he is still in love with me but he will miss me. He said that he was just not in the right mindset to be in a relationship. He said the main reason he broke up with me is that he doesn’t know if he will ever be happy due to his struggles. I asked if he was okay with trying again when in a better place, he said “Idk, we’ll see”. I took that as a no. He said we should go no contact so that we can work on ourselves but was open to me reaching out 6 months down the line. This confused me a lot and left me with more questions than answers
    Now I just need to decipher his behavior, and if it tracks as an FA. Is it okay for me to reach out to him on his birthday or after the 6 months have elapsed. And if thinks go well for him, do you think there is a he might come back when he is less overwhelmed.

    #946245 Reply
    Eric Charles
    Keymaster

    Hi Joy – First, I’m sorry to hear about your breakup.

    I read your full message, but I have to admit… as a coach who’s been doing this for a long time (over 20 years), I found myself feeling like a lot of key information is missing here…

    It struck me like you’re looking at this entirely through a lens of “attachment styles”, which actually could be limiting you from seeing the full picture (and a path to the relationship getting better).

    Since you’re on the site, I’m assuming you’ve seen all the articles about “how to get your ex back” and “no contact”, but if you haven’t definitely check them out (scroll through the homepage, you’ll see them).

    But I’ll share some quick thoughts with you here.

    As I read your post, I kept thinking, “OK, but who IS this guy? What’s his situation? What’s deeply important and meaningful to this guy? What’s going on in his life – does he feel like his life is moving in the direction he wants or the wrong direction?

    I read it and the only info that seemed to be there was within the limited scope of if he was communicating or not.

    Thing is, his communication is the last step in a chain of things going on with the guy.

    Like… if a guy is stressed and feels like things are heading in the wrong direction in his life, he’s likely to withdraw and stop communicating.

    Not to pull away from you, but to go inward so he can find “stable footing” within himself first. It’s a guy thing… guys don’t want to communicate when they feel like shit.

    So that’s a big reason why was curious about what’s going on with this guy in his own life, independent of the relationship.

    To figure it out, I’m asking myself, “What’s happening upstream (in his own life) that’s producing what you see downstream (his communication or lack thereof with you)?”

    Also…

    I understand how upsetting it is for the guy you’re with to just drop out. I agree that sucks and I do think there’s probably improvement needed on his side there. I don’t know only because I don’t know the full situation.

    But that said, your post made me wonder if there was a bad pattern at play within the relationship.

    I understand that he would drop out and that would trigger your anxiety. Personally, I wouldn’t dress it up with terms and concepts like fearful-attachment and anxious-attachment and all that.

    Reason being, my aim is I actually want to help you just solve the problem so you get to live the love life you really want.

    That’s your goal right? I mean, you didn’t learn about attachment styles to become an expert on attachment styles, right? You learned it so your love life could be much better.

    So that’s my goal, I just want to help you see the path to making your situation much better, and I don’t want to get bogged down in terminology and rigid concepts that might or might not apply… we can be a lot more effective if we just talk about the situation directly.

    I want to help, so please let me know a bit more about what was going on with the guy. Specifically those questions I rattled off in the beginning, but also:

    – I’d like to understand about your place in his life. Did you feel like you were in his actual life or standing outside, looking in?
    – Did you meet his friends and family?
    – How long were you together before this breakup?

    Let me know and I’ll share my thoughts on what will help. Also, if you haven’t yet, read my articles on no contact and how to get him back.

    – Eric

Viewing 2 posts - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)
Reply To: I need help navigating and processing a breakup
Your information:





<blockquote> <code> <pre> <em> <strong> <ul> <ol start=""> <li>