So I started talking to this guy in November. I really like him and he says the same. We are long distance of 7 hours so it’s not so so bad and we see each other here and there when he’s down here for work. Anyways… lately I’ve been feeling self - conscious and scared of him being bored / abandoning me. I had a bad past with my ex (he would compare me to other girls towards the end of our relationship and tell me he’s watching twerking lives to my face). And I’ve had anxious detachment relationships with my dad as we used to fight and not talk a lot so these feelings stem from trauma.
Anyways long story short. I obviously looked through his following. Nothing bad. He was following this one Instagram famous girl who post like thirst pics and whatever (boobs popping out, tongue out, etc) super gorgeous but the photos know what they r doing lol. Anyways, she was live and I joined and I said haha my man follows you. Take in, he liked her picture 2 days ago and it upset me because I don’t look anything like her and he wasn’t even liking my own stories. How do I have other men liking my stories but not him?! Lol. Anyways, I told her that she’s like oh eww girl lemme block him for you. I was surprised and I’m like sure lol. I told her if she can just remove him from her followers list and she did. She and her other viewers were telling me to see if he follows her back because then he’s noticing it. I feel so toxic that I’ve done this and so grossed out from myself. Oh btw, she said he would always text her and send her memes and say she looks good. But she said the last time he did that was November which is when we started talking so it’s fine I guess. But I don’t follow any men who post stuff like that so I found it so annoying that he liked the picture when it should’ve reminded him to unfollow her lol. Maybe I’m just mentally ill.
We also haven’t been talking as much the last couple days because when I found out I felt so gross and then I broke down to him (I didn’t tell him) about how I’m scared of the future and what will happen (I’m seeing him in two days and he said we will talk about it in person) but not texting all day until night (work stuff for him lol) is taking a toll of me . But it’s only temporarily as he’s down here for work but whatever. I get people have lives.
I just feel like I give so much of myself and my happiness, even faking it all the time, to not feel it in return. It feels like men r so interested at first but then they think ur so wrapped around their finger that they can start showing u less attention.
But he is a great guy and he hasn’t done anything wrong except that unless im just crazy. But he does treat me good. I might’ve got too vulnerable with him, he got me flowers and I cried like…. And when he told me to my eyes how much he loves spending time with me and it makes him happy i cried too because im not used to those things and hearing those words. Maybe that was a mistake
Communication. Communication. Communication. Don’t try to strategize. Don’t try to manipulate the situation to your desired end. And most of all, do NOT “should” him. He is under no obligation to meet your needs or figure them out for himself, and same goes for you. It’s just a question of if he is naturally inclined to meet your needs and act according to your values after you clearly communicate them to him. If he is not inclined, then it’s up to you to decide how far you’re willing to level with him or if you would be better off pursuing a relationship with someone else.
Learn to distinguish your subjective STORIES from what you are actually feeling. For example “I feel like you don’t love me” is NOT a feeling. Putting “I feel” in front of some statement does not magically make it valid. “I’m scared this relationship might not last”, also not a feeling. Any sentence starting with a “You…” is a story. More truthful: “when you don’t message me in X amount of time, I feel insecure, and I start to worry about the future of the relationship”. Now you’re just speaking candidly, honestly, saying what is actually happening. You’re not putting blame on him, just acknowledging something that hopefully everyone can agree is happening (he’s not messaging you), and saying what the impact is on you emotionally, and what kind of thoughts it triggers in you. He’s following some girls on social media? Can everyone agree that’s happening? Okay, how does that make you feel AND, distinct from those feelings, what does it make you think? Please also flip it to positive “when you give me flowers, I feel love and I think this relationship is going well.” Clear, straight-forward communication without shoulding. You can also do it on something that hasn’t even happened “I’d love to go on a vacation together some day, if we work together for that goal, I believe I’d feel secure, and I’d believe you love me” (you’re young and still learning your likes and dislikes, so please be aware that sometimes some ideas don’t turn out as great as you hoped, and that’s okay). Feel free to try to find a way to make the conversation more natural but stick to the same logic.
You may want to look into this: https://pastebin.com/ZHhS044M
And especially this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication
You had me at communication. That’s like 95% of any relationship… Literally everything is up in the air … Except being on the same page
Thank you. You see I’m like half over it already … part of me feels guilty for going all out and telling her to unfollow but I honestly just want to see if he notices/followes her again. I feel so bad and I was sick to my stomach because I’ve never done anything crazy like that and I cannot tell him I’ve noticed because I don’t want him to think I’m stalking him you know. We have only been talking and stuff for 3 ish months now. I was going to wait it out, see how it goes the next week and take it from there. If he follows her again then I’ll bring it up to him? I see him tomorrow and we said we were going to talk about stuff because I wasn’t feeling well about me and him a couple of days ago and brought up how I’m worried we won’t work etc etc. I’m scared. I rlly like him but I’m worried this long distance and if he keeps doing this (I will talk about it to him if it continues) will ruin it.
We all watch porn, instagram is softcore that is public for all to see so it makes it weird. He’ll do what he wants to do and it’s up to you to set boundaries for yourself, make him aware and if he respects them too - you are good, move forward, multiple conversations are needed here.
I’m sure you find other men attractive, but those are just thoughts, women make a living of showing off, men can only do it through other gay men as women don’t pay for porn as much as men.
It’s unrealistic for you or him to not watch porn in this day and age, so yeah you are being over the top, especially if you didn’t make it obvious before. I would think liking pics/videos is fine, anything more than that is pretty bad, men have types, but some days I love redheads with huge tits, other days it’s dwarves dressed like characters with huge butts - so I wouldn’t read anything more than that into it.
Just work on believing and making sure you look like the baddest bitch possible version and it will improve your self confidence. Also I do find it weird you don’t think other guys liking your stories/pics, dm-ing you is not triggering the same type ot jealousy for the other side.
One more thing, I feel like the fact he doesn’t like my stories but gave her picture attention is what gets me. I mean he likes my Posts but not my stories. Idk. I like him a lot but sometimes I think I might not be ready for a relationship with these jealousies lol
Stories are lame and I literally never watch them unless a sexy woman is involved
If it really matters to you then just say “Hey babe, I notice that you never watch my stories, but you’re on my mind when I make them”
Don’t make it about comparing. Just make it about him meeting your basic expectations of a distance relationship. If he continues to come up short, well… Life is too short to be seven hours away from your partner. I’m sure there are plenty of available folks in your area
And yeah, just don’t sweat if he’s got some thirsty follows. It’s similar to porn so maybe find something you can both enjoy together 🤷🏻♀️ or maybe get him to talk about it in a non-judgmental conversation
Yeah, I’m gonna monitor. Maybe bring up lack of attention when I see him tomorrow. I know I can find someone else but everyone just wants to have sex and it’s disgusting. He is the only one who genuinely cares and doesn’t care for having sex and stuff. I’m his first and stuff so that makes me feel good but ur right. I mean, the girl is unfollowed and that was my ONLY issue with him. I guess I wait and see if he follows her again? If he does I’ll bring it up I guess. Very embarrassing on my end.
You want a guy who’s not interested in sex? Have you considered just befriending gay men? Or dating a guy closer to 50?
Seriously, almost guy your age is on the prowl…
No I definitely do. Ur right.
I know. I watch porn too. Idk why but the thought of him getting off to other women or whatever makes me physically ill. Like thinking about it makes me want to throw up. Ughhhhh
That’s true yea… I mean the girl said he used to message her sending her memes and saying she looks good but if he’s with me I’d expect him to atleast unfollow her?? But at the end of the day, she’s famous and she didn’t even follow him back so I shouldn’t think too hard but I feel like I’m so turned off for some reason now. And yea I mean I still watch porn lol but that’s not a big issue to me. He has problems getting hard when we do it which makes me question if he’s thinking about something else but he gets mad when this happens to him lol.
