An especially tough breakup.
Not sure why I'm here. I've already done a ton of thinking, a ton of reading, and I know things are out of my hands now and I should occupy myself with other things. So I'm a little disappointed that I'm choosing to spend my Tuesday morning thinking about all of this again, but oh well.
So my relationship of a year and a half just ended. Doesn't sound like much after reading about people ending 6 year relationships but we were incredibly close. For the first few months of our relationship we saw each other every single day despite working and school because we couldn't get enough of each other.
We argued a lot. There was a lot of outside stresses on our relationship, I decided to leave my job and then got caught in the poor economy and haven't been working. She was struggling to get through school and just recently graduated. So while we did argue a lot, I thought we both understood and agreed that these were temporary situations and eventually our lives would be less hectic and things would smooth out.
So about a month ago when things were going downhill we were talking about breaking up. Well, I guess I was the one who suggested it. I'm sure I didn't mean it because I don't even remember what I was mad about, but we were both in the habbit of threatening breaking up and then making up hours later. But what caught me off guard that time was she said "please don't break up with me while I'm trying to study for finals and finish school". That was a big red flag and I even said to her "ok, that makes it sound like at some point in the future, you WILL be okay with breaking up". She said I was just misunderstanding what she said.
Sure enough, her exams were done that week, we were hanging out the next Monday, we had an argument, and it was over. It wasn't even a big deal but I'm sure someone will ask what the final argument was about. It was an argument we had many times before. I text her during the day to ask if she even felt like coming over. She said yes. So I pick her up, bring her here, and feed her dinner. She gets comfortable in bed and I start to get the feeling she's going to fall asleep, so I say "how long should I let you rest?". She denies that she is going to fall asleep. Buttt she does and two hours later I'm trying to entertain myself while she sleeps. Finally I decided to just call today a loss and I wake her up and say she should head home. She acts sorry and insists that I get back in bed with her. So I think okay jackpot, she's finally going to pay attention to me. I get in bed and she lays there and practically falls back asleep. So I finally insisted she grab her stuff and go sleep at home, and then I end up being the bad guy. I think I was incredibly reasonable for asking earlier in the day if she wanted to come over at all, for asking how long I should let her rest (and having her deny it), and finally after letting her sleep for 2 hours (out of the 3 hours we had to spend together) telling her to just go home. But she still says its my fault, I'm not understanding that she goes to school at 6am and gets tired.
Anyway I didn't want to get that detailed but that is the basic pattern of most of our arguments.
So that night I sent a text like "just end it if I'm so awful", again not really meaning it, but before I knew it she really was ending it.
I was really hurt. I felt like she used me to get to the end of school, and now that she has a bright future ahead of her with a medical career and lots of money, she can toss me aside and look for something better. I spent my own money to keep her car running so she could get to work, gave her money to help her keep up with bills, etc etc. Yes I was out of work but don't get the impression that I was being a total bum around her, I was still more financially secure than her and helping her most of the time, not like I was making her take care of me.
So I of course messed up at first, demanded to see her a few days later, cried, begged, she only got me to go home by promising that we could talk later. Then again exactly a week later I figured she'd be ready to talk, as I mentioned we NEVER actually broke up before, we always apologized and made up, but when I asked to see her after one week she was still hesitating and said she didn't want me to expect anything. So I picked her up but we just talked in my car, and again same thing, more crying, more begging her for an explanation, nothing. She was still rock solid in saying "no".
For the next month I attempted "some degree" of no contact. I only talked to her to ask how school was going, and I did tell her that when she graduated in a month I hoped she would be ready to reconsider. Maybe once or twice we did get into a discussion about our relationship and never really got anywhere.
That's where we are at today. She finished school on Friday. When asking to talk to her this weekend she was saying "why, I'm busy" so I knew nothing had changed. She let me know that she did pass her classes and that's about it.
So I tried to salvage things and sent her one last email, saying sorry for bothering her, I should have given her space, I can't go back and change it now but I will leave her alone now and wait to here from you. We still need to exchange belongings and I said I would leave it up to her but I get the feeling she's going to drag that out, I don't understand why she would want to do it later rather than sooner.
Honestly I just feel like things definitely could have worked out, that's the only reason this is hard for me. I do not feel that I'm in denial about a relationship that was doomed no matter what. Like I mentioned, much of our stresses were temporary, now she's done with school, I unfortunately am still having trouble finding work but I still think if we had just hung out, we would have had a great life together.
I guess I am guilty of hoping that the No Contact idea will bring her back. I know I'm not supposed to use it solely for that reason. I AM using the time to focus on myself, improve myself, eat healthy, and work out, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hoping this will cause her to miss me. Even working out and eating healthy is because I want to look good whenever I see her again.
Should I break my No Contact rule to insist that we exchange belongings? She doesn't have anything that I desperately need but I just think it would be even worse to do it a few months from now. I don't understand why if she wants me truly gone she is dragging out this process. So I kind of wish we would get it over with, maybe that would help her understand that I really am gone and maybe make her reconsider, instead of being able to see my belongings all over her house every day.
Really the bottom line for me is how am I supposed to move on from someone who I was committed to loving for the rest of my life? I've been a pessimist for most of my life and have always been told that I need to have hope, have faith, yet now when I try to apply that to this situation, people are telling me it's wrong and I should move on. Whenever negative thoughts enter my mind, wondering who she's out with or what she's doing, I just tell myself to love her, send good feelings out into the universe, and if I maintain my love and stop my ego from saying "screw her, her loss", maybe she will be back one day.
There's a million other details I could give, but I feel like this is too long already. I know nobody has a magic answer, just here to vent I guess.
She left me but is still hesitating
Threads merged
A 1.5 year relationship ended in April. Just over arguing too much and the usual stuff. She had 1 month left of school to finish at that point and I decided it would be best to give her that space, but still talked to her about once a week trying to repair things. Then she graduated and still didn't show much interest. We had one final long phone conversation where she told me she just didn't believe that I could make the changes I was offering to make, and it's been about 2 weeks since then. I sent her one last email, and at the very end of the email, I reminded her that she has a few of my things in her car that I really need back. I specifically in plain English told her not to hesitate, to hurry and bring my stuff, because any hesitation would give me hope that she couldn't go through with this, or that I still had a chance. I also offered that she could just leave it outside my house without having to see me in person, just in case that was the reason she didn't want to do it, I'm not trying to trap her into a confrontation or anything. But 2 weeks later and I don't have my stuff. And it's having the exact affect I told her it would, it's making me feel like part of her can't leave me. Yes she has been very busy and there's a small possibility that she just hasn't thought about it, but she drives right past my neighborhood on the way to her job, and regardless of how many hours she's working, it takes 2 minutes to detour to my house and leave my belongings. I have been in No Contact since that email.
I hate to give her the satisfaction of ME being the one to call or text again. But either way I feel like she has the power. Either I sit here waiting for my stuff and she's entirely in control of if/when she brings it to me, or I break NC and ask her for it again.
Also I can't decide if I would want to slip her a short note when I see her, or if it would have more of an impact to take my stuff and quietly walk away without even trying to talk to her. Maybe I am already having some impact on her because she knows I want my things, yet I haven't been contacting her about it.
I really want her back and I'm balancing right on the edge of still having hope, or finally moving on.
Is she just screwing with me? Am I a fool for quietly waiting this long? Or is she literally trying to send the message that she isn't sure yet. I told her specifically that hesitating would make me think I have a chance...
Friends have told me that I'm putting too much thought into this, that if I show up one day to get my stuff back, it's not going to change the entire course of our fate, and if she was going to give me another chance she will regardless of if I get my stuff back. But on the other hand I feel like I'm "on a roll" with NC and maybe just letting that continue has the most effect. Buuut then I again feel like I'm still letting her have power over me, driving past my house every day with my stuff in her car and doesn't have the consideration to bring it back. As you can tell my mind is like a yo-yo...
I'm the type of person that regardless of what choice I make, if it doesn't have the desired effect, I'll regret it. If I see her and take my stuff and walk away without saying anything and she never comes back, I'll feel like "I should have given her a note or told her I cared one more time". If I give her a note or say something to her and she doesn't come back, I'll always feel like "I should have walked away and let her experience the fear that she lost me for good".