Hello, Confession GAF,
So this is the summation of my time with Girl X. We maintained a long distance relationship for 4 years; we have known each other for 5 years. Were no longer together. Think of this as a post-mortem of our relationship; Ive moved on from her as a person. Id never be in another relationship with her again.
As far as my background goes: I have a fairly decent job. Im back in school, vying for a graduate program (with the hope of progressing in my field). Im not from a background of affluence, just low to mid-tier middle class. I also do freelance work and work a seasonal job on the side.
Im in the process of moving out and getting my life back together WITHOUT Girl X. This isnt meant to be a rant, but reflection. Something for me to look back on in a better place.
My relationship with Girl X had its peaks and valleys. In the past half of the year, things became strained due to my situation at home. I could afford to live on my own, but Ive stayed with my family to watch over my brother and sister. I was afraid things would fall apart without me. My mother suffers from a psychosis that causes her to experience manic episodes. Shes attempted to take her own life several times and has been committed each time. Her and her husband were divorced, but recently got back together due to financial strains on her part.
Unfortunately, they end up besotted with liquor nearly every night. Theres more alcohol than food in the house and Ive all but given up on trying to maintain any semblance of normalcy in this place. The home we live in sat vacant for several years. It was inundated with pretty much any pestilence you can think of before me moved in. Anything connected to a water line leaks, the doors and windows arent properly sealed, and a slew of other problems make it difficult to live in this place. For a stint, my mother was fostering special needs kittens in the house without properly tending to them. Feces could be found anywhere the cats roamed.
Trying to tend to all of these things felt futile. Girl X was one of the few things that picked me up during these times (when we werent bickering). Perhaps it was misattribution on my part. Looking back, there were underlying conflicts that never were resolved.
She viewed me as inferior and below average or average at best in terms of intelligence. She attends an Ivy League college and aspires for a career in engineering. At first, she was supportive of my aspirations and my job
Then it transmogrified to contempt and condescension.
Both of her parents are clearly intelligent people. Theres NO DOUBT she inherited their intelligence. But there are different complexes of intelligence and being smart isnt the only positive attribute one can have. This isnt how Girl X viewed things.
Girl Xs home life wasnt exactly stable when she was growing up. Her mother regularly insulted her, calling her fat, stupid, and so forth; while also telling her she was special and had to go to a prestigious university to be successful. Their arguments often ended in both of them crying. She has a turbulent relationship with her father, someone with an incredible resume and degree from a prestigious university, but ultimately didnt do anything with it. Shed regularly dodge his calls and avoid seeing him. When she was a child, her mother lied and claimed her father abused her in order to gain full custody of her. This created a tempestuous relationship between all parties.
My test scores were above average. I am fairly articulate and received scholarships upon graduating. I was living in a volatile home and still managed to graduate from high school in the top 12 percentile with a decent GPA.
When I informed Girl X of this, she rebuffed, But I go to an Ivy League school, my SAT scores are higher, my scholarships are better, and I never underperformed in any subject. But how was that relevant? What did it matter?
I personally never cared which of us were smarter, but I HAD TO BE INFERIOR to her. She had to lob crap at me to ensure I knew I was less intelligent than her. It got really tiring and she refused to renege on her thoughts. One time, she demanded I say I was less intelligent than her or else shed break up with me. I refused and she ultimately didnt do it.
These are quotes collected roughly over the course of two years (mind you, these were during arguments and shed change her tune afterward):
"Maybe you would get somewhere in life if you weren't such an unmotivated, unintelligent piece of shit.
"No, you're unintelligent because you actually lack any sort of intelligence. You underperform in every subject.
"You're a joke. Give up.
"Your friends aren't intelligent. They're the not kind of people I respect.
"How would you know? You aren't any intelligent person.
"Because you are a fucking idiot.
"I wish I was impregnated by you so I could abort your fetus and make you cry."
"I'm going to cheat on you for real. Fuck it. The consequences don't matter because they are better than having you in my life, anymore.
"It isn't a threat. I just want you to break up with me. I would give up practically anything for that.
I don't care. It would be worth it.
"Would you leave me if I fucked someone else? Because I will go do it, take pictures, and put them all over the Internet if that's what it takes to make you leave me alone.
"You'd leave me if I cheated on you?! I know what my plans for this weekend are. Expect pictures."
"You've done nothing positive for me in the past. Fuck you. I'm so glad we aren't together."
"I'm so happy I am never going to see you again. Because, if I did, I would probably punch you in the face.
"We cannot be together. I'm going to punch you in the face. And I would rather avoid that. No one can protect you. A million nights in jail won't fix the damage I will do to your body.
You're stupid if you aren't afraid.
"I might actually murder you one day. This is rapidly becoming a fear of mine.
"I hate you."
"Most of what you say isn't worth replying to.
"Some people get all the luck. I obviously didnt.
"Why? My life was pre-determined to be shit from the moment I was conceived. I can't do anything about that."
"I hope I die and you're implicated in some way so you can spend the rest of your life feeling guilty."
"The world would be a better place if you were dead."
"You should kill yourself."
Her explanation for these often cruel and venomous words?
"I wanted to regain control of the conversation. Sometimes, saying something shocking does it. Again, none of these quotes were lifted from when we broke up. These were interspersed throughout the last two years of our relationship. Each time, shed come back and apologize.
Last year, she informed me she engaged in sexting with two people. She claimed this was actuated by the other individuals, but she failed to inform them she was dating me. One was a friend (I havent confronted them and probably wont); the other was an acquaintance I had been out of touch with for a long time. She kept us off of social media and I did the same. At first, it was to keep our relationship out of public scrutiny, but now I think there was an ulterior motive behind it.
I admonished her and told one of the individuals to kindly respect our relationship and stay away. He was dating someone at the time and I felt the mature thing to do would be for both him and her to stay away from each other. His response was to block me, but not her.
So we continued dating until we reached a potential bifurcation in the summer of this past year. I visited her at her living area at college (it was a two story home with one story rented out amongst her classmates). She said she felt uncertain, but was willing to give it another go.
She had confided in her roommates when we argued and they had a pretty terrible impression of me. She wouldnt even talk about me at first because she was afraid shed be judged for dating someone that wasnt attending a prestigious university. Interestingly enough, she regularly insulted these people and was trying to devise a way to break apart the relationship of one of her best friends
And she was the one that set it up.
Her friends were under the impression I was visiting so shed break up with me. She gave me the impression I was visiting to try to mend things. So I went there having just had to deal with a suicide attempt by my mother. I was still recovering from a stomach virus. And I had anxiety due to the nebulous nature of all of this.
During the stay, we argued a couple times. I was going through a bit of a personal crisis as a result of all of the problems in my life. Instead of being supportive, Girl X said, Youre moody and not fun and you arent making me happy.
Id walk a half a mile to the store and back to get her things. I cooked with her and engaged in our usual activities, despite still recuperating from the aforementioned virus. I spent the final night with her packing her things and wrapping individual bottles of nail polish for storage until I fell asleep from exhaustion (her collection is immense). She was someone I could forgive for just about anything. When we talked about a future together, I really believed it.
So the stay wrapped itself up and despite a couple arguments as a result of my uncertainty (spurred on by Girl Xs uncertainty and outside stresses), we had a nice time. She ultimately decided to stay with me and we worked through things.
Then she departed for her internship (mid-west area). I offered to take time off of work and visit her, but she asked me not to do so. Her reasoning? You wouldnt have any fun here. She told her fellow interns that she was single and she had broken up with me months ago. She purchased a small HDTV and Xbox 360 and began to obsequiously play Call of Duty.
She started flirting with several different guys. One lived just a couple hours away from me; once divorced due to infidelity on his exs part and with kids. Mind you, this all happened unbeknownst to me and I was under the impression she still loved me and wanted to be with me, despite our arguments.
We planned to attend PAX Prime and later A SEASONAL EVENT THAT SHALL GO UNNAMED (where we first met years ago). I had booked the hotel room in Seattle and purchased the tickets for an exorbitant amount months in advance.
In fact, one of our arguments started because she purchased PAX Prime tickets second-hand and I mentioned I would like to go. She insisted I never said I wanted to go, when I did several times (our arguments were practically always about something trivial like this). She refused to invite me because doing so would be admitting she was wrong. Annoyed and uncertain, I stepped away for a few hours and she came back and said she would like me to attend with her.
Nearly a month before PAX Prime, she purchased a plane ticket to spend the weekend engaging in venereal activities with the aforementioned divorced guy. She told him she had broken up with me months ago. She had barely known him and didnt tell anyone else about this plan.
So PAX Prime happened. Besides one argument we had, things went well. We definitely werent vituperative. She waited until the day of my flight to end things. I flew back home. The next week was a warped roller coaster that now feels like a blur. A lot of awful thoughts and feelings. I went through the 5 stages of grief with a lot of ferocity. I ended up sending a slew of birthday/apology presents.
As soon as I made it home, I was informed that my mothers husband had left. He was done. We were probably going to be evicted. I had 4 classes with a lot of coursework, 2 jobs to balance, and a profound case of depression/anxiety. I had to go on antidepressants to cope. A kidney stone didnt make matters any better.
5 days after ending things, she flew to see that guy just 2 hours away from me. I begged her to speak with me. She ended up informing me of her venture the day she was flying back. She insisted it was just because she missed home and that nothing happened.
A few days later, I learned her period was late. She insisted it could only be my child. I demanded to know if she had slept with anyone else (I of course suspected she had). Out of guilt, I sent her money for pregnancy tests. She refused to tell me the truth until AFTER her period occurred and the pregnancy tests showed negative. Without getting into specifics, its unlikely that I could impregnate her. She wasnt aware of this, though.
What followed was a post-relationship that vacillated back and forth. Mixed signals were given. I attempted to try things again. I tried to cope. I just wasnt sure what to do.
I can see now that I was just her safety net. She continued to use me while she flirted with the friends she made on Xbox Live. Pretty much just socially awkward dudes (we still followed each other on Twitter, and she publicly exchanged licentious remarks with them).
She came back to visit due to our prior plans and because the flight was already purchased. We ended up going to THE SEASONAL EVENT THAT SHALL REMAIN UNNAMED. I covered everything and we had a relatively nice, but bittersweet day. Things ended horribly when we tried talking afterward.
According to her, she did nothing wrong; I deserved all of this. She had framed me as an abusive, neglectful, volatile person. When I attempted to bring up things she had done or explain my own situation, she said, I dont care about you or your problems. Youre wrong. There was no changing her or her mind.
Theres a scene in a film I recently saw (dont want to spoil it) where the protagonist has a sit down with another character after their relationship ends. During the conversation, we can see a change in the central character, but no change in the other person. They can see things ultimately worked out for the better and that there was no changing the other person. Things would have dissolved eventually.
This is the conclusion I have ultimately accepted. Girl X is egomaniacal, solipsistic, and unhealthy for me. Shes delusional and believes shes infallible. She ignores what she did wrong and only focuses on what others do wrong. Shes been through many friends and has lost a litany of close connections as a result of her behavior.
The experience has helped me understand that I need to leave home and focus on myself. No other human being will be permitted to treat me that way again. Im working on deprogramming myself and I refuse to ever treat someone the way she treated me.
Im going to take an acrimonious and sad situation and spin it into something good. Im going to be a better person and improve my situation. This will serve as an impetus to keep going. I'm not going to give up, Confession GAF.