Ouch

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#1 Jan 23 - 7PM
MandyM
MandyM's picture

Ouch

I got somewhat more confirmation tonight that he's officially with the woman I thought he was with.

I've been doing really well lately. I feel stronger than I have since he left. At the same time, though, finding this out tonight was like my heart breaking all over again.

It makes me have doubts. Maybe he's not a narcissist. Maybe he was just a jerk to me. Maybe she's actually the one he really wants to be with. The one who likes to party with him, loves sports as much as he does, already knew all his friends and family before they even started seeing each other. Maybe he just got tired of me and thought I was boring because I don't party and I'm more introverted than she is.

He fits some of the traits I've learned about but not all of them. It would almost be easier to believe he really is an N if, God forbid, he had actually been mean to me rather than just pulling away and ultimately disappearing without an explanation.

I hate jealousy. It hurts.

Jan 24 - 2PM
MandyM
MandyM's picture

It's the most convoluted

It's the most convoluted situation. I don't want him back in my life, and yet I get upset when I find out he's with another woman. I know I'm too good for him, and yet I compare myself to her and feel like I'm not good enough for him to want to be with. In short - WTF????
Jan 24 - 3PM (Reply to #8)
Briseis
Briseis's picture

Mandy

Check out my post below. You don't have to answer the questions on the board or anything. Just think about this. The WTF??? is probably because you DO believe, in some way, that you "caused" the exNarc to behave the way he did toward you. We can undo our thoughts when we line them up against logical reality.
Jan 23 - 8PM
Briseis
Briseis's picture

Here's a question to ask

Here's a question to ask yourself as a "reality check". What concrete, actual THING is there about you that would cause a person to act like such a jerk to you? Come up with SPECIFIC answers. You do XXX, you are XXXXX. That kind of stuff :) If you come up with anything about you that genuinely would make a normal, albeit imperfect guy turn into a horrendous JERKOFF, let us know, OK :D Another "reality check" type thing: if. . .he had actually been mean to me rather than just pulling away and ultimately disappearing without an explanation. So is "being mean" any different than "just pulling away and ultimately disappearing without an explanation" ??? I'd say that is extremely cruel. It is cold and devastating to do what he did. That WAS "being mean" :(
Jan 23 - 8PM
gettinbetter
gettinbetter's picture

If you arrived at this site

If you arrived at this site and alot of it felt oddly familiar then he's a Narc. Really think about it you know in your gut. Your gut doesnt lie. In the end it doesnt really matter what the label is he is abusive to you thats all you really need to know. She will find out soon enough and by then you wont even care and trust me she will be so jealous of you.
Jan 23 - 8PM
venuslovedpluto
venuslovedpluto's picture

You're not alone

I'm having the same kinds of thoughts right now, trying to stay strong in my stance. I'm not an expert on this, I kept going back to the chaos for a long while, but really- it just gets worse. And worse. I'm so not going back for more. I hope you don't either. I hope no one thinks I sound like a freaking know it all, I don't. I'm just feeling disgusted by these men tonight. It's evil, it's rape of the soul. In some countries this is punishable by law.
Jan 23 - 7PM
venuslovedpluto
venuslovedpluto's picture

Oh Wow...

....Mandy, I did the same exact thing you're doing. I refused to see him for months, convinced that he had this disorder & he was a real threat to my mental health. Then I started thinking- I'm not perfect, I've been thru childhood abuse too so I know I have some defenses because of that, he's got a great job, gorgeous home, works hard & pays bills so how can he be a pathological, what if I screwed up the whole point of forgiveness by expecting him to help me arrive at closure in all the ways I needed & he did try after all, what if I'm blowing everything out of proportion because it's true I am very sensitive, he's 23 yrs older, and a guy after all...etc, etc, etc. But those instincts you've had do NOT lie. You know, that knot in your stomach when he says; "Just kidding!", and you know he's not. And that awesome thing that always happens after you make up...the thing where the very next time you need him, he's not there & you know in your gut that it's not an accident or an oversight. The cute things they do like mock your voice on the phone or yawn when you're talking but get super irritated themselves if you aren't hanging on every word. So the guy likes to party and you're a little more straight, you know there were so many other things that didn't jive, didn't have you at all on the same page. Your mind is going to insist on playing tricks on you, highlighting every little doubt, having you second guess yourself. He wanted that, he emphasized your differences as YOUR shortcomings. Screw that, girl....I KNOW you are not sitting there thinking that maybe he'd have loved you on a more real level if only you were more of a "partier". Or her. Or more of a doormat. Or more gullible. Or accomodating. Or completely selfless all the time for him. She will wake up one morning feeling shocked and scared, knowing something is very wrong too. This is a dead-end pattern with these guys, it's not personal in quite the way you're thinking, and you know inside that something is very wrong, quite off or you wouldn't be here. Jealousy does suck, I know. But please know that to him, she's just a prop. A toy. Miss Right-Now while he scopes everyday, every way for more more more. You dodged a bullet to the heart, seriously!! Stay here, keep getting stronger, your heart deserves real love, the kind that can be nurtured and grow. Not the fucked up kind.
Jan 23 - 8PM (Reply to #2)
MandyM
MandyM's picture

That's just it, though. He

That's just it, though. He never mocked me. He never put me down. He had the entitlement, he had the bragging, he always needed me to know how highly other people always thought of him. He was rather secretive. I caught him lying on a couple minor things. Everything always had to be on his terms. He called the shots as to when he'd talk to me and when he'd see me and when he didn't. Unkept promises. Unreturned phone calls. Getting upset when I called him on it or criticized him. Just disappearing at the very end, refusing to tell me why when I asked him repeatedly what had happened, insisting that we were still friends when he wouldn't even see me or talk to me. But never, ever raging at me or calling me names or being violent or even aggressive towards me. In fact, the last conversation I had with him was when he actually called to say he'd gotten some information for me - all on his own; I didn't ask him to - relating to a situation I was dealing with and, at the end, told me, "You're smart - you'll figure it out." We were very different personality-wise, that's for sure. I liked that about him. It's easy to convince myself that he ultimately didn't like that about me. She's a lot more like him.
Jan 23 - 8PM (Reply to #3)
MsVulcan500
MsVulcan500's picture

Mandy,

Mine never mocked me, he never put me down. At least not directly. But he always made sure I knew how amazing everyone else was. And it was anyone. Women, men, children, the checker at the grocery store. Whoever, had some skill or talent or attribute that he would rave about letting me know very subtly that I didn't have "it." Everyone he saw got a huge hug from him as a greeting, and I never got that once. So while he didn't say anything mean to me, since he greeted everyone else that way, but not me, it let me know that I was less important than that acquaintance that we ran into at the store. This was the hardest part about trying to figure out what his deal was exactly. He wasn't outright mean to me, but in reality, he was very cruel to me. He made me feel insecure, jealous, ugly, fat, stupid, poor, not funny, and generally unimportant without saying one word about me. All of these things were inferred by how he built up everyone else. He's with someone else now, married, actually. She's no better or worse than me. She is just different. She will get the same treatment I did. How long that will take, I have no idea. It depends on how long she is useful to him. Sure, her personality and interests could fall in line more with his, but that makes no difference to him. All that matters is what he can get out of her. Nothing more, nothing less. Please don't think that she is better than you in any way. To him it just doesn't matter. He will use her and leave her too.