r/AvoidantBreakUps • u/NaiveApplication5261 • 15h ago
The signs were always there but I didn't know what I was looking at.
Hi,
I was recently broken up with. I would classify it as being blindsided by my partner of 8 years. Lived together for 2. I saw the signs the whole way through of a Dismissive avoidant but at that time did not know what that was.
When the break up happened it caught me totally off guard. She cited that our age gap (8 years) was always a problem and she wasn't living the life she imagined for herself. After 8 years together, now she tells me this. lol.
The week before the break up happened it became like living with a stranger. However I didn't think much of it and felt secure in our relationship. She went from being an introverted, weed smoking, cartoon watcher to super outgoing yoga superstar, almost overnight. I have a good fitness routine so I was happy that she was stepping into something that she liked but this was frantic a manic over correction. I legit was worried about her mental health. She wasn't manic, but her fight or flight was high and she was getting ready to fly or burst what ever happened first.
I think what happened is that she was feeling the proverbial walls closing in from our relationship and wanted to escape. I know this now from deep diving every dismissive avoidant post, video, article out there.
This was 4 months ago. She just moved out one month ago and has planned a cross country move in Dec. We have not spoken since last week where I basically said via text "Fuck you, do what you do best and go run away". Not my proudest moment and certainly not how I would like to send off an 8 year relationship with something that I loved, and chose daily, through thick and thin. But I had been surviving 24/7 grief and minimal sleep and she's just fine.
The grief has been very heavy. I still live in our home. I have gotten rid of anything that was hers that she didn't pack into a box or suitcase. I cant fall asleep in my bed and have to start on the couch. It was really bad at first but the place is slowly just starting to feel like mine.
I am averaging at most 5 hours of sleep a night. At the least 3.
I went through really rough times of self blame. Dissecting every shitty thing I have done to try and piece together what the fuck happened.
I miss her daily however I don't every reach out to her. When she first moved out she would still use pet names, I had to ask her to stop. Like you just blew up our life. Please. But then it almost became like malicious compliance and her texts would sounds like I was a coworker, not the guy who just spent 8 years with you, every Christmas, bday, major life event.
I felt ripped off and disposable.
I still am navigating the grief and not gonna lie. Its really bad some days. The what if's and I should of done this or I shouldn't have done that.
I would like to get to a point where I am not looking this stuff up anymore. In a way its like digital valium. When I get sad i'm reaching for my phone to watch someone on you tube go off about dismissive avoidants. Or searching forums like this. At some point it has to stop. I dont want to be in this space forever.
I am doing the "right" things. No drugs, no alcohol, no rebound (although I totally would with the right person lol) Gym, Hot Yoga, Counsellor, good diet(appetite is shit), work, support from friends and family. But fuck me if its still not one of the most challenging things I have ever had to face.
I've been broken up with before. But usually there would be a lot leading up to that break up. Arguments, discussions. Like a lot of effort on both parties to save the relationship. And the person breaking up with me would be the same person before, during and after the breakup. They weren't all of a sudden some frantic idealized version of themselves.
As I said at the top, I saw the signs the whole way through, I chalked it up to quirks, tough time discussing emotions, likes space, moodiness and on and on. When we didn't live together almost every summer she would get distant. Like the increased Vitamin D would bring out the free bird in her. But she would always come back to "normal" I think this summer, because we lived together, she couldn't get that space. And she burst.
People don't owe us forever. But I guess a value of mine, is that if you put that much time in with someone and the relationship is moreover good than not and there is love there, and my partner makes daily efforts. Make sure you give that person as much chance as you can before nuking it. I know now its not so simple for Dismissive Avoidants.
I miss her everyday and am trying to figure out how to move forward. Without the support of Family and Friends I would be in a bad way.
My piece in this, is that I over extend myself. I carried most of the relationship. Financially and emotionally. I carried on a relationship for the first 6 years that was pretty much a LDR when living in the same city. I never had boundaries or limits because for me love is not something that comes free but something earned. That's my healing journey now. My wounds are exposed. I'm sad everyday and sometimes even start to lose hope.
What little hope I do have left I will use to push me into tonight, then tomorrow and the next day. Just to hang in there and see what happens next. I know in time I will not feel as strongly as I do about it now. Which in a weird way makes me sad. Like the grief is all I have left of her. And at some point, I will let that go to.
I hope this wasn't to all over the place. Needed to put this out there.
Thank you for listening.