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Relationship Partner with BPD (Straight and LGBT+) => Romantic Relationship | Detaching and Learning after a Failed Relationship => Topic started by: arn131arn on January 09, 2014, 11:28:14 PM



Title: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: arn131arn on January 09, 2014, 11:28:14 PM
I'm learning laughing is best.  Hanging around friends, bullhitting, cutting up.

I also have wonderful women around me, like my sister, mom, and friend's wives.

Sis just texted me this one:

"God will sometimes end a relationship for your protection.  Don't chase the person he is trying to save you from."

... . roger that


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: karma_gal on January 09, 2014, 11:39:33 PM
I'm learning laughing is best.  Hanging around friends, bullhitting, cutting up.

I also have wonderful women around me, like my sister, mom, and friend's wives.

Sis just texted me this one:



"God will sometimes end a relationship for your protection.  Don't chase the person he is trying to save you from.
"

... . roger that

I love this.  In fact, I think I'm going to see if I can find this quote online with a cutesy picture and make it my phone screensaver so I see it 100 times a day.  Maybe then it will sink in the next time he leaves not to let him come back.

As to laughing, that's about all we can do these days.  Otherwise, the only thing left is crying, and I refuse to shed another tear over him.  Laughing at him is more fun  


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 10, 2014, 09:25:07 AM
Rewind.  Thursday afternoon, January 12... . 2012... . my dad calls me and tells me that he thinks he may be having a blood clot coming up in his leg.  Not uncommon for him actually, and although very dangerous he acts as if it is routine…geez!  So anyway, he asks if I will take him to the ER on Sunday cause he knows the doctor is going to admit him to the hospital if he goes to see him, and he knows he has a job to wrap up…won’t listen…beside point.  I grudgingly agree.  Of course, I text the xgf that I am going to take my dad to the hospital on Sunday.  I text her and tell her I am worried about my dad and my plan to take him to the doctor.  Of course I start this is a slight…a ploy…to get me to not “hang out with her”, or to “be alone”…or “avoid her”…I usually slip into my codependency and let her mow all over me, but this one really pissed me OFF!  Because I would NEVER and I mean NEVER fake a parent’s health to get out of anything!  That’s bad karma there boys and girls, and what if something really did?  Anyway, that was a two hour fiasco getting it back together.   I agree I will still spend the weekend with her (I had no plans of not to start with) and get up early Sunday morning and take him…This of course is a major pain in my ass…but I do it to make her happy.  Fast Forward……My x and I had a huge fight Saturday night late because she was convinced I was checking out her friend’s son’s girlfriend…she’s 15.  I blew up in her face and she tried her damndest to get me to hit her so she’d have some ammo I guess and could get her enablers to march out on her field and be her cheering section.  Course, I didn’t fall into that ploy and promptly left.  She tortured me till 7am with hate.  I was done (at least thought I was) with her.  The prior month she had raged on me for the supposed “mom flirting/boob checking out” rhetoric and had stalked me at the house with intent to kill me with a knife (she said to scare me).  Foolishly I had taken her back?  Yes, I was an idiot…Anyway, I sleep Sunday morning maybe 2 hours and take my dad to the ER.  We have been there about 2 hours and he is in an examination room.  My dad is a pretty private guy…was married once before mom, and was in the service…never talked about either one of those things…Starts telling me about both.  Scariest one was the story about his first wife…She slapped the ___ out of him in his sleep when they were first married.  He was freaked out.  She said she thought he was screwing her sister.  He packed his things and split.  He spoke to her father…said she had pulled a gun on her first husband and  the dad said the husband said he “didn’t have a clue” as to why she did it.  Tells me he finds her (and the accused sister) in his truck outside his workplace a few weeks later…hiding.  Approaches her and nicely asks them if they needed something…they say no and leave.  :)ad finds hammer on way home from his tool box shoved under the seat.  She was about to ___ him up with it…wow.  

Can you imagine how this shook me UP?  Here I am…40 years old, and my dad picks THIS day to tell me this stuff?   In detail?  So, that statement rings so true…Against every clue I had….I ignored them and went back to her again.  End result?  $4000 worth of damage to my car, another attempt on my life, more therapy,  I’m guessing most of us…if not all of us that are here have left our tormentors.  Seems like a lot of you had better sense than I did for sure.  

What did it take for y'all to have a "belly full"... . What other signs were there for you?  What did you choose to ignore and keep riding the train when every synaptic nerve in your brain was screaming at you to leave?






Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: bpdspell on January 10, 2014, 10:15:43 AM
What did it take for y'all to have a "belly full"... . What other signs were there for you?  What did you choose to ignore and keep riding the train when every synaptic nerve in your brain was screaming at you to leave?

I woke the F up when I could no longer stomach my ex's entitlement and abuse. Narcissistic entitlement is nauseating to me and was my emotional "cue" to hang things up. I poured into my ex: mind, body and soul and once idealization was over he gave me NOTHING. What he did do was train me to chase his "carrot stick" love like it was the hope diamond when in reality BPD love is a lump of coal. And all of us on here deserve love that's better than a lump of coal. It's no way to live and I refuse to allow someone who didn't even create me to treat my like a piece of crap. Our ex's are not our mothers or fathers and in my honest opinion no human being should ever have that amount of cart blanche power over you.

Signs: Cheating, lies, infidelity, blame shifting, the lack of reciprocity…It all added up to = something's really wrong with this person.

What I ignored: the lies, the cheating. It was my powerful delusion and denial kicking in overtime. I was willing to self sacrifice myself because I believed that it was my job to rescue my ex from his pain. My codependent traits also kicked in. I was willing to rescue you all so I didn't have to take care of myself. It all became one big devastating trap cycle of delusional lies based on the fear of abandonment, loneliness, and to a degree self-hate.

My mother is a narcissist. Plain and simple. And it was my normal because she raised me. My father showed me love and affection as a child and it was the only thing that honestly gave me the strength to "wise up" and give my BPD ex the boot. That fatherly love foundation triggered my self-respect and I'm grateful for it. My relationship with BPD crazy only lasted 10 months; 3 of which were excruciating.

What I've learned: you can't expect someone to love you if they hate themselves. If they don't have the capacity to love themselves then how they hell are they going to love you?

Spell


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Free2Bee on January 10, 2014, 10:59:25 AM
For me, it was the feeling that the 'rage episodes' were escalating and moving towards violence. And a veiled suicide threat.

I was also very weary of constantly being 'on my toes', trying not to anger her. The very last night we spent together, she had the prickly energy that I knew from experience would lead to a rage.

That same night, she brought me a shirt and a special art project she had been working on for us. I still regret not being more enthusiastic and loving about those gifts, but I was being cautious because I didn't know if my delight would set her off.

I still cry when I think about this (she took both gifts with her when she left, said I didn't appreciate them... . ).

I guess I just got to the point where I realised that I *had* to save myself because things were getting too bizarre... .


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Perfidy on January 10, 2014, 11:13:35 AM
Good company and laughter produce the feel good stuff. Natural endorphins. Healthy arn.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: State85 on January 10, 2014, 11:23:28 AM
Her calling my son a p.o.s., and a f'ing loser. Not to his face, he never would have anything to do with her... . she said those things to me!

I believe she was probably jealous of him... . and she should be.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 10, 2014, 01:28:46 PM
For me, it was the feeling that the 'rage episodes' were escalating and moving towards violence. And a veiled suicide threat.

I was also very weary of constantly being 'on my toes', trying not to anger her. The very last night we spent together, she had the prickly energy that I knew from experience would lead to a rage.

That same night, she brought me a shirt and a special art project she had been working on for us. I still regret not being more enthusiastic and loving about those gifts, but I was being cautious because I didn't know if my delight would set her off.

I still cry when I think about this (she took both gifts with her when she left, said I didn't appreciate them... . ).

I guess I just got to the point where I realised that I *had* to save myself because things were getting too bizarre... .

Know that energy well…The night the 15 year old girl accusation happened?  Here’s the back story.  She has a young daughter that I adore, and they were both invited to go.  When we got up, she d*cked around as she always does and basically the party would be over by the time she got ready.  She asked if I would take her on since I was ready.  I was like sure!  This was a pool party, (inside at Y).  I was uneasy because there were likely going to be women there…in swimsuits.  This is a recipe for disaster.  So the longer it takes her to get there, the better the chance of her not flipping out because someone was wearing a bikini or something…We’d had a couple of really good weeks prior to this.  Course it was because I stayed home with her and avoided contact with anyone female.  I didn’t want any trouble.  I got there and enjoyed the 5 year old’s party.  Silly.  Having a good time with the daughter.  She finally arrived there when the party was mostly over and the kids were in the pool.  Nothing but overweight women, men and kids…surely I am safe.   I went and got her a drink and came back.  We sat close and held hands.  It was nice.  We talked about her friend’s 17 year old son and his girlfriend.  They were roughhousing in the pool.  She told me they were sexually active, but were responsible and used protection.  Okay…good for them.  End of conversation.   

After doing that, we went to visit a friend in the hospital.  Everything was fine.  She was sitting in the chair next to me with her legs propped up on me during the visit…being very affectionate.  Nothing wrong.  That evening we were going to have dinner and play cards with the friend that invited her to the party earlier and her boyfriend.  We were playing and having a damn good time…Song comes on, and the friend’s boyfriend starts chuckling a little…turns out it is at a song that is on the radio.  The friend starts prodding him what it is about.  He says he doesn’t want to say and the friend finally pries it out of him…the song reminds him of someone he used to date.  Instead of just chuckling and not worrying about it, the friend starts in on him about how disrespectful what he just did was…even though she is the one that kept prying.  He gets angry (I don’t blame him)…says he’s going home because he’s tired of being harassed.  My xgf starts talking to the friend out front…friend says “you better be good to this man”…meaning me.  She’s got that look in her eye…noticed it since the boyfriend left.  She starts saying something about how “he” meaning me…”can’t keep his eyes in their sockets”…I am like…What the heck?  What the hell did I do now?  Apparently, I was gawking at the 15 year old child…said I rubbed my chin when discussing her?  .somehow that means I wanted to have sex with her?  Okay…you are a psycho.  Bear in mind there wasn’t even a flicker of a problem all day…12 hours after the “incident” is when she started to rake me over the coals…Wicked fight ensued…you know the rest. 



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: myself on January 10, 2014, 02:26:07 PM
There were too many of her teeth marks in my heart. Now every time I have a better day without her, it's like the dents are being pushed back out. A few more touch ups and I'm ready to go.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Turkish on January 10, 2014, 03:56:28 PM
What I've learned: you can't expect someone to love you if they hate themselves. If they don't have the capacity to love themselves then how they hell are they going to love you?

I used to think this was stupid, but now I fully understand and agree with it. At least the hate part. No amount of love can fill a black hole of hatred.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Johnny Alias on January 10, 2014, 04:46:20 PM
For me I was just tired... . I had begged her at one point on hand and knee during my third recycle to stop screaming at me when she got drunk.  Then at one point she said she was going to see a therapist and didn't.

And then in the end when I thought she was trying really hard we were at a party, she got wasted yet again and accused me of wanting to leave her for a younger girl who could give me a child.  God.

It was sad.  If she'd only stopped screaming at me I could have overlooked the laundry list of issues she had... . but when the eyes glaze over and they're yelling at you as if you're someone else... . when they're projecting all the anger from their childhood onto you... . you become a prop in a play.  You literally feel like a punching bag. 

After I'd gotten some of my strength back and she'd moved in with another man she changed for the worse... . attacking everyone.  Long time friends.  Me.  Whoever.  Didn't matter.  Never will. 

Her childhood was brutal.  Neglect and verbal abuse on an EPIC scale.  I'm fairly certain she was also sexually abused.  That anger has to go somewhere... . and it hits US square between the eyes. 


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: SeekingAdviceinCa on January 10, 2014, 05:10:12 PM
Signs: Cheating, lies, infidelity, blame shifting, the lack of reciprocity…It all added up to = something's really wrong with this person.

What I ignored: the lies, the cheating. It was my powerful delusion and denial kicking in overtime. I was willing to self sacrifice myself because I believed that it was my job to rescue my ex from his pain. My codependent traits also kicked in. I was willing to rescue you all so I didn't have to take care of myself. It all became one big devastating trap cycle of delusional lies based on the fear of abandonment, loneliness, and to a degree self-hate.


What I've learned: you can't expect someone to love you if they hate themselves. If they don't have the capacity to love themselves then how they hell are they going to love you?

Spell

This, my friend, is me.  Thank you for posting this.  This is essentially what woke me up too.  I just had enough. 

The final straw that broke the camels back?  Two months ago when she tried to make up a story that, in case her routine obgyn appointment tests should show any signs of an STD, that it would have meant I had been unfaithful.  I now know that she had been with multiple other men at that time and she was using this made up story to blame it on me in case her tests had come back positive.  (Thankfully all were negative b/c that would have meant she would have infected me) 

That was probably the most disgusting thing she's ever attempted to do.  And it was all I could take.  I am filing for divorce at the end of this month. 

I'd rather live alone than live like this.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: RecycledNoMore on January 10, 2014, 05:23:14 PM
For me, I was just tired, tired of the drama,the lies, the abuse, it all became so predictable, I kept thinking to myself, surely this cant be it?, this cant be as good as it gets?After I found out about BPD, it was the beginning of the end... .


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: fromheeltoheal on January 10, 2014, 05:29:58 PM
Any wising up I've done happened well after the relationship ended.  When I was in it, it was nothing but primitive fight or flight, brought on by stress and pain.  There wasn't much thinking going on, it was either beat the crap out of her or bail, binary pure reaction.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 10, 2014, 05:43:32 PM
For me, I was just tired, tired of the drama,the lies, the abuse, it all became so predictable, I kept thinking to myself, surely this cant be it?, this cant be as good as it gets?After I found out about BPD, it was the beginning of the end... .

Yep... . predictable.  It's why I knew she was at my house when she came to possibly end my life... . I KNEW she was there.  Truly insane, predictable behavior... . She expects different results but she keeps doing the same things over and over... . I was on that ride with her.  But no more.  I got off that ride... . It made me puke all the time.  Note the bolded lyrics at the bottom... .

Here's a good song that made me think about how dysfunctional my relationship with her was.  Sure many of you can relate to these lyrics.  

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1F8I-27q6A

And the lyrics...

"Sick Cycle Carousel"

If shame had a face I think it would kind of look like mine

If it had a home would it be my eyes?

Would you believe me if I said I'm tired of this

Well here we go now one more time

I tried to climb your steps, I tried to chase you down

I tried to see how low I could get down to the ground

I tried to earn my way, I tried to tame this mind

You better believe that I have tried to beat this

So when will this end? It goes on and on

Over and over and over again

Keep spinning around I know that it won't stop

Till I step down from this for good

I never thought I'd end up here

Never thought I'd be standing where I am

I guess I kind of thought it would be easier than this

I guess I was wrong now one more time

'Cause I tried to climb your steps, I tried to chase you down

I tried to see how low I could get down to the ground

I tried to earn my way, I tried to tame this mind

You better believe that I have tried to beat this

So when will this end? It goes on and on

Over and over and over again

Keep spinning around I know that it won't stop

Till I step down from this

Sick cycle carousel

This is a sick cycle, yeah

Sick cycle carousel

This is a sick cycle yeah

So when will this end? It goes on and on

Over and over and over again

Keep spinning around I know that it won't stop

Till I step down from this for good

When will this end? It goes on and on

Over and over and over again

Keep spinning around I know that it won't stop

Till I step down from this for good





Read more: Lifehouse - Sick Cycle Carousel Lyrics | MetroLyrics


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: sun seeker on January 10, 2014, 06:09:37 PM
  Hey... .   long story short.

  When we first got together I caught her drunk very often and with other guys. Lieing and manipulation was rampant.  She raged about 3 times in about 11 months one of those rages became physically violent. I justified it with she was drunk.

  She got sober on her own and she turned into an awesome women the kind of person i would settle down with.(actually she became a better lier) we decide we wanted a committed  r/s,  the fast lifestyle we both leed had to stop. I was dating a few women at the time and was completely honest about my lifestyle with them all. She decided  to go to therapy and get help. right before we walked in to therapy she told me about her BPD. I went along with her im not co dependant or anything found that out through therapy.

I knew I couldn't help or fix her just was willing to be supportive  and things SEEMED great she sobered up and made great strides in healing. (I thought) for around 11 months.  UNTILL!

  The last straw , caught her texting my replacement. I just calmly said you didn't have to lie about anything , dishonesty is  unacceptable in the life i want with you and i walked out , went 100% N/C  for 7 weeks now &. I haven't looked back.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: RecycledNoMore on January 10, 2014, 09:48:12 PM
@ shellshocked, you KNEW, I KNEW

We still went back for more...

Im stepping down too.For good.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 10, 2014, 10:26:38 PM
@ shellshocked, you KNEW, I KNEW

We still went back for more...

Im stepping down too.For good.

Good for you. Waste not another minute on that caused you so much pain.  Now that I have?  I can be happy and she will NEVER control me again.  All of us can do the same!


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: laelle on January 11, 2014, 04:09:44 AM
He would keep knocking down what we built up.  Now I realize that it was me who did all the work building up, and he who was waiting for the "perfect" moment to knock it all down.

We were partners in a children's game created from my FOO and his mental illness. 

I was never a very competitive type of person.  Why continue to play a game if he always wins?  I was let off the hook of this toxic relationship because I am a sore loser. 


Other than that... . what BPDspell said.  Her words are aligned completely with my thoughts.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Changingman on January 11, 2014, 05:28:05 AM
Realising that her lying was pathalogical. Why was I so easily duped? Because everything was a lie... . shattering. Every lie and betrayal became evident, trust and love was used as a weakness on my part, a weapon against me.

So shocking I looked up alcoholism and found... . drum roll please... . BPD. The rest dear listeners... . well you know.

My, my how the times change

We're not in Kansas anymore



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Cimbaruns on January 11, 2014, 06:21:44 AM
I recycled multiple times and left the door cracked each and every time... .

The final straw was discovering my "replacement".

The slow painful feeling of mis trust started creeping back, the subtle lies, the distancing and conversations of "I'm not happy" began all over again. I guess I thought after the last major split and getting back things would improve... . I wanted to continually "fix" her... . my own co dependency issues being ever present.

What an unhealthy world to live in... . stagnant and murky... . filled with feelings of anxiety... . always waiting for the bomb to go off... .

The distancing started around Thanksgiving... . Part 1 of her exit plan

Then the feelings of my not giving her what she "needed" , that word came up a zillion times over 5 years... .

Then the ball began to roll... . I guess she was out trying to find my replacement.

Staying up late... . texting incessantly... . going home for a few days(she maintained a house a distance away for her adult daughter to live in)... . Coming back and not wanting to engage with me at all.

Then bang... . part 2 ... . the replacement was found and in a few short weeks she was gone... . cleaned most of her stuff out... . no communication AT ALL!

I knew I had been replaced because most every other time she would at least throw out a feeler text... .

Yes... . cheating was it for me... . DOOR CLOSED!


I know I was a replacement once and didn't really see that until I looked MINE in the face... . now I can begin my life and know my sentence is finally over!



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: alliance on January 11, 2014, 07:00:27 AM
What did it take for me to wise up?

being able to admit:

~ I wasn't happy

~ She didn't make me feel good about me

~ I was exhausted and spent

~ I felt like a prostitute

~ there was nothing there worth saving


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: delusionalxox on January 11, 2014, 12:15:37 PM
I knew all along things were wrong. Very wrong.

But the thing that  made me sure I would never, ever see him again was when I found out that after dumping me in the most brutal way at the end of May (and ignoring me totally when I found out I was pregnant a week later). Being an entitled idiot he dropped the  name of the 'girlfriend' he had been seeing 'while we were split' - yes, being a bloody fool, I went to meet him again in September.   I immediately recognised the name from a facebook photo of him with a group in APRIL.

He had begun cheating on me 2 weeks after the most fantastic holiday together in early April. While he as accusing me constantly of cheating and simultaneously bombarding me with sexual fantasies about threesomes etc, he had been with her. He came to see me in May at my expense and went straight back to her bed 'because it didn't work out with me'.   no ___ it didn't.

I had been alone, pregnant and going crazy and he had moved in with her!

As soon as he left her in August, he was bothering me again and telling me how much he loved me and missed me.


To date, his 'mistake' as he calls it remains in his mind 'at least partly your responsibility, delusional' and the latest was being called 'bipolar' (I am not, although was diagnosed) told 'the projections and lies are all yours... . bipolar is made of lies'.

He has now cut all communication with me after threatening to 'report me to the police as a stalker'/

Unlike some of you I can't feel glad yet to be free. God help me I miss him and still want him. I feel as if when he devalued and betrayed me the spark and faith went out of my life. I really thought we were 'troubled soulmates'   and I guess I found him more attractive and sexy than anyone ever in my life.

I read over all he did and I am horrified. He is utterly vile, cruel, uncaring and basically insane. So why do I still love him.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: gary seven on January 11, 2014, 01:38:25 PM
Wising up took a long period of time.  We had 9 bad years already, but I sorta thought something was REALLY wrong when she got so mad at me for not making her breakfast one Saturday this past Spring (13)  (after the kids and I had eaten; she never came down to eat with us), that she lifted up the frying pan like a baseball bat.  For an instant I thought I was going to be her target, but instead it was the glass cooktop that shattered.

She went into residential treatment after that, then outpatient treatment and came home again.  Or I should say I let her come back home , with her reassurance that she was "all better."  From her and her shrink and her several therapists.

That lasted about 4 weeks.

Then the parade began:  N+1 therapists, N+1 psychiatrists, N+1 babysitters, N+ 1 medications.  All "didn't listen to my (her) problems."

I still didn't get it, or believe the signs.

So things snowballed out of control till the Sunday after this Thanksgiving when my oldest child (9) picked up the car keys and ran out of the house ,as she was barking and yelling at me again for something , he screaming to her " I hate you . You never stop screaming at Papa.  I can't sleep because of the screaming (and neither could my other two younger children)."

That was the straw that broke me.  I'm an older guy, started late having kids, and they do not deserve to have a childhood of fear and hate.  They need love.  And I am working on it.  I love my kids so much, I guess that's why I stayed in it so long, to protect them. 



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: delusionalxox on January 11, 2014, 03:01:40 PM
Gary that is a terrifying story of abuse. And good on you for doing what you had to to protect your children from her.

It makes me glad that although I still hanker for my uBPDex, I didn't stay with him or (god forbid) have his child. It would have been a true living hell like you have had to live with.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: LilMissSunshine on January 11, 2014, 03:19:29 PM
Hm, when my hairdresser noticed a small chunk of hair (that he had yanked out during a rage) from the back of my head was missing.    actually I'm  :'( but over it and it's grown back since.  In fact, my hair hasn't looked this healthy in years Hm.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: SeekingAdviceinCa on January 11, 2014, 05:28:12 PM
What did it take for me to wise up?

being able to admit:


~ I felt like a prostitute

~ there was nothing there worth saving

Alliance,

Did you BPDso have an extremely high sex drive?


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: santa on January 11, 2014, 05:29:29 PM
When she got arrested for a DUI while on her way to check in with her probation officer for her previous felony DUI, I figured it was probably not going to work out.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Turkish on January 11, 2014, 08:30:52 PM
Wising up took a long period of time.  We had 9 bad years already, but I sorta thought something was REALLY wrong when she got so mad at me for not making her breakfast one Saturday this past Spring (13)  (after the kids and I had eaten; she never came down to eat with us), that she lifted up the frying pan like a baseball bat.  For an instant I thought I was going to be her target, but instead it was the glass cooktop that shattered.

She went into residential treatment after that, then outpatient treatment and came home again.  Or I should say I let her come back home , with her reassurance that she was "all better."  From her and her shrink and her several therapists.

That lasted about 4 weeks.

Then the parade began:  N+1 therapists, N+1 psychiatrists, N+1 babysitters, N+ 1 medications.  All "didn't listen to my (her) problems."

I still didn't get it, or believe the signs.

So things snowballed out of control till the Sunday after this Thanksgiving when my oldest child (9) picked up the car keys and ran out of the house ,as she was barking and yelling at me again for something , he screaming to her " I hate you . You never stop screaming at Papa.  I can't sleep because of the screaming (and neither could my other two younger children)."

That was the straw that broke me.  I'm an older guy, started late having kids, and they do not deserve to have a childhood of fear and hate.  They need love.  And I am working on it.  I love my kids so much, I guess that's why I stayed in it so long, to protect them. 

you're a hero gary seven,  you truly are.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: waitaminute on January 11, 2014, 08:40:04 PM
quite simply... .

she taught me to not care about her.


slow learner here. but I do learn eventually.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Free2Bee on January 11, 2014, 08:50:49 PM
I was thinking about that last horrible night with my ex and remembered something else that made me seriously question whether I could go on. My ex was so loud and violent that my gentle, elderly miniature schnauzer crawled deep under the bed and cowered there in terror.

After I stopped crying and got a hold of myself, I looked around and couldn't find my dog. Then I checked under the bed and it took me a half-hour to coax her out. Poor little girl. And poor me.

I'm glad I ended it, as hard as it is right now.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: gary seven on January 11, 2014, 09:13:47 PM
To Turkish and delusionalxox:  thanks for your kind words. I have been told by many I am a hero ; it feels as if I am a veteran of a domestic war (with no disrespect inferred for all of our military who fight to keep us free) and the PTSD is hitting me in the face. 

Even my therapist from last year couldn't believe what an ordeal I have been through.  Our first interview ( which happened while my spouse was in treatment) lasted two and a half hours.  At the end, he felt so moved that he asked to give me a hug.  He has been in practice nearly thirty years, and is well respected in our town and in his professional community. I think I was the first client he hugged.  I think I had him in tears.  Unfortunately that made me feel even more pathetic.  But I was able to work some of the moments with him, and accumulate a little more resolve.

The decision to protect my children is final.  It will just take me several months to get it planned properly.  Even though I cry myself to sleep at night, even though I hang my teardrops out to dry, even as I feel like a falling star, I know I can wake up tomorrow and be one more day closer to figuring it out, and one more day maybe a little more healed from the pain.  Getting to this community is a significant part of the healing.

One of the more difficult parts is bringing my close friends into my life and behind the curtains of this tragic farce of a marriage. I am ashamed to recant and tell these stories.  I usually get a jaw to drop or eyes to pop out of their sockets.  They listen, they hear my pain being exposed, and they ask what they can do to help.  They understand that there is nothing they can do, because my BPD spouse is who she is.




Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Turkish on January 11, 2014, 09:49:00 PM
To Turkish and delusionalxox:  thanks for your kind words. I have been told by many I am a hero ; it feels as if I am a veteran of a domestic war (with no disrespect inferred for all of our military who fight to keep us free) and the PTSD is hitting me in the face. 

Even my therapist from last year couldn't believe what an ordeal I have been through.  Our first interview ( which happened while my spouse was in treatment) lasted two and a half hours.  At the end, he felt so moved that he asked to give me a hug.  He has been in practice nearly thirty years, and is well respected in our town and in his professional community. I think I was the first client he hugged.  I think I had him in tears.  Unfortunately that made me feel even more pathetic.  But I was able to work some of the moments with him, and accumulate a little more resolve.

The decision to protect my children is final.  It will just take me several months to get it planned properly.  Even though I cry myself to sleep at night, even though I hang my teardrops out to dry, even as I feel like a falling star, I know I can wake up tomorrow and be one more day closer to figuring it out, and one more day maybe a little more healed from the pain.  Getting to this community is a significant part of the healing.

One of the more difficult parts is bringing my close friends into my life and behind the curtains of this tragic farce of a marriage. I am ashamed to recant and tell these stories.  I usually get a jaw to drop or eyes to pop out of their sockets.  They listen, they hear my pain being exposed, and they ask what they can do to help.  They understand that there is nothing they can do, because my BPD spouse is who she is.

Those are great friends, GS, which means you are too or they would not be your friends. The is nothing to be ashamed of. Hugs to you and your kids from me and mine.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 12, 2014, 12:25:36 AM
What did it take for me to wise up?

being able to admit:


~ I felt like a prostitute

~ there was nothing there worth saving

Alliance,

Did you BPDso have an extremely high sex drive?

Yes, but I don't think it was so much the drive as it was to make sure you stayed.  Part of the control and manipulation... .


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: alliance on January 12, 2014, 06:23:59 AM
What did it take for me to wise up?

being able to admit:


~ I felt like a prostitute

~ there was nothing there worth saving

Alliance,

Did you BPDso have an extremely high sex drive?

Yes, but I don't think it was so much the drive as it was to make sure you stayed.  Part of the control and manipulation... .

Had nothing to do with sex drive. Had to do with self centered, emotionless sex i.e here I am, adore me, worship me, do me. Not exactly my idea of great sex.



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: metalone on January 12, 2014, 06:34:59 AM
Thank you arn131arn... . that is a tremendous quote from your sister and i appreciate your posting it here on this forum. i will use that as another tool in my tool box to help guide me through my detaching from my BPD wife.


my wise up event... . my BPD wife and her affair.

Thank you again.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Ironmanrises on January 12, 2014, 11:54:41 PM
I don't think I ever wised up, so to speak. I was discarded twice by my exUBPDgf(3 times if you count a pseudo discard during friendship with her). Had I wised up, I would have not allowed her to return that second time. I saw her illness, her disorder, literally play out from beginning to end during round 2(I had found this forum in NC period shortly after she left me first time). I saw it all. I saw her trying to express her out of control emotions via social media(FB, IG, twitter). I saw it in the 16,000+ texts. I heard it in her words. I saw it in person. I saw the pre-trigger(idealization) side of her. A lovable person, if that comprised her entire personality. It did not, however. I saw the post-trigger(devaluation) side of her. A most cruel, unforgiving, and mean stranger, with a twist; that stranger knows ALL of your weaknesses and intimate details. And uses them against you. In this case, me. With uncanny ___ing precision. By the time she discarded me that second time, which was far worse then the first discard, I was a broken man. In all areas. I finally decided to post on this forum at that time.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: MrFox on January 13, 2014, 01:12:53 AM
I always knew something was wrong but I ignored it.

Wised up when I was standing in my driveway as my replacement was threatening me about never talking to her again.  She sat in her car glaring at me.  I got the distinct feeling that she actually wanted us to fight over her.  Over the next two weeks she alternated between a smear campaign and trying to suck me back in and I realized it had all been a test.  She wanted me to chase her, to literally fight for her.

I realized that if she didn't know how I felt about her after a year and a half, nothing I ever said or did was going to convey my love for her.  Plus, I had started reading up on co-dependency.  The veil hiding the dysfunction in my life wasn't so much lifted as it was lit on fire.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 13, 2014, 07:07:49 AM
I don't think I ever wised up, so to speak. I was discarded twice by my exUBPDgf(3 times if you count a pseudo discard during friendship with her). Had I wised up, I would have not allowed her to return that second time. I saw her illness, her disorder, literally play out from beginning to end during round 2(I had found this forum in NC period shortly after she left me first time). I saw it all. I saw her trying to express her out of control emotions via social media(FB, IG, twitter). I saw it in the 16,000+ texts. I heard it in her words. I saw it in person. I saw the pre-trigger(idealization) side of her. A lovable person, if that comprised her entire personality. It did not, however. I saw the post-trigger(devaluation) side of her. A most cruel, unforgiving, and mean stranger, with a twist; that stranger knows ALL of your weaknesses and intimate details. And uses them against you. In this case, me. With uncanny ___ing precision. By the time she discarded me that second time, which was far worse then the first discard, I was a broken man. In all areas. I finally decided to post on this forum at that time.

Wow dude... . wow.  You just described by life for a year and a half. 


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: delusionalxox on January 16, 2014, 02:39:32 PM
Mine too shellshocked and Ironmanfalls.

It is the intense and detailed cruelty with which they look at you in their rage, hate and disgust, and you see an almost demonic version of yourself projected back at you. They know your every failing, your every weak point, and they torture you with it.

Thank god we got away. A hundred years of loneliness is better than that. But I am still lonely without him. Sometimes after the hate had crucified me (I can't think of another word for that incredible shaming pain), he would 'flip' and be loving again. And that made me realise why battered women stay.

You are so broken that you seek any comfort you can from the person who made you feel like a total piece of ___.

It's sick as hell, and we will be very glad one day that we got away.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Turkish on January 16, 2014, 03:22:48 PM
Mine too shellshocked and Ironmanfalls.

It is the intense and detailed cruelty with which they look at you in their rage, hate and disgust, and you see an almost demonic version of yourself projected back at you. They know your every failing, your every weak point, and they torture you with it.

That is an interesting viewpoint. Do you really think that is what it is? Could you expand upon that?

Excerpt
You are so broken that you seek any comfort you can from the person who made you feel like a total piece of ___.

I hated the fact that coming home depressed, I felt better after we talked about events going on in her family, and a little bit about the kids. Then I felt worse again. Like I still "need" this person in my life as a friend, which I know for sure she does me. It is sick.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: delusionalxox on January 16, 2014, 07:11:32 PM
Turkish, I see the projection of all your own faults back at you as a form of defence and splitting. Plus, I believe that borderlines have a certain talent, probably borne from years of childhood abuse, shame, and humiliation, at detecting the weak spots of their loved/hated other. I think they have this in common with narc/sociopathic people too. A friend with a girlfriend on this spectrum talked of how she would 'confuse' him after their dreadful fights (she has severe type 1 bipolar and unspecified personality disorder, probably antisocial, she has trashed his flat, attacked him etc and he keeps letting her come back). She would come back and list all the 'bad things' he had done and then proclaim her forgiveness for them, on the condition that her own acts were completely ignored and forgotten.

My own ex would do the same except that in his case every single act of 'abuse' I committed was stripped of context and recycled endlessly to cement my guilt, while he forgot everything he had done wrong and any reminders of it were called 'insults and attacks'. For instance I once hit him in the face when he had spent the evening in indirect violence (screaming in my face, pulling off the duvet, banging and screaming at the bathroom door when I locked myself in to get away). I was near insane with fear and exhaustion at the time, plus I am half his size. Once I also hit him when he made the most grotesque sexual comparison of me to a woman he had cheated on me with.  . For this I was christened 'insane' and 'violent'. I felt there was some truth in this, I should not have lost control, whatever he had done. Also, I know I have a sharp tongue and can give a lot of verbal abuse. I was always heavily provoked... . but that is what all abusers say, eh, as he told me... . my head ended up totally scrambled, sometimes I would apologise to him for things I had not done, just to feel safe and loved. It is totally sick.

His mistake was to act really unforgivably even in his own terms by cheating and then lying about it for several months until I found out through facebook. His response was to blame me with a volley of hours of accusations that I had 'abused and corrupted him', that before he met me he was not capable of lying, etc, etc, I had 'damaged his persona'. Bull___, right. No one forces you to cheat, lie and abandon your pregnant ex. He could have just left me rather than cheat; and rather than ignore my pregnancy he could have called me; but he was too afraid and ashamed of himself to tell me the truth, so he just abandoned me.

At that point I saw all the lies and gaslighting and head___ing for what it was. But he still made me fel like a bad person. And I think he really believes I am evil, an abuser. He needed me and as much as he needed me he pushed me away; and to get over the shame and fear of that, he has to hate me.



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: delusionalxox on January 16, 2014, 07:14:28 PM
Re the feeling of needing her... . I know you have kids with her (my sympathies, it would have been my nightmare to have to share children with my pwBPD). But you don't need her as a friend. There is a thread up about lack of closure as a form of 'bargaining'. I did it myself for years. But you don't need to salvage anything good other than a co-parenting relationship (which god knows I know from experience is hard enough).

I've read your posts and you deserve and will have so much better. You don't need her, but she has been the centre of your life and you have to keep seeing her cos of the kids. Its understandable you would find it harder to detach. 


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Changingman on January 17, 2014, 09:35:23 AM
Like a metal detector, the broken emptyness of them sends an electric shock through their system, I've felt it since breaking up. An emotional electric shock.

They are so broken they have every wound, and can 'feel' it in SOs



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 20, 2014, 07:41:38 AM
My own ex would do the same except that in his case every single act of 'abuse' I committed was stripped of context and recycled endlessly to cement my guilt, while he forgot everything he had done wrong and any reminders of it were called 'insults and attacks'. For instance I once hit him in the face when he had spent the evening in indirect violence (screaming in my face, pulling off the duvet, banging and screaming at the bathroom door when I locked myself in to get away). I was near insane with fear and exhaustion at the time, plus I am half his size. Once I also hit him when he made the most grotesque sexual comparison of me to a woman he had cheated on me with.  . For this I was christened 'insane' and 'violent'. I felt there was some truth in this, I should not have lost control, whatever he had done. Also, I know I have a sharp tongue and can give a lot of verbal abuse. I was always heavily provoked... . but that is what all abusers say, eh, as he told me... . my head ended up totally scrambled, sometimes I would apologise to him for things I had not done, just to feel safe and loved. It is totally sick.

His response was to blame me with a volley of hours of accusations that I had 'abused and corrupted him', that before he met me he was not capable of lying, etc, etc, I had 'damaged his persona'. Bull___, right. No one forces you to cheat, lie and abandon your pregnant ex. He could have just left me rather than cheat; and rather than ignore my pregnancy he could have called me; but he was too afraid and ashamed of himself to tell me the truth, so he just abandoned me.

At that point I saw all the lies and gaslighting and head___ing for what it was. But he still made me fel like a bad person. And I think he really believes I am evil, an abuser. He needed me and as much as he needed me he pushed me away; and to get over the shame and fear of that, he has to hate me.

Same.  I never cheated on my xBPDgf…not once, although there were constant accusation of ogling all kinds of women, from 15 year old girls to her mother.  

I can relate to apologizing for things I had not even done…mostly because of her gaslighting  Trying to make me believe I was in fact this horrible person that she portrayed.  I figured out one thing about her too…most of this was her projecting her faults and lack of morals on me because she could not handle what she is.  She is terrified of finding out.  I can certainly identify with the volley of accusations and guilting…That she used to “have a vibrant life and friends”, that she’d “aged 10 years in a year and a half”…that I had taken her friends and family from her….blah blah blah.  I heard it all too.  Seriously abusive treatment.  If you ask her though, she doesn’t have a problem.  Everyone else does.  She said I was NPD, a voyeur and a paraphiliac.  I disagree... . so do my therapist, friends and family.  

Seeing the abuse (gaslighting, projection etc) for what it really is can be difficult because they have been manipulating you from the start to keep you by their side…While most “normal” folks would do that through caring, love and devotion, they do it by manipulation.   You are correct too…totally sick.


My friend that is still in contact with her says she still hates me…that she still thinks I am also this mean, abusive and sick person….what blows me away is WHY she hates me…she hates me because she hates herself.  Because she has to have someone to blame for everything wrong in her life…because she cannot accept responsibility.  Ir blows me away how that brain of hers works….If she has to hate me then not much I can do…if that is the way it has to be then so be it.  I really feel sorry for her because it is a misguided hatred.  I don't lose sleep over it anymore.  It is her problem. 


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: delusionalxox on January 22, 2014, 05:07:34 PM
Shellshocked... . this is why I love this board... . it is so so liberating to realise that we were not alone in this, so many of us have been subjected to versions of the same treatment.

The projection for me was the most damaging thing of all because I took it on board so deeply. It gave me a feeling of deep sickness, he would look at me with such clear belief that I was the whore, bhit, liar, money-obsessed 'capitalist' (!), you name it... . I also got called a pervert now and then, certainly was labelled 'promiscuous' and 'flirtatious'.

I read your story re the 15 year old girl thing. My feeling is that your ex had troubling sexual feelings of her own and was projecting them directly onto you. If not for that girl, for sexual objects or ideas that she considered 'disgusting'... . so you became the 'disgusting' one.

I was called a 'psychopath', my sexual motives were always questioned, I was clearly an insatiable whore, an 'inveterate flirt' who 'could not help seeking attention from men'.

I walked right into that one after admitting a one night stand during our early phase when I wasn't sure we were actually going out (he did it too, but that was different eh?  ) and by admitting that (as many people do surely?) I liked a bit of innocent flirting and attention from men, it made me feel attractive... . My god, what a dreadful, untrustworthy whore that made me!

Of course, it was him who was eventually unfaithful and on an epic scale... . and he was probably multiply unfaithful too. He had serious issues with sexual guilt... . he was a promiscuous Catholic with quite a few kinks, all of which I accepted and thought nothing of. But I realise now that all the sexual projection and jealousy was his own self disgust, broadcast onto me.

In a way it is sad. But the weight of his projections nearly crushed me. Coming out of this relationship I see that I am  not a whore or a bhit or a psychopath, just a normal flawed person, but to him I was a cross between Mata Hari and Lucretia Borgia.

I have faults, yes, but my biggest mistake in that relationship was not to defend MYSELF by walking away. The more I stayed, the more I got drawn into his web of distortions and projections.

The funny thing is, ex is clever and high functioning and because I tried to explain a lot of all this to him, he has projected it back at me. I am now the abuser, it is him who was 'damaged', etc. But there's is one answer to that which is: why keep your 'abuser' on ice for months while you hit and move in with another woman... and then why spend another few months trying to get her back?

His excuse for ignoring my pregnancy is that he was 'terrified of me'.  . Pathetic. He even said that I might 'have the baby deliberately to use against him'. I am a 40 year old professional woman with two children of my own. But to him I am a cut-out villainess from some misogynistic Victorian drama. Sad. And very sick.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Madison66 on January 22, 2014, 06:18:48 PM
What did it take for me to wise up?  That is a great question.  I'd been struggling with a feeling of not being respected by my uBPD/NPD ex gf for some time.  There were things that just never made sense to me in the last year like her not wanting me to get a dog (and going completely emotionally dysregulated when I did get may dog), her not wanting to allow me to have rules in my house for f'd up kids and her continually rewriting history when we attempted counseling the last time in the fall.  What got me to start walking out the door a couple months ago was her just laying on a huge amount of emotional blackmail on a flight back from NYC.  We just had a nice weekend there and she turned on the crud on the plane and I just said "no" to her about five times before completely shutting down.  No matter what she said after that, I was done inside.  What got me to close the door was when things go physical.  There two incidences where I attempted to walk away from the emotional abuse she was dealing me and she physically prevented me from going into another room.  I was hit with the door one time and pushed into a wall the second.  That second physical abuse came during our last confrontation.  She then damaged my property on the way out of my house.  End of game.  Goodbye.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: gary seven on January 23, 2014, 07:15:37 AM
What got me to start walking out the door a couple months ago was her just laying on a huge amount of emotional blackmail on a flight back from NYC. 

My life started its rapid unraveling  as I had to take my wife to her first residential treatment facility last Memorial Day weekend.  I had to call in sick to work, buy two first class plane tickets (suddenly a space had become "available" to LA.  It was a 6 hour flight and it was nothing but 6 hrs of uninterrupted, and VERY LOUD, blackmail and blame. We got to the facility, had her admitted, met with the counselors and the therapists, and I caught a cab to have dinner with friends before my Red Eye back to home, where I arrived at 6 am, got the kids to summer day camp, and went on to work that day. 

The thoughts of travelling with her again is no longer a desire of mine.  Ever. 


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 23, 2014, 08:09:29 AM
What got me to start walking out the door a couple months ago was her just laying on a huge amount of emotional blackmail on a flight back from NYC. 

My life started its rapid unraveling  as I had to take my wife to her first residential treatment facility last Memorial Day weekend.  I had to call in sick to work, buy two first class plane tickets (suddenly a space had become "available" to LA.  It was a 6 hour flight and it was nothing but 6 hrs of uninterrupted, and VERY LOUD, blackmail and blame. We got to the facility, had her admitted, met with the counselors and the therapists, and I caught a cab to have dinner with friends before my Red Eye back to home, where I arrived at 6 am, got the kids to summer day camp, and went on to work that day. 

The thoughts of travelling with her again is no longer a desire of mine.  Ever. 

Hell, for me it was WORSE if I left her at home.  I used to travel a lot at work... . maybe 5 or 6 times a year.  Every trip I went on there was a problem... . I remember telling her that I was "lonely" on one of my trips when we first started getting more serious.  I missed her... . and meant HER.  This turned into that I missed my ex-wife and that I wanted out of our relationship... . Woah... . Another time she freaked when I was on my way back from another trip... . I was "on a mission to hurt" her.  That one went on for hours... . Another time she was actually with me and accused me of thinking of another woman while we were having sex.  What?  That's pretty insecure.  She also wiped my work phone trying to break in it and almost my personal one too.  When we got back I spent an entire week with her after that trip trying to make sure things were cool before I had to leave again and go to Tucson... . I took her out to eat, to see a rock show and spent every night with her... . I knew when I left there was going to be trouble because of the way she was acting.  I was right.  By 10 that night... . mind you I had a five hour plane ride and was exhausted and had to work the next morning... . she was all over me.  Telling me about how guy that travel always cheat on their girlfriends... . ok... ?  So I skype her and walk around the room so she can see... . Jesus... . I will never forget her eyes... . like she was the FBI looking for evidence in a crime scene... . Something... . anything... . to prove I wasn't alone.  I'm not rich by any stretch... . the week prior I had bought her an $800 plane ticket... . so now I have another girl with me?  Found out later she said she thought I had her MOTHER with me!  How freakin sick is that?  Called me a bunch of times hanging up on me (and her mom to prove she was with me?).  Last night I was there she got livid with me because my flight was scheduled to leave at 3 pm the next day and I didn't want get up at 6 am and go to the airport to try to reschedule so I could come home early... . for a flight I probably couldn't get on anyway... . If I did I would only be home at 4 or so... . otherwise I would be home at 9. Thought maybe I could sleep in... . maybe sight see or something... . maybe might just enjoy a couple of hours to myself?  HELL NO!  That was selfish of me to not do that!  Nevermind I f#cking worked 50 hours in 4 days plus the travel time.  That was like spitting in her face.  What a b#tch!  Sorry... . that's a hot button.  I paid DEARLY for that.

There wasn't one single trip I took that I wasn't miserable because of her... . just the anticipation of about what she was about to do kept my stomach in knots. 


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 23, 2014, 08:28:40 AM
Shellshocked... . this is why I love this board... . it is so so liberating to realise that we were not alone in this, so many of us have been subjected to versions of the same treatment.

I was called a 'psychopath', my sexual motives were always questioned, I was clearly an insatiable whore, an 'inveterate flirt' who 'could not help seeking attention from men'.

I walked right into that one after admitting a one night stand during our early phase when I wasn't sure we were actually going out (he did it too, but that was different eh?  ) and by admitting that (as many people do surely?) I liked a bit of innocent flirting and attention from men, it made me feel attractive... . My god, what a dreadful, untrustworthy whore that made me!

Of course, it was him who was eventually unfaithful and on an epic scale... . and he was probably multiply unfaithful too. He had serious issues with sexual guilt... . he was a promiscuous Catholic with quite a few kinks, all of which I accepted and thought nothing of. But I realise now that all the sexual projection and jealousy was his own self disgust, broadcast onto me.

In a way it is sad. But the weight of his projections nearly crushed me. Coming out of this relationship I see that I am  not a whore or a bhit or a psychopath, just a normal flawed person, but to him I was a cross between Mata Hari and Lucretia Borgia.

I have faults, yes, but my biggest mistake in that relationship was not to defend MYSELF by walking away. The more I stayed, the more I got drawn into his web of distortions and projections.

Right there with you.  Personally I LIKE it if a guy flirts with my lady.  To me it says... . "hey, your lady is hot".  I'd rather they think she was pretty and attractive than grossed out by her.  I asked her that, and she said no that she didn't like the idea of any woman being attracted to me... .   That seems weird and unnatural.  I didn't flirt with any woman with my ex around... . period... in fact I used to get freaked out if a woman flirted with me around her because somehow this was my fault too and I was about to get slammed for it!  Even though the other person initiated it!  I hated that microscope she kept me under... . and burned me with!

My current girlfriend?  It is so not like being with M.  We play, cut up and kid around all the time.  She can flirt with whoever she wants.  Same here... . She doesn't care who I talk to... . She's buddies with a girl I dated between her and M.  She knows that I had sex with her too... . whatever.  She's cool with it.  She has guy friends that she has done the same with too.  I'm okay with that too.  Here's the thing... . You can't make someone stay with you... . they will never be happy and you will never be happy.  So to me it is true... . if you love someone, set them free!  If they love you enough they will stay and be good to you.  If not?  See ya later!


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: wishfulthinking on January 23, 2014, 11:00:43 AM
I think I've just hit the point of wising up.  The other night, I seriously could have broken my back.  Literally... . and without exaggeration.  I have thought and thought about it and told myself I am blowing it out of proportion and just being overly sensitive about it.  Then, if anything touches my back along my spine just above my waist, the pain is excrutiating.  I can take a LOT of pain. (I had a boob job and only had ibuprophen and was back to work in 5 days) If my coat belt pulls across it or I lean too quickly back, my eyes water with pain.

Here's what happened.  He trapped me in the bathroom to rage at me.  He waits till things have calmed (supposedly) and I go to take a shower, then he comes in and corners me in our small bathroom.  I tried to get past him and told him to let me out and he pushed me back hard. I flew back and landed on the edge of the bathtub right on my spine at a 90 degree angle.  I'm lucky I was the 1/2 inch to the right when I fell or I'd have fallen t-boned right on the center. Am I wrong to think back and think I could be paralized right now?  Am I overreacting?

He is bigger than me and outweighs me by 60 pounds, construction so he is strong.  When I was able to get up, with my daughter crying in the hallway, I looked at him and told him to get out and that I couldn't believe he pushed me like that.  He looked me right in the eye and said... . I didn't touch you.

What?  Are you kidding me?  He refuses to leave, wants to work things out, but he feels the argument was justified because he raged and I told him I want a divorce.  He says my physical pain is the same as his emotional pain.

The MC we are supposed to be seeing, BPD/NPDh has ditched twice in a row now, is, in his own way, telling me to be done.  Says H won't get better because he doesn't want to because he sees nothing wrong.  Can justify everything.

I can't live like that, but I have to get out safely and I've owned the house on my own for 12 years.  He just moved in last May.  I have to make him leave.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Mazda on January 23, 2014, 11:09:26 AM
I think I've just hit the point of wising up.  The other night, I seriously could have broken my back.  Literally... . and without exaggeration.  I have thought and thought about it and told myself I am blowing it out of proportion and just being overly sensitive about it.  Then, if anything touches my back along my spine just above my waist, the pain is excrutiating.  I can take a LOT of pain. (I had a boob job and only had ibuprophen and was back to work in 5 days) If my coat belt pulls across it or I lean too quickly back, my eyes water with pain.

Here's what happened.  He trapped me in the bathroom to rage at me.  He waits till things have calmed (supposedly) and I go to take a shower, then he comes in and corners me in our small bathroom.  I tried to get past him and told him to let me out and he pushed me back hard. I flew back and landed on the edge of the bathtub right on my spine at a 90 degree angle.  I'm lucky I was the 1/2 inch to the right when I fell or I'd have fallen t-boned right on the center. Am I wrong to think back and think I could be paralized right now?  Am I overreacting?

He is bigger than me and outweighs me by 60 pounds, construction so he is strong.  When I was able to get up, with my daughter crying in the hallway, I looked at him and told him to get out and that I couldn't believe he pushed me like that.  He looked me right in the eye and said... . I didn't touch you.

What?  Are you kidding me?  He refuses to leave, wants to work things out, but he feels the argument was justified because he raged and I told him I want a divorce.  He says my physical pain is the same as his emotional pain.

The MC we are supposed to be seeing, BPD/NPDh has ditched twice in a row now, is, in his own way, telling me to be done.  Says H won't get better because he doesn't want to because he sees nothing wrong.  Can justify everything.

I can't live like that, but I have to get out safely and I've owned the house on my own for 12 years.  He just moved in last May.  I have to make him leave.

Wishful, please, leave now.  Please.  You are unsafe.  This guy could have seriously done permanent damage.  You and your daughter are unsafe.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: delusionalxox on January 23, 2014, 11:22:03 AM
*shellshocked* in fact I used to get freaked out if a woman flirted with me around her because somehow this was my fault too and I was about to get slammed for it!  Even though the other person initiated it!

Snap! I lived in fear even of a positive comment on a picture on Facebook! Ex got totally obsessed with a comment from a man we met on holiday, who turned out to be gay... you couldn't make this stuff up... It's a black comedy. He constantly read my texts and turned the screws on me if any man said anything vaguely complimentary or flirtatious, he expected me to make some sort of statement that I was his property... . God, so so sick... .

*wishfulthinking*I  agree with Mazda. Time to get out. I also recognise the cornering technique. The bathroom was where I used to run to get away from ex's yelling and thumping around. He would stand outside the door shouting through it ordering me to come out. I got trapped in rooms a few times too, trying to leave.

Ex is still calling me the violent and abusive one. Turns out most of what he calls 'abuse' was calling him on his own abuse, and trying to leave. It is not abuse to try to leave someone who is threatening and gaslighting you.



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Turkish on January 23, 2014, 11:31:07 AM
I think I've just hit the point of wising up.  The other night, I seriously could have broken my back.  Literally... . and without exaggeration.  I have thought and thought about it and told myself I am blowing it out of proportion and just being overly sensitive about it.  Then, if anything touches my back along my spine just above my waist, the pain is excrutiating.  I can take a LOT of pain. (I had a boob job and only had ibuprophen and was back to work in 5 days) If my coat belt pulls across it or I lean too quickly back, my eyes water with pain.

Here's what happened.  He trapped me in the bathroom to rage at me.  He waits till things have calmed (supposedly) and I go to take a shower, then he comes in and corners me in our small bathroom.  I tried to get past him and told him to let me out and he pushed me back hard. I flew back and landed on the edge of the bathtub right on my spine at a 90 degree angle.  I'm lucky I was the 1/2 inch to the right when I fell or I'd have fallen t-boned right on the center. Am I wrong to think back and think I could be paralized right now?  Am I overreacting?

He is bigger than me and outweighs me by 60 pounds, construction so he is strong.  When I was able to get up, with my daughter crying in the hallway, I looked at him and told him to get out and that I couldn't believe he pushed me like that.  He looked me right in the eye and said... . I didn't touch you.

What?  Are you kidding me?  He refuses to leave, wants to work things out, but he feels the argument was justified because he raged and I told him I want a divorce.  He says my physical pain is the same as his emotional pain.

The MC we are supposed to be seeing, BPD/NPDh has ditched twice in a row now, is, in his own way, telling me to be done.  Says H won't get better because he doesn't want to because he sees nothing wrong.  Can justify everything.

I can't live like that, but I have to get out safely and I've owned the house on my own for 12 years.  He just moved in last May.  I have to make him leave.

Dear wishfulthinking, this is psychosis. He assaulted you. He committed a crime.

Do you have somewhere to go, someplace safe (relatives, friends)? It is very delicate and possibly dangerousjust leaving, and may be hard to do, but if you do, I suggest not coming back until you get him out of the house and possibly have a RO against him. Leaving and then coming back is often a tipping point for abusers, especially with their abandonment issues and persecution complexes. Do you have support of local resources in your area for domestic violence? If you can, have a bug-out bag ready to go if you need to leave in a hurry, hidden somewhere he can't find it. Please read this to get some objective perspective:

Safety First (https://bpdfamily.com/pdfs/safety_first.pdf)

As for your back, I suggest going to see a doctor and telling him or her the story. Be advised that they will report it. Be honest. You are doing nothing wrong. Once that ball starts rolling, there will be no coming back, nor should there be. Both you and possibly your daughter are in danger. The ball needs to roll. The medical professionals can also best advise you and put you in touch with resources to keep you safe. He is controlling you. Time to take it back in the safest way possible!

TOOLS: Domestic Violence Against Women (https://bpdfamily.com/message_board/index.php?topic=61403.0)

Please take care and update (maybe with a new thread so more of us can see it and support you).

Turkish


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 23, 2014, 03:03:50 PM
My advice?  Get out.  This is just going to escalate.  Get a restraining order against him and let him know that you aren't playing... . I had to tell my ex that too.  That if I heard ONE peep from her I swore to GOD I would have her arrested.  I had enough!

My xgf was really starting to get physically abusive to me as well.  She tried... . so very hard to get me to hit her so she could use that ammunition.  I never dropped myself to her level.  As time went on it started to get worse.  The first time it happened was a few days after the "mom's boobs" fiasco.               We talked about this insanity, and for some reason in my little brain I thought maybe she might drop it... . but alas I came over after work and she's freaking out about it still... . I came over for dinner... . hoping to hang out with her and her daughter and have a nice evening... . but instead she starts slamming me with "the pain just won't go away"... . and this is over this mother bullsh!t still!  At this point I am DISGUSTED and pissed off beyond belief that this crap has gone this far... . and sick of being punished for something I never even did... . so I am like... . well tell you what.  I am not going to argue what I did or didn't do with you... . when you can be rational I will talk to you.  So I start to walk out the front door, and she runs up behind me and PUSHES me.  I am about 3 feet from the 5 stairs in front of the house.  I almost fell down the concrete stairs onto the sidewalk!  Not cool.

The next month we were broken up for something stupid... . like maybe 3 weeks.  I think over this same goofy mess about her mom... . I don't remember this happened so often.  She comes over to my house with my things in a bag... . tries to leave me a f#ck you text, but I have her blocked... . So she goes nuts, gets wasted and comes to my house armed with some knives she bought at walmart to do me in... . not kidding.  Fortunately she either chickened out or forgot about them, but they were in her car along with the receipt (my buddy found them while she was inside raging on me). 

The night of the final straw, she grabbed my face and squeezed my cheeks, and shoved me into a kitchen counter at the bar we were playing at.  I hit the back of my head on the ticket rack above pretty hard... . told me, "I'm gonna follow you wherever you go tonight, and I'm gonna have a knife!".  Which she did... . I was prepared for this because I know how she is.  She denied saying this to my buddy and her sister... . but I had told them this immediately after she left the club and showed her @ss.  And yep, she had them again.  This time hidden in a room waiting to ambush me.  Three in plain sight, and two hidden that I found later.

I am too old to put up with that kind of garbage... . You shouldn't either. 







Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: gary seven on January 23, 2014, 03:18:01 PM
Wishful:

call the police.  go to the ER to document what happened.  Or  go to your regular doctor.

document everything on  a safe computer, or phone.  find out if your state allows one party consent to recording.  If so, put him on speakerphone and just video it.

sign up for carbonite so everything you take pictures of,or write, is saved in a cloud he can't touch.  it covers computers and cellphones.  you wont be disappointed.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: ShakinMyHead on January 23, 2014, 03:22:52 PM
In a Nutshell, what it took for me to wise up, and also to get my control back, and go No Contact and stick to it, was to realize that it is my own Narcissism that leads me to believe I can help a disordered person change to stable and loving. Specially when they don't even admit to the disorder? WHO THE HELL DO I THINK I AM, MERLIN? There is an analogy written by a gentleman Richard21cp and he explains that disordered people are like scrambled eggs. Once you crack the egg and mix the yolk and the white it can never be unscrambled. That happened in the first 3 years of their lives. It's possibly genetic, and it's been reinforced behaviorally over the years for them at the point that we find them. Non's are more like the onion analogy, in that we are more of a neurotic set up, in that, when we do our work we can peel the damaged layers back, revealing a new understanding and fresh sense of self to create. We can use our strength of self to make choices and improve. They don't have the luxury of a strong enough self, at least not for long or consistently enough to contain their fears and wait for the "swing" to pass. They literally experience PTSD every time they anticipate abandonment, and that can be anywhere on the spectrum of saying you like a person in a band, to them watching your eyes look at another person. Simple human gestures can signal code red abandonment, and it's visceral. 0-1000 in 2 seconds. We cannot change them. When we realize this,it's easier to let go.  Hugs, SMH


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: Turkish on January 23, 2014, 03:50:20 PM
In a Nutshell, what it took for me to wise up, and also to get my control back, and go No Contact and stick to it, was to realize that it is my own Narcissism that leads me to believe I can help a disordered person change to stable and loving. Specially when they don't even admit to the disorder? WHO THE HELL DO I THINK I AM, MERLIN? There is an analogy written by a gentleman Richard21cp and he explains that disordered people are like scrambled eggs. Once you crack the egg and mix the yolk and the white it can never be unscrambled. That happened in the first 3 years of their lives. It's possibly genetic, and it's been reinforced behaviorally over the years for them at the point that we find them. Non's are more like the onion analogy, in that we are more of a neurotic set up, in that, when we do our work we can peel the damaged layers back, revealing a new understanding and fresh sense of self to create. We can use our strength of self to make choices and improve.

that's good stuff, SMH. Maybe I haven't fully grasped my own narcissism, like you mention, but yes, who in the hell did I think I was? I just repeated my childhood "dealing" with a disordered mother. I could never fix her, nor was it my job. I set boundaries with my mother years ago, and have for the most part stuck by them. We've had a decent relationship for years (easier at 3 hours' distance), despite my mom being emotionally fragile even in her old age. So why did I fail to do so with my X? Oh yeah, this time I can do it. I'm an adult now, I have the power! Very arrogant. As her father told me, "you handle her well," as if she were a head of cattle. Wow. The weird thing is, that I did for a time, as did most of us. But the disorder always wins.

I also fear the genetic component in her family, now stepping back and looking at others (her older brother, father, possibly even grandmother, her little sis shows some traits). In this, I fear a bit for my son... . but I can't control that. I can only control how I react to it.


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: ShakinMyHead on January 23, 2014, 04:29:03 PM
Turkish, I understand your concern for your child and the genetic aspect. Remember though, even if a child has a biological predisposition to a cluster B personality disorder, it has to be triggered by the environment. Certain disorders only trigger at certain ages. With BPD/NPD the nature/nurture comes together in the first 5 years or so give or take trauma. Knowing what BPD is, you can work directly with your child without them knowing of course, teaching regulation of feelings. In a "good enough" house hold a child who has a biological predisposition to any disorder may never deal with it, because the environment never triggers it to come out. We can also see the behavior through modeling of caretakers behavior in children without the biological predisposition because they've watched it their whole lives. I grew up in a family where my Mom, Dad and Brother all are NPD. While I have Narcissistic defenses and learned a lot from the Robots around me, #1- not to need #2- how your feelings are more impt then mine #3- to survive in anyway I could, and I was dependent on these people and needed them to live. I did not have the predisposition. I had a self. It split off from time to time when it was neglected in order to deal with the depression and sadness, but it remained intact, and a still small voice that always nagged at me for as long as I can remember Saying, "There is something not right here. Maybe you were adopted. Maybe your real family will come for you soon." etc…and get the hell out of here as soon as humanly possible." There are some books that talk about the genetic links, as well as countering the effects of Cluster B parents that I will list when I get home. But remember your son has you, and if your wife had you for a father she might not have turned out the way she did. But she is not the one you can help now, and we can not love the disorder out of our ex's as they have no reference for it anyway. Their reference is for abandonment, and that is what they try to stay one step ahead of. Blessings, SMH


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 24, 2014, 10:06:55 AM
In a Nutshell, what it took for me to wise up, and also to get my control back, and go No Contact and stick to it, was to realize that it is my own Narcissism that leads me to believe I can help a disordered person change to stable and loving. Specially when they don't even admit to the disorder? WHO THE HELL DO I THINK I AM, MERLIN? There is an analogy written by a gentleman Richard21cp and he explains that disordered people are like scrambled eggs. Once you crack the egg and mix the yolk and the white it can never be unscrambled.

I think that's more codependency SMH... . reason I say that is that I am sure you truly loved that person.  An NPD would only do such to prop up their low self esteem and self importance as it were.  

That theory by the way is mentioned in "Stop walking on eggshells".  Great book to educate yourself on BPD... . It has a lot of ways of dealing with BPDs if you are staying in the relationship... . but obviously we are not or we wouldnt be here... .



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: bpdspell on January 24, 2014, 02:20:38 PM
@ Shakin My Head.

Good stuff.

And you are absolutely spot on about our being arrogant enough to believe that we can rescue them. How can our love fix or repair a genetic blueprint? I think the term is aptly called "vulnerable narcissism" and that certainly was the case for me. I thought I could bend my ex's will like a puppet by modeling to him the way I desired to be treated. But these relationships play out our schema's from childhood and I presume that this is what we are likely to do in all of our relationships until we fix the broken child within and/or our broken pickers.

As I child I wanted so bad to have my mother treat me with love, respect and validation but as a child you are powerless in the hands of a mentally ill person. So as an adult I choose a boyfriend who's an emotional replica of my mother and try to fix her through him.

Crazy.

Yeah. So this will be my first and my last borderline relationship cause there's nothing sexy about two people trying to fix broken schema's.

Spell


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: BeHappyAgain on January 24, 2014, 07:08:08 PM
Thanks Arn this is one of *those* threads that really helps...

Its bookmarked on my pc in my folder of other bookmarks from this forum, h3ll I've even given it its own theme tune [how many threads can boast that?]

Freda Payne - Unhooked Generation !  :)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZTHxWYWbfs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZTHxWYWbfs)





Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: goldylamont on January 24, 2014, 08:37:17 PM
a great thread. i'll throw my 2 cents in, although a bit less dramatic my decision hinged on simply trusting my instincts. and this is why i refer to trusting gut instincts often when talking with others as i feel trusting this 'inner voice' if you will has saved me from so much pain.

in my case things had been getting continually worse between my ex and i over the last 6 months or so of our r/s. i had spent the last 2 christmases and thanksgivings with her family. this final christmas her family and mine happened to be both only an hour away from each other. we both planned on driving down and spending 4-5 days with her family for the holidays (they were great so i was ok with this), but after not seeing my family for christmas in several years i suggested that we spend *part of* christmas day or *part of* christmas eve with my family, as they were only an hours drive away that year. she would have none of it, acted snotty and entitled and basically made me feel stupid for suggesting it was fair to spend 1/2 day with my family out of 5 with hers.

so, and i love that i did this now! before we left i just told her i couldn't do it. i told her she had to go alone if she wouldn't at least spend some time seeing my family. eff that, my feelings were hurt and i would rather stay at home and see friends then try and explain to my family why my ex wouldn't even make time to see them *again*. so i did stay. instead of 5 days with her family she ended up staying a couple weeks, in a way as punishment to me for standing up the way i did. i was living that bachelor life at home chilling with friends, whatever. but progressively as the days went by whenever i spoke to her on the phone she would treat me more and more disrespectfully. we got into an argument about what to do for new year's eve so she stayed her ass up there some more and we spent it apart. it was obvious to me that i was waving a white flag and trying to make amends and discuss the situation and she was just being more and more distant and disrespectful acting as if talking to me was a chore...

finally, i just had enough. i hadn't seen her for 2 weeks, she kept saying she wasn't sure when she was coming back (as punishment) and every convo she acted like i was dirt not worthy of her--eff her seriously. so during a convo after nye i just had an epiphany of sorts; there was almost a voice inside me that said "you need to stop". so i told her i couldn't do it any more. i wanted to end the r/s. it was a calm conversation and i didn't plan on doing it over the phone when we first started talking, but something told me i *should*. it was just a feeling. well, less than 12 hours later she ends up showing up back at home completely unannounced and i was there alone just needed to clean up some, but i know she thought i had some woman over at our house... how sick is that?

trying to process my decision to break up with her, and feeling guilty i had done it over the phone--i had the distinct feeling that she needed to be with this other guy who she dated years before. i know this sounds crazy but it's 100% true--i felt like i needed to let her go and maybe if she were with him or someone else she would see that i wasn't the problem and that she was because the problems followed her. and then maybe we could work something out in the future. well, crazy part is, unbeknownst to me at the time--she had been phoning and skyping with this exact xbf of hers over the christmas break, even flagrantly in front of her family (how disrespectful). this went on for days i think--so now i understood why she was so cold an mean to me over the phone; she had some other dude to validate her and make her feel good. i don't know how i knew but i did know, and i'm glad i did. it was simply trusting my instincts. sorry for the long post!



Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 27, 2014, 05:17:34 PM
finally, i just had enough. i hadn't seen her for 2 weeks, she kept saying she wasn't sure when she was coming back (as punishment) and every convo she acted like i was dirt not worthy of her--eff her seriously. so during a convo after nye i just had an epiphany of sorts; there was almost a voice inside me that said "you need to stop". so i told her i couldn't do it any more. i wanted to end the r/s. it was a calm conversation and i didn't plan on doing it over the phone when we first started talking, but something told me i *should*. it was just a feeling. well, less than 12 hours later she ends up showing up back at home completely unannounced and i was there alone just needed to clean up some, but i know she thought i had some woman over at our house... how sick is that?

about like this (quoted from me earlier on this same thread)

By 10 that night... . mind you I had a five hour plane ride and was exhausted and had to work the next morning... . she was all over me.  Telling me about how guy that travel always cheat on their girlfriends... . ok... ?  So I skype her and walk around the room so she can see... . Jesus... . I will never forget her eyes... . like she was the FBI looking for evidence in a crime scene... . Something... . anything... . to prove I wasn't alone.  I'm not rich by any stretch... . the week prior I had bought her an $800 plane ticket... . so now I have another girl with me?  Found out later she said she thought I had her MOTHER with me!  How freakin sick is that?


Title: Re: What did it take for you to wise up?
Post by: shellsh0cked on January 27, 2014, 05:22:17 PM
trying to process my decision to break up with her, and feeling guilty i had done it over the phone--i had the distinct feeling that she needed to be with this other guy who she dated years before. i know this sounds crazy but it's 100% true--i felt like i needed to let her go and maybe if she were with him or someone else she would see that i wasn't the problem and that she was because the problems followed her. and then maybe we could work something out in the future. well, crazy part is, unbeknownst to me at the time--she had been phoning and skyping with this exact xbf of hers over the christmas break, even flagrantly in front of her family (how disrespectful). this went on for days i think--so now i understood why she was so cold an mean to me over the phone; she had some other dude to validate her and make her feel good. i don't know how i knew but i did know, and i'm glad i did. it was simply trusting my instincts. sorry for the long post!

Less than two weeks after the 15 year old ogling accusation in January where I broke it off with her for like the fortieth time, my xgf decided she wants to go "visit" with her xbf... . who I found out later she had been talking to about our relationship for months... . of course she goes up there and has sex with him and plasters pictures on facebook of her on the beach with that sorry as son-of-a-bhit... . Totally disrespectful... . Been there.