Share moments w/new friends / SO?

[spacecadet]

Does anyone else realize they're in a better place now by comparing something now to what being w/ex would have been like in the same scenario?

I went out last night and had a great, relaxed and stimulating conversation without concern that my friend would get upset and disappear without warning.   

Been out maybe 7-8 times with this man spanned out 4-5 months. He took me for dinner and a play. Play was bad  at least we both agreed so we could talk openly about it and poke fun. We laughed really hard a few times, shared stories of when we felt vulnerable on dates. At one point I said something teasing and he was not only not defensive, he had a laugh, you know when someone throws their head back. I can make him laugh.

Not once did the ex emit a belly laugh. There were smiles and a few times an actual grin but as time went on, everything seemed life-or-death to him so even the grins died down.

Anyone else have moments with new friends / new SO not possible with ex?

[Cromwell]

Its good that you are at this stage, it actually took me quite a bit of time to get over a lot of trust issues that resulted in my experience with BPDx.

but eventually I reconnected, made a lot of new friends, it was a breath of fresh air just to be able to relax a bit more without having to overthink what to say, what not to say, be myself again. At the same time, there wasnt huge communication problems with my ex and she had this fun and excitement to be around that resonated more. It might also be down to the physical attractiveness factor, it has just been unfortunate that the one date I have had that I found equally as hot as my ex, coincidentally showed about 50 red flags of BPD.

Cest la vie!