Author Topic: would like to know  (Read 3215 times)

nobody

  • Guest
would like to know
« on: May 13, 2004, 11:53:28 PM »
i know i'm alittle over the top today, and i ended up here.  i'm wondering if i am a narcisist. i am also wondering if my fiace is one.  he doesn't know i'm writing about this, and i would probably be in deep trouble if he did, but, i get really tired of not being able to be myself.  i know i have emotional problems, and i really am working through them.  anyway, this is what is up.  I have been feeling a little down cause he's drinking again, and we're "fighting" again.  by fighting, i mean we aren't speaking to each other.  i just seem to always be doing something wrong.  i do try hard to do the right things, but, i just don't always know what they are. So, today when he threw his little "mini-fit" i couldn't take anymore, and i guess i'm keeping it going because i don't have the energy to pretend that everything is just peachy when it isn't.  The reason i came to this web sight is because i do feel voiceless.  it is getting better, cause i get to talk to my friends.  i didn't used to, and even now, it's hard for me to know when he's listening, and i don't really like upsetting him.
anyway, the problems i'm having are thus:  1) i am a very emotional person, not only do i feel deeply, but it shows in my conduct.  he doesn't always like it.  
2)  i can't seem to be able to speak my mind. well, sometimes i can, but i have to be careful how i say things.  i think i get a little too exuberant sometimes for his liking.
3)  i have a hard time finishing a thought when i do talk to him.  i usually get interupted in mid sentence, and i don't dare interrupt, not even to agree, sometimes.  the other night, i thought we were having a conversation, and was told to shut up with my "intellectual bullshit"  and to just listen.  
4)  he throws mini-fits all the time. that is getting better, though, because he got one from me, and i let him know that it's what he acts like all the time.
5)  i am not allowed to complain about anything. Especially something i can't do anything about.
6) he used to tellme how to talk, and sometimes still does.  expects me to say to people what he would say, but, i just tell him to say it himself. of course, when he does, it sounds much nicer than it does when he says it to me.  i think i just frustrate him.
7)  why do i have to listen to the same stories over and over?
8)  i feel this is a big one.  JEALOUSY.  I don't indulge in it myself, cause it's so icky, and can be so crazy, but, i can't even talk about guy friends i've had.  and i'm not supposed to be talking to men at all unless he's there.
9)  i feel isolated.  like, i have to go everywhere with him. we were talking about me getting some money, and i said i'd like my own car when i can afford it.  he feels really threatened that i might want to go to the store or something by myself.  he says being together means we have to be with each other all the time.  i am not allowed to work, or anything, of course.
10)  maybe i'm just being shallow. he does do a lot for me. actually, i wish he'd let me do my own stuff once in a while.  i'm old enough to fix my own plate.

ok. that's most of it.  thanks for a place to vent. i usually just write in my journal (which he reads sometimes.)  i know this sounds like it's over the top, but, really, this is the way i feel.  like he doesn't actually hear what i'm saying,  and sometimes i'm not sure what he's saying cause it seems to keep changing. even in the same paragraph.  i feel like i walk on eggshells all the time around him, and i'm always around him.  People who have known him longer than i, say that he's gotten much better with me that anyone else, but that's just cause i can only take so much before i get fed up and start thinking about leaving.

Am i nuts?

Anonymous

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2004, 01:42:57 AM »
i just seem to always be doing something wrong. i do try hard to do the right things, but, i just don't always know what they are. So, today when he threw his little "mini-fit" i couldn't take anymore, and i guess i'm keeping it going because i don't have the energy to pretend that everything is just peachy when it isn't. The reason i came to this web sight is because i do feel voiceless. it is getting better, cause i get to talk to my friends. i didn't used to, and even now, it's hard for me to know when he's listening, and i don't really like upsetting him.


get Patricia Evans The Verbally Abusive Relationship and look into this walking on eggshells/ crazymaking/ power-over stuff, it will help you reframe things and trust yourself and understand how you came to doubt yourself in the first place.

actually, i wish he'd let me do my own stuff once in a while. i'm old enough to fix my own plate.

yes you are.
But no one functions well over time in the face of their partner's undermining or neediness.

write

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #2 on: May 14, 2004, 01:43:40 AM »
that was me, write

Portia

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #3 on: May 14, 2004, 05:42:42 AM »
You don’t appear to be a narcissist. You don’t appear to be nuts either. How did you come to the idea that you might be a narcissist?

But your boyfriend, if he continues behaving like this with you, will probably drive you nuts. He sounds abnormally possessive – abnormal as in disordered.

I’d get a job and my own independence if I was you. If he doesn’t like it, are you going to just hand over your entire life to his care? There doesn’t appear to be any negotiation in your relationship and that’s vital. P

geust

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #4 on: May 14, 2004, 07:50:42 AM »
I don't believe you're nuts. But I just have to ask: Why are you with this guy?? Your situation sounds so familiar to my own parents that it's almost surreal. I can't tell you what to do, but if you were my girlfriend, I'd be encouraging you to get out of that relationship quickly.

He's not going to get better.

JD

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
wow...
« Reply #5 on: May 14, 2004, 08:43:42 AM »
Are you really sure you want to spend the rest of your life with this guy? :shock:
This would keep me up nights...I agree with the others here; get a job, find a way to be yourself...you deserve to have that!
He is NOT going to get any better, no matter what some of your mutual friends are saying; maybe they just don't want to see him alone, either, if he gets worse when he's not with you; but that's not your problem...you need to get out of this relationship.
Then maybe the more you find your own self, the more you can relate to someone who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated...Your own self-confidence will show through, and before you know it, someone may come along who will put you on that much-deserved pedestal!! :D
~*JD*~

nobody

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #6 on: May 14, 2004, 11:59:42 AM »
no, i'm not sure i want to spend the rest of my life with this guy.  When we first got together, i was in a bad way.  i was suffering from depression, and being with him hasn't helped. my depression seems to have lifted, i think cause i finally got through to the other side of menopause.  now i'm finding that i have some anger to work through, and, as always, many things to forgive myself for.  yes, i am thinking about getting a job. really hard to come by in this area, though.  i really do have love for him. he really isn't all that bad, just i would like to be able to set some real boundaries.  the ones i used to have.  i feel depreciated (at myself) for being in this relationship for so long and for giving in so much.  but, really, i am just now getting strong enough to make any real decisions.  i know i need help, because i've been isolated for a long time, and am not sure how to act.  anyway, i guess enough said.  thanks for this forum. i need all the help i can get.

Anonymous

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2004, 12:41:19 PM »
Hi nobody,
You are somebody.  I am sorry you think you are nobody.
Abuse can make a somebody feel like a nobody.  I understand it. That makes me sad.

Here are the things I am learning as I ask myself if I can keep on in a difficult relationship.

1. I have discovered that I need to be treated like a separate human being.. As in, not an extention of him, or his toy.  I get to have my own experience (separate from his intention).  I get to have my own feelings, thoughts, opinions, interests, friends, activities and they are as valid as his are.

2.  I diserve to be and must be treated with dignity and respect all the time.  When the respect for my self stops, I try to leave the scene. I disengage.

3.I diserve privacy. I can have my own friends and I can have conversations that are private.  He can't know.  I have a right to tell my friends and family what is going on if I trust them. His reputation is his problem. He does not have a right to read your journal.  This behavior would make one extremely paraniod!  Try to find a safe place, a pastor, a therapist, a professional.  

4. love and the intentional creation of anxiety are mutually exclusive.
That means if he loves you, he cannot create anxiety for you with his drinking, his fits, his possessiveness, his invasion of your privacy, his abuse.  When he does these things he is not loving you, he is using you to gratify himself.  He might proclaim his love over and over, but he is self decieved.  He doesn't know what love is.

5. Nice things count, but mean things count more than nice things. I don't mean to sound trivial.  What I mean is he can be very sweet, and charming.  He can bring you flowers, take you out on nice dates.  He can say you are the love of his life, that he would be lost without you... He  can pretend to understand you.  But if he is not treating you with respect, as an individual, then ultimately probably hurts you more than the nice things he does and says help you.  The nice things are meant to keep you there, keep you hoping. They might be intentionally or unintentionally manipulative.   If he really loved you, he would respect you at the core of your being. If he does not treat you with dignity, independence and respect, then it will be ever so damaging to you.

6. I have something in common with you.  Our mutual friends told me how much better my H is since he became involved with me.  Obviously they knew he struggles in the love and respect department.  I started to feel obligated to stay because he was making progress.  But it was wrong of me to think I had that responsibility.  But, I cannot care for anyone if my self is being destroyed.  He may be "better" now than before, but maybe it is just a different public face.  Maybe he really is better now, or maybe just more subtle... more manipulative... more insidious

It would probably be difficult for you to get books and read them with him breathing down your neck.  But if you can order one at the library, and then go there and read it... or something...  or have it sent to a friend's house...  hmmm...  Lundy Bancroft "Why Does He Do That?: Inside the Minds of Angry and Abusive Men"  THis book was very empowering.
I just ordered the Patricia Evans book "The Verbally Abusive Relationship"

I would like to tell you to GET OUT.  You deserve much better!  But, I also know that getting out is a complex and terrifying decision.  I hope you can find some help.  I hope you can stay and be safe with us here.  I hope you can be empowered.

Peace, sjkravill

autumn

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 5
would like to know
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2004, 04:28:12 PM »
Dear Somebody ( not nobody)
I see that your post was a while ago and I hope you check this board again - I am very curious to know how you're doing.
A few people advised you to make a place for yourself, if not to get out of the relationship. I am hopeful that you're managing to do this, and am wanting to know what your process is like.
I'm trying to get out of a similar relationship, though I must admit that mine doesn't sound as extreme.
What struck me the most is that you get interuppted all the time, that you're not alowed to express yourself, especially if you have a criticism of him (or am I projecting?)
Do you feel that you are a child of a Narcissist ?
Why do you think that you might be an N yourself ?
This all sounds very selfish - as in "I want to know how you're doing because it relates to me,"  but believe me, I feel for you and hope very much that things are improving for you. I would also like to offer any support I can in your process. I often think it helps to know that other people have been in a similar situation.
The past should be viewed as a springboard, not a hammock

Anonymous

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2004, 06:30:51 PM »
Hi Somebody;

Everyone has addressed your concern very directly and well as I  knew they would.  My two cents are to let  you know that all my internal sirens are going off...he sounds very N to me and I would advise you to get out as soon as you are able though sjkravill put it very sensitively in pointing out that getting out is complex.  Having acheived the freedom of Menopause this is NOT the time in your life you want to ball and chain yourself to someone with these kinds of problems; its the time for moving beyond this kind of thing into health and freedom.

 I suspect if you choose to leave him he will give you a hard time. Think seriously about how is the safest and cleanest way to disengage.

Good luck!     Surf

Anonymous

  • Guest
would like to know
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2004, 06:42:49 PM »
Somebody.  You are somebody!   I agree with all of the comments.  I am in the newly stages of leaving my N husband who is very abusive, very similar to the abuse you are4 suffering.  What I want to elaborate on for you is the process of letting go--of getting out.   It is a difficult step to make.  Nost women go back a few times before they actually say  "enough is enough"  Each time they break away they gain a bit more strength and believe in themselves a bit more.  Trust your intuition that this beahvior from him is incredible wrong.  Try to see that you are losing yourself in him--you are not a separate entity.  Stay with your intuition, get reality checks from this site and from those who truly get it, and slowly and deliberately move onto a new path of your own identity , sanity and joy.  We are behind you!!