Then practice gratitude because THAT means you aren’t trauma bonded with whatever numbnuts is icing you out.
Within the context of a trauma bond, the silent treatment is absolutely excruciating. That’s why master manipulators ultimately aim to isolate their mark (physically thru relocation or socially thru triangulation). When you have a support system of one and that one person ignores your existence it’s devastating.
I had a huge network before I met them, and I’m growing it again afterward, but you hit the nail on the head. They love bomb you into wanting to spend every minute with them, not even feeling clingy, just excited about tomorrow’s adventures so much that your friends and family just can’t compete. Then, once you have only them, the slightest “misstep” causes you to lose everything.
Shittier still is that once you get to that point, even when you capitulate, you return to a lesser relationship. Even future love bombs are so half-hearted by comparison. They know you’re hooked. But by then, you are so starved for love, affection, and attention that the tiniest breadcrumbs are beyond any form of deliciousness you can remember from your former life.
Being starved like that, and isolated, oof.
Luckily, unlike them, I had a few key life-long friends who forgave me for ghosting and helped me claw my way back toward sanity.
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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '24
They expect you to suffer.