Yes, let her and her kids go on their trip with her family.

Be prepared how you might respond if she decides to make a reversal and now you can come along with them again.

You do have a right to privacy and confidentiality, especially in this sort of situation, unwinding a marriage.

It ought to be relatively simple since you don't have children together.  That means no custody or co-parenting complications.  It's a relatively short term marriage so your support obligations should be minimal, hopefully only during the divorce process.  But you know she will still make it complicated.

Be especially cautious about "sour grapes" allegations, either against you or your own kids.  She may try to retaliate and - whether purposely or not - mess up your custody with your kids.

A clean break, as much as possible, is best.  As much as possible let the lawyer be the buffer with notifications and negotiations.  Of course do as much legwork as possible to reduce billings but in high conflict scenarios your lawyer is paid to protect you from legal repercussions.

Love this.  It's so true.  I sense that Sunny Sunglasses has figured that out, despite growing up in a challenging environment.  Sunny feels responsible for her life, she has agency, she can choose her next steps.  She can tolerate some discomfort for a time, and persevere through challenges and setbacks, because she sees a path forward to something better.  Basically she chooses to be positive, and that is probably one of the most powerful forces in life.  Happiness is a choice.

I find that the disposition of someone with BPD is basically the opposite.  The default thinking for a pwBPD skews very negative.  Granted, thinking about what could go wrong can be protective sometimes (to avoid harm), but too often with BPD, their negativity is extreme, pervasive and reactive.  Worst of all, a pwBPD doesn't feel responsible for her life; instead, she thinks that other people are causing her life to feel miserable.  This mindset is pernicious, because it's basically a form of learned helplessness.  She has no agency, no power to move forward, let alone see any good in people (including herself), or give the benefit of the doubt.  She's stuck in a negative thinking rut.  Worse, she lashes out and blames others, trying to make them feel as miserable as she feels.  It's truly depressing.

So much familiar here.It’s so hard. And you will find thi site helpful for consolation snd change.

To follow your name I will provide support in the form of you said you are going to do it so then my friend NIKE that S !!! We will hold you to it.

Cheers and Best Wishes!

-SC-

Not Wendy, I very much relate to what you are saying. I am transitioning now to not tolerating abuse and it is scary but also feels good and right.

I think when we grow up with a disordered person, it is the "normal" we know. There are people in my mother's family who are estranged from each other. I don't know the reasons why. Maybe it's their "normal".

We assume a memorial is not the time to act out grievences but how a disordered person is thinking is anyone's guess.

I have had this kind of thing happen and as Tel Hill said- being nice to these people seems to be an incentive to them to make you a target.

As kids, one of the first things we learn is the Golden Rule. A version of it is universal to so many cultures and it's so sensible, but we weren't taught how to deal with people who for some reason don't think the rules apply to them or through their own distorted thinking behave differently.

In addition, I also think there's something about us that these people can sense. Boundaries are on some level not conscious. I think this part is our upbringing. We haven't had solid boundaries in our FOO. We don't really know how to deal with these people. We try to make sense of their behavior when we don't think like they do.

There was a time when I experienced betrayal and also people being outright mean. One time, a person was yelling at me and I asked "why do you do that" and the reply was "because I can".  She was right- I didn't give the behavior back. In 12 steps we learned a slogan "we teach people how to treat us" and this is about boundaries and not tolerating abuse. I don't tolerate it now.

Still, my own sense of how I want to behave is important to me. I don't want to return that kind of behavior. I don't want to act that way. So finding a way to distance from this kind of behavior without acting like them is a challenge. The going NC/discard, cutting off is the more difficult.

I am less trusting these days. Emotional distance feels safer. I don't know if that is because I have better boundaries or am too defensive.

There is a perspective that I find compelling... In some ways we do choose who we are.  You've done that.  You're a more positive person, responsibility and integrity mean something to you, despite the bad examples in your childhood.

It is so sad that the others in your FOO (family of origin) didn't choose to make better and more wholesome lives for themselves.  We can't fix them.  The best we can do is ensure we don't pick up their poor behaviors and negativity.

But we can and do work on ourselves.  Kudos to you.

TelHill,
Thank you for understanding my situation. Like you, being friendly and doing favors for my disordered neighbor has made me a consistent target. For the future, it is all about having the lowest possible contact with her. The biggest challenge I have is feeling so unsafe having her around, like as you describe these type of people tend to implode at random. I never know when I am in for another round of being abused, and she really lives just a few feet away in the condo association. If this were my own privately owned home, I would have more barriers to limiting contact with her.

 

Hi Zachira, I also have a disordered neighbor. What's theirs is their and what's yours is theirs.  I also feel reluctant to act due to having had a dBPD mother.

I've done the same as you. If something happens I'll contact them but say nothing otherwise. Being friendly with them and/or doing favors in the past made me into a consistent target. I think it feeds the disorder.

They seem to implode at random though. They've harassed others in the neighborhood too.

Zachira, don't be so hard on yourself. I've had to learn the hard way how to handle disordered people. Most people do too. It doesn't come naturally. 

You can ignore her and not speak to her. If she can't control her behavior, you have the right to protect yourself. I think you're doing really well from what you've said.  You can't stop her from being disordered.

I would suggest contacting the police if she trespasses and destroys your property again. I had an instance where I should have and let it pass -- I was still learning to set boundaries. Actions should have consequences.