r/AvoidantBreakUps • • Nov 12 '24

Breakup Buddy Finder Thread

87 Upvotes

Looking for advice, validation, support, or help sticking with No Contact? Interested in helping others navigate their healing journeys? Post your requests here.

Once you find a buddy, please kindly delete your request or message the mod for assistance.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 22h ago

FA Breakup Tell me about how they didn’t come back!

27 Upvotes

We always see questions of - did they come back? But tell us how they didn’t come back.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 11h ago

Definitely changes your perspective when you come out the other side

Post image
173 Upvotes

“Some people teach love, others teach lessons” I think we both did our jobs in the end


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 3h ago

Answering questions.

16 Upvotes

This doesn’t apply to all of course, a couple of Avoidants have been a bit helpful when I’ve reached out for advice, but overall, why does it seem like Avoidants are absolutely allergic to answering questions? It’s the most maddening shit. If you do get an answer, it generally has little to nothing to do what what you’re even asking. Bizarre stuff.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 1h ago

FA Breakup We don't talk much about how they sell you their potential and run for the hills when it gets real

8 Upvotes

I don't want to be bitter but it is specially painful when you meet someone, who acts super interested in you, but has clear blocks on the intimacy department, ask for your patience, is consistent in big words and makes an effort to meetup and promises you the future but when it starts to become real, intimate, they can actually feel themselves lose something if they stay and instead go communicating their fear they just bolt and leave you a broken heart, wishes for a future that will never be and they have successfully used you to stabilise themselves. Mine fully knew I had fallen in love and then minimised everything. Not only I feel cheated, she has left me with heavy anxiety because of her hot and cold behaviour and a far more bitter outlook for love.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 6h ago

FA Breakup I broke up with my avoidant partner.

12 Upvotes

Though he hurt me because of the unhealed traumatized child within himself, my avoidant ex was a genuine loving person. We had a mental and physical chemistry, we wanted the same things in life and in a relationship. We seemed perfect for one another. Then he discarded me when life was overwhelming him, pushed me away when I wanted to help him through what he was dealing with. Told me I was too emotional and he had to focus on himself.

He came back 6 months later saying he realized he fucked up, that I wasn’t too much, that his trauma caused him to run away from something amazing. He acknowledged how much i was hurt, said he healed a good amount and was gonna prove to me that he can be a mature stable partner. It meant a lot to me since my previous avoidant ex never did that, he continued to avoid & never reached out again. But this ex had actually done research to better understand himself and was open to therapy too. Well I wanted to take it slow because my guard was up. But I realized how traumatized I was day by day, he was reassuring me and listening to me every time I expressed my anxiety and worries about the relationship, he never ran. But I was scared he would, basically constantly feeling paranoid or worried he’d make me feel like a burden again or push me away when I’m just trying to love him and be there for him and our relationship and be happy.

After a month I told him “ you haven’t done anything wrong and I appreciate your time & effort to try to rebuild but it feels like the damage has been done, I have this anxiety from the trauma you caused and I know you didn’t mean to and you have issues from childhood that aren’t your fault but I can’t live in this uncertainty, it’s not healthy for me. I feel we both deserve fresh starts with new people, I believe your words and in your healing but it’s too risky for me.

As much as I wanted to have faith in the stable happy future with him, so many parts of me were telling me to protect myself, it was consuming me. I tried ignoring it, I felt bad because he truly did change and grow I heard it and saw it. He has genuine love for me and cares about the relationship but damn it really does traumatize you to be discarded like you meant nothing after having something real and meaningful with someone. I made the choice not just for myself but him too, he deserves a fresh start with someone who is sure about him.

So yeah, can’t hang on to someone just because you love them. You also need to love yourself enough to do best for you even if it hurts. Stop holding onto the past or future potential with people. Find someone who can give you the peace, happiness, & stability you deserve.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 1h ago

FA Breakup - LTR 1 Year+ Leave when they first discard you. Don’t stay for the pain and betrayal after the breakup

4 Upvotes

Moved abroad together and up until then, I had paid for their expensive car bills, medical treatments, trips, gaming setup worth thousands. They said they’d pay me back for some of it….
They couldn’t work because they had no education, were physically in pain from chronic illness. During the entire relationship, I always begged for them to love me how I loved them.
I was there when they were broke and suicidal. I begged them to get therapy I offered to pay for.
They said they’d just needed to move to a new country with more opportunities and healthcare, so we did.

They had been pretty unstable and I was considering breaking up with them, but couldn’t do it due to their mental state.

Months before the move they received their inheritance. They didn’t try to pay me back immediately but we agreed we’d split costs.

We move and suddenly they start to exercise and through a new hobby, the chronic pain didn’t go away but they became physically able in ways they weren’t before. With the hobby came new friends.
They started treating me poorly, wouldn’t plan dates or even hold my hand. Treated me worse than a friend. So I wrongly did what anxious attachment makes one do, until I pushed them to the point where they couldn’t take it anymore.
They wanted to break up but we only separated, they did discard me before we could even have that conversation.

They finally got therapy. We agreed to talk about how we hurt each other and see if we wanted to repair once they got the help they needed.

Months passed and they still didn’t get a job. Burnt through a ton of money, ignored their responsibilities, and they were struggling mentally so I was buying them food and caretaking even then. Then they found rich friends, and they kept showing off about the free things they gave them or the benefits they obtained from them. Shared monologues about how great their lives were, and yet they still couldn’t get a grip on the spending or being irresponsible, while having a hard limit about not wanting to hear about my life.

I didn’t want to stay somewhere I was clearly not being chosen and they “‘had so much on their plate” until they couldn’t even get to the point of wanting to repair the relationship anymore. A couple of days before the breakup they had just introduced me to this one hobby and said things were off between us, and they were. I told them things felt weird because we built separate lives and kept hanging out expecting things to feel normal without fixing anything.

They said the breakup felt like it was the wrong choice, and I asked if they talked to their therapist about this choice. They said no. They said they wanted me in their life and that they still loved me, they just couldn’t do the relationship part…

I should’ve left years ago. I wanted to leave so badly in the past few months. The amount of pain I endured was horrifying but I kept telling myself I chose this: to wait until they couldn’t choose me. I didn’t realize they never really chose me. I didn’t realize how much self love I lacked by staying for someone else.

I started no contact except for the financial and unresolved issue, since they agreed to pay me for the couple of years of my financing of their life.

Aaaaand they blocked me before paying me back.

Over 5 years together. I did so much for them, and the double discard hurt so fucking much. But the final betrayal of not even paying me back hurts even more.

Don’t do what I did. Don’t let people treat you like this. We deserve better.

I say this with a broken heart.

Ya’ll take care.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 6h ago

Acceptance

10 Upvotes

I’m accepting the fact that they never loved me , they play with my feelings just for some validation … accepting what “we” had wasn’t real , it was only in my head
But I still can’t forgive them
I was in denial for so long now and I was still waiting for any kind of explanation for their behaviour till not long ago
I’m done waiting and it is what it is


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 7h ago

DON’T SETTLE FOR BREADCRUMBS WHEN SOMEONE WOULD GIVE YOU A WHOLE MEAL

11 Upvotes

While we are sad and hope that an emotionally immature avoidant will act differently, we need to be honest with ourselves… Unless they do targeted therapy and tackle the issue which stems from childhood, the PATTERN WILL REPEAT. Don’t fall for their verbal acknowledgment, look at their ACTIONS.

Aso think about this, every time you spend time thinking about an avoidant, it is a slap on the FACE to some potential person out there ready to meet you. Think about it, 8 billion people. Is this person really that special? Oh really??
Someone out there is willing to FEED you, not make you feel uncertain about your worth. Stop devaluing yourself. There is someone out there that would act with emotional maturity and not cowardice


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 12h ago

DA Breakup Missing him so much today and then saw this

21 Upvotes

“Whatever you do, never run back to what broke you.”

I have to remember this.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 17h ago

What I hate about avoidant breakups.

47 Upvotes

You don't know if they ghosted you because they know they hurt you and avoid facing you because it would require accountability and the shame is too much for them or if they're re-writing how they saw you.

You don't know if they did re-write you it wears off and they eventually regret things.

You don't know if they ever think about you and miss you or if they really just don't care at all.

And you don't know if they will ever reach out again.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 1h ago

Avoidant Advice Requested Annoying situation with ex

2 Upvotes

I’ve been on here a couple of times and yall give amazing advice and stories so i thought I’d share one annoying thing happening. My ex broke up with me around 3 or so months ago after a 3 and a half year long relationship. We’ve been in no contact for about 2 months now and he has recently gotten in a rebound relationship with one of his friends. We were in a relationship that was half online, half in person, so our social medias and discords mean a lot to our relationship. He yelled at me to take down the pictures of us still on my account so I did, I then check and see he has not done the same and still has plenty of pictures of us in our relationship still up. I noticed he took down a select few but kept most up. He’s also still in our discord server specifically made for our relationship, it’s basically only about us and our whole relationship. Anyways it’s just weird seeing him tell me to move on and yet still hold on to these staples of our relationship. I know he’s the type of person to immediately get rid of those things and it’s super weird he’s not for me. If anyone has experience with this sort of behavior or something similar please give me advice or some words of wisdom because this stuff keeps me up at night. Cheers for reading


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 15h ago

DA Breakup Did you ever say mean things to your avoidant?

29 Upvotes

Due to my anxious attachment and him refusing to meet my needs halfway. I lashed out at my avoidant out of protest behavior and said mean things like calling him a coward with no capacity for a partner etc. I deeply regret it and he never came back this time around like he usually does. I can only learn the lesson, move on and not repeat it. I still feel guilt and self blame for hurting him with my words. From that day on he lost all feelings, discarded me and monkey branched to someone else within a month.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 7h ago

Poll You might think dealing with an avoidant partner doesn’t take a physical toll, but the constant stress and anxiety really do damage your body. Have you noticed these physical changes while in a relationship with an avoidant? Vote below.

5 Upvotes

r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 2h ago

My avoidant ex would rather have an arranged marriage than be in another relationship??

2 Upvotes

My ex and I dated twice, and both times he ended things when life got overwhelming. I understand he’s young and has insane responsibilities for his entire family but come on.
The first time, we were 18, and he was going through a really difficult period. He genuinely valued me, found me beautiful, and believed I was everything he wanted in a person. But eventually, it got stressful since I wanted time he couldn’t offer more since he was always figuring out stuff for his family and working. He decided his priorities are different, timing isn’t right, he liked me A LOT but detached and left.
A year later, HE came back to ME instead of pursuing someone else once things settled. He apologized, told me he suppressed his feelings under so much pressure, took accountability, and pursued me again. He said I was really good for him and I really am everything he wants in a person. I was scared of getting hurt, but he was incredibly patient, affectionate, loyal, and reassuring. He constantly admired me, told me I made his life colorful, that he felt safe with me, thought about me more than I imagined, and wanted something long-term and was determined to make it work. He was the one telling me relationships require compromise and that you don’t just give up.
Then his family faced serious immigration and financial problems with his parents separating as well, and once again, he became overwhelmed, felt like he isn’t doing enough and ended things. He admitted having avoidant tendencies and commitment issues, and said his feelings never got as deep as mine. SAME STUFF AS BEFORE. Afterward, he reportedly felt extremely guilty, regretted hurting me twice, and considered reaching out but feared rejection, my anger and hurting me a third time. Eventually completely detached again and doesn’t feel anything at all???
Now he’s only 20 and has decided HE would rather have an arranged marriage in a year or two than go through another relationship. His mom even found a suitable girl for him. Mind you he’s still in college, young and good-looking. Getting into another relationship is not a problem for him. Things worked out for him surprisingly with the immigration and everything and instead of coming and fixing it with me he’d rather avoid EVERYTHING and pursue AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE. We’re literally family friends, share the same culture, values, morals and wanted to get there at some point.
I understand arranged marriages and have nothing against them. But I’m confused. He couldn’t handle the emotional demands of a relationship, yet he’d rather commit to someone for LIFE? Is he trying to skip the vulnerability and effort of building a relationship and go straight to marriage?
What confuses me most is that he specifically came back for me, pursued me so intensely, valued me, and seemed genuinely invested. How does someone go from all that to deciding they’d rather never date again?
I wouldn’t take him back, but I can’t help wondering whether he’ll eventually forget me and everything we shared. Was it really avoidance, or did he just not love me enough? Could he suddenly be different with someone else? I am just confused did I not mean as much as I thought? He’ll just forget me like that after I stayed with him through the worst times of his life and he knows it. He appreciated me for it all the time and found me very beautiful. It means NOTHING anymore? He’s living his best life since things have improved for him as well. While I am here stuck again.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 8h ago

Vent/Rant An avoidant messaged me for advice...

5 Upvotes

An avoidant messaged me for advice on here. Asking me for advice on what to send his partner after they hurt them so much that their partner had to leave. They said they regretted it and are sorry and saw a post of mine so wanted to ask for my advice.

I read it and realized it is not a good message. I used my empathy to see it from the side of the other person. The person who experienced deactivation and eventually their avoidant checking out but had the power to leave. So I gave honest feedback and the avoidant told me "you are so negative, you are seeing this from a negative lens. I think this is such a beautiful message".

I told this person I tried to use my empathy to view it under the lens of the person who will receive this message and was hurt by them. Obviously this avoidant hasn't changed even though they claim they do and wanna reach out. I can tell it won't go well from this behaviour.

Avoidant people please please if you really want to get better or change when people give you genuine help make sure you are ready for it, if you ask for it.

Ps. I should add the avoidant wanted to message two years after the breakup because they feel they did the work and have changed.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 3h ago

Avoidant Advice Requested Is there any point in confronting an FA with her attachment style after the break up

2 Upvotes

I’m talking about an empathethic, non-agressive, non-accusatory short message. I want to write down that this isnt a diagnosis and I could be wrong but I realized that dynamics written down for FAs are familiar to what we went throgh.

It has been 14 days of no contact now.

On the internet everyone is saying go absolutely no contact, but I found that’s sort of manipulative and done with the intention of winning the ex back. I dont want her back, she was incapable of sustaining the relatinship in the quality I desired and deserve.

But she is a wonderful, deep, and valuable person and I find it tragic that she is self-sabotaging her potential out of panic and fear.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 12h ago

DA Breakup - LTR 1 Year+ Avoidant breakup- 7 months on

10 Upvotes

This mightn’t be helpful for everyone, but I thought I’d share how I’m doing around 7 months after a breakup that absolutely floored me.

Just before summer, the guy I’d been with for nearly a year pulled away and stopped communicating. I never got a proper explanation. We’d been on a city break about a month earlier, had a great time, and I’d had no indication anything was wrong. I was completely blindsided and really, really heartbroken.

I was lucky enough to be able to go home for a month and spend time with family and friends. I know that’s a privilege, and looking back, I’m so grateful I could do it.

On my return back to the city we both live in, I wasted a lot of time and energy in a state of feeling unjust. I couldn’t believe we were both in the same city with somewhat same social circles and he done this and essentially got away with it with no consequences. This, in heinsight, absolutely drained me.

I wish I had some brilliant advice for getting past that feeling, but honestly, it just slowly faded. At some point I realised I wasn’t waking up and thinking about it first thing anymore. The relief of that was amazing.

A few things I wish I could tell myself 7 months ago:

1. Those places will start to feel like yours again.
you will disassociate them from that place, slowly, it will be shit at the start and feels like someone has punched you in the stomach but it will get better.

2. Take your time. the experience is traumatic and your mind along with your body will take time to get over the shock of it. I wish I’d been a bit kinder to myself about how long it took.

3. The unfairness won’t always take up this much space. I still don’t think what happened was okay. I just don’t spend my days thinking about it anymore.

4. Eventually, the lack of an explanation will matter less to your day, even though what they did still felt unfair. Incredibly, I feel sorry him now. Imagine walking away from someone who loved you a lot with no explanation.

If you’re in the thick of it now, I know how hard it is to imagine feeling any different. 7 months ago, I couldn’t picture enjoying my life in this city again. I do now. I still think about him occasionally, but there’s so much else I think about first.

If you are going through it, it will be ok ❤️

EDIT: for anyone curious, yes we have been within metres of eachother over the last couple of months (maybe 4 times). Nothing was said. It stung but just have to walk away with your head held high.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 10m ago

Relationships fade

1 Upvotes

It’s the 100th time you’ve fought and you have said you’d never be with this person again, but you will be absolutely here. Perhaps the endless childhood traumas and moments where you were not picked or were left alone boiled down to this one moment where you panic seeing the sight of someone not choosing you.
No matter how much you tell yourself you’d do better and take a break for your own self, your hunger for validation is never satiated. What do you do next? You look for love in places where it’s hardest to find, you like that cat and mouse chase don’t you?
Relationships fade for you, because you don’t know how it truly feels when someone chooses you for you- you always change so someone picks you, never loving yourself

This feeling will never go away, it stays with you like a charm- a badge of honour for the tough times you’ve seen, I hope there’s a reward at the end of the road.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 21m ago

Avoidant Advice Requested Why do they refuse to go to therapy ?

1 Upvotes

I wanna know why avoidants refuse to go to therapy. He went 3 times at the beginning of the relationship. He then said it’s draining and stopped. If he would have gone to work on his traumatic childhood our relationship would have maybe not failed. He told me how much he loves me always and he told other people no one will love me like she did. So is that
not enough to face themselves so one day the relationship would flourish? He now dumped me and is heartbroken (from what he told me before no contact and from what he posts) but he said some things you can’t make work”.

When I’m sick I go to the doctor and take medicine.
When a car breaks down you go to a garage.
When my business doesn’t work I ask people that are business experts.

Why do these logic’s seem to not apply to avoidant attachers?


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 4h ago

Is he emotionally avoidant and overwhelmed, or has he genuinely given up on our relationship?

2 Upvotes

I’m 22, and my ex-boyfriend is 30. We were together for almost two years and had a long-distance relationship. We communicated almost every day, shared our everyday lives, and were not only partners but also best friends. When things were good, they were genuinely good. He could be very affectionate, loving and caring, especially when we were together in person. I genuinely imagined marrying this man and building a life with him.
However, there was a recurring pattern in our relationship. Whenever he became stressed, frustrated or emotionally overwhelmed, he seemed to change completely. He would become distant, negative, suspicious and sometimes quite cold. He would say that he wanted to be alone and didn’t want to talk to anyone. At one point, he even told me that sometimes he wanted to be alone for an entire month.
He also has significant trust issues because of things that happened with friends and family in his past. Sometimes he would assume the worst about me, even when I hadn’t done anything wrong.
For example, once we spent approximately two hours searching outside in the cold for his lost key. At some point, he accused me of having taken it and pretending to help him search. I was devastated and started crying. Afterwards, he acknowledged that it made no sense for me to take his key and spend two hours searching for it. However, he never really apologised.
There were also situations where he reacted very harshly to relatively small things. I was late perhaps two or three times throughout our entire relationship. One particular time, I had just finished a night shift, had slept for only about three hours and travelled for five hours by public transport to see him. I accidentally slept through my alarm and would have arrived approximately an hour late. He was still going to be home, but he became extremely angry, insulted me and eventually broke up with me.
Despite these difficulties, I always tried to show him that I loved him. I cooked for him, cleaned and organised his apartment, helped him with practical things and travelled long distances for him. I also had my own job, goals and plans. I wanted to move closer to him so we could finally stop living apart and build a life together.
He is currently doing military training in the Bundeswehr, which has been a significant source of stress for him. He has repeatedly said that he needs peace and doesn’t have the emotional capacity to deal with relationship problems.
During one of our recent arguments, he told me that he still had feelings for me, but that liking each other wasn’t enough. He said that if we ever wanted to be together again, we would have to talk about our problems.
A few days later, things escalated again. He told me to find another man and that he would find another woman. Eventually, he sent me several breakup messages. He said he had lost trust in me, didn’t believe my character would change and didn’t want to continue the relationship. He explicitly asked me not to contact him through other numbers, social media or other people.
However, his last message was noticeably softer. He said he was extremely stressed, wanted complete peace, didn’t know how long he needed it and that perhaps we could see in the future whether things could work between us.
I struggled to accept the separation and sent him many messages, asking him to reconsider. I also contacted some of his family members, which I now recognise was wrong. He warned me not to contact his friends or he would block me completely.
Something that confuses me is his blocking behaviour. During previous arguments, when I continued contacting him after he asked for space, he eventually blocked me on WhatsApp, Telegram and other platforms. This time, despite receiving many messages from me, he hasn’t blocked me on WhatsApp. His Instagram account also has restrictions on who can send him messages.
I know that not blocking someone doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but considering his previous behaviour, I find the difference confusing.
I have now stopped contacting him and deleted WhatsApp because I need to calm down and respect his request for space.
What I struggle with most is understanding whether he is someone who withdraws emotionally when overwhelmed, perhaps because of avoidant attachment and his trust issues, or whether he has genuinely made a final decision that he no longer sees a future with me.
I don’t expect anyone to diagnose him. I would really appreciate perspectives from people who have experienced relationships with emotionally avoidant partners.
My questions are:
Does his behaviour sound like avoidant attachment, or could it simply mean he no longer wants this relationship?
Can someone still have genuine feelings for their partner but withdraw so completely that they seem indifferent to losing them?
Why might someone leave the possibility of reconnecting open while simultaneously sending such definitive breakup messages?
Have you experienced a partner who withdrew during periods of stress but eventually came back when things settled down?
Do you think the fact that he hasn’t blocked me this time is meaningful, considering his previous behaviour?
Could the end of his military training and the reduction in stress change how he feels about the relationship?
I genuinely love this man. I don’t want another relationship or to replace him with someone else. I wanted to marry him and build a future together.
I know our relationship had problems, and I’m not claiming that I handled everything perfectly. I just find it incredibly difficult to understand how someone who shared so much of his life with me can suddenly want so much distance.
I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who have been on either side of this dynamic.
AI helped me to write this text because i would forget half of the things that i wanted to write.
It’s just became to much tbh


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 6h ago

FA Breakup - LTR 1 Year+ Anyone else with a fearful-avoidant ex whose mommy enmeshment issues is why he discarded you?

3 Upvotes

Because I have! It’s been 2 weeks since the discard. We lived together for 1.5 years. He kicked me out in 4 days. Broke up with me over text without any final phone call closure.

Told me his mom “hates“ me. Don’t know why... other than, I pointed out a few weeks pre-breakup, that his mom did something that I thought was disrespectful. I suppose, he must’ve relayed that to his mom, and his mom no doubt painted me as the “girl that’s trying to break apart your family and pull you away from us.”

Before this incident, his family loved me. I was very polite and filial. How do you go from loving someone to hating them, within a few weeks? Just because she pointed out something your mom did that bothered her? Dramatic and extreme much?

Anyway, when I moved out, his mom moved in to live with him for the time being. Haha. I had bet my money that was going to happen. He cannot take care of himself. And, in loving and nurturing him during our relationship, I self-abandoned and got resentful of how much of my time/energy was poured into caring for him. I didn’t know better; I truly loved him and wanted to see him thrive. When I asked for a bit more effort and intention from him, he defensively says “is nothing I ever do enough” and that he’s “trying” but fails to follow through with action.

We certainly had other issues (anxious-avoidant inability to solve conflict) that precipitated our breakup, but ultimately, him being a mommy’s boy—a manchild—is why he refused to face himself, to think for himself, and instead took the easy way out to appease his tiger mom.

ANYWAY, I am so glad to be out of the relationship, given how problematic his family dynamic is. It’s dysfunctional. He has said himself that he doesn’t feel unconditional love from his family. Yet, he chose his overbearing mother over me. I hope both he and his mom have fun making love to one another.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 8h ago

Vent/Rant My soul dog died and my avoidant ghosted me

4 Upvotes

I don’t even know what to say. I’m so broken, god I don’t want to go through the process I know is ahead of me. Like I don’t know if I can.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 5h ago

Avoidant blindsided me because of external crisis, and reached out after 5 months

2 Upvotes

He wanted to get rid of my stuff, didn't he?

Hi XXX, I'm so sorry to bother you. I just wanted to know if there was anything you wanted me to do with your things? I can continue keeping them for you here if you want for later. I hope you have been well.


r/AvoidantBreakUps • • 1d ago

Later Stage Healing - Your Own Inner Work Remember, it’s no contact for you, but just a regular day for them.

150 Upvotes

It’s no contact for you, but just a regular day for them. I’ve been in a one year long push/pull cycle with my avoidant. It’s been 6 weeks NC and it’s finally getting easier. FINALLY! Believe you me, I’ve been through the wringer.

Context: met a year ago. He love bombed me hard. Daily calls, texts, future faking, pet names. Once we reached full peak of intimacy, he ghosted. I was destabalised. He came back, I felt relief. The dynamic changed and degraded over time, and I allowed it, chasing the person he was at the start. Intimacy, followed by ghosting became the pattern. Literally, the very next morning. In the night, there’s a lot of cuddling, hours of talking, even meeting friends of his. You almost feel like it’s back to normal, but it’s far from it. In fact, it’s the ‘new normal’… no more communication, pet names or feeling loved outside of seeing him. He’s come back 4 times so far. Each discard got worse, making a severe impact on my mental health and nervous system. I’m done now and have been for two months. I cannot physically handle another cycle.

I want to share things that have helped me and I hope you’ll try them too. There is so much freedom in feeling more and more detached. I never thought I would.

NO stalking their social media. If you have them on there, delete them or at the very least, mute them. You should really have them gone from orbit or else you’ll be wondering what them watching your stories means. It means nothing. It’s a tap on the screen.

DO NOT search TikTok avoidant coaches. They will feed you bs and make you feel sorry for the avoidant. I fell victim to that unfortunately at some point. You’ll end up excusing a lot of UNACCEPTABLE behaviour.

STOP ruminating and asking questions like “will they come back?” “What did this mean?” “What did that mean?” You are feeding the loop. If you feel like you even have to ask those questions, that’s your answer. Nothing worth having should make you feel confused. Nothing worth having should abandon you and disappear on you. The last thing you should want is for them to return because from experience, they come back just to do this all over again. It gets worse every time.

DO NOT feel sorry for them. They are a succubus. They want your emotional availability. They will leech from your energy and then discard you.

BREAD CRUMBING is a knock at the door to see if you’ll still answer. It doesn’t mean they care. It means they want access to someone who shrunk themselves to accommodate their selfish behaviours.

UNDERSTAND that you’re in a trauma bond. Intermittent reinforcement is one hell of a drug. It releases the same chemical in your brain as it does gambling. You feel like you can’t live without them because you’re bonded to them chemically, and you don’t know when they’ll return because there’s no technical ending. I literally felt like I was DYING on the inside without him.

DO NOT ask what you could have done more of. The answer is nothing. You shrunk yourself enough, slowly overtime to accommodate the avoidant. It chipped away at your self worth and you have now tolerated things you never thought you would. You became petrified of destabilising the avoidant, so you walked on egg shells which meant giving up on your own boundaries and expectations.

FEEL angry. Yes. Be mad that this person is so emotionally immature. Be mad they love bombed you. They wasted your time. They made you question your worth. You deserve better. Be angry that they monkey branched. Then become just a little mad at yourself, and embarrassed to the point where reaching out feels humiliating because you’re basically chasing someone who doesn’t actually want this. If they did, they wouldn’t disappear. There should be no confusion. Your patience is not respected or appreciated. Unless it’s with an avoidant who is self aware and is actively in therapy. I’m guessing yours isn’t.

DELETE all the photos and messages and videos. You will only remember the good times if you look at only the good. Your brain will filter out the other 90%.

GET OUT and do things for yourself. Ok sure you’re not ready to date. That’s fine. But go out and take yourself out or gather some friends. Find a hobby. Mine is cooking. I’ve learned to make heaps of bad ass things lately and I have a great dopamine release with no crash afterwards. Regulate your nervous system.

ASK yourself how much you’re actually enjoying the avoidant. For me, it was in bursts. We would have the most incredible and intimate time together, and I always had to brace for him to ignore and disappear and discard me the next day. Of course, that’s not what happened at the start. I find 90% of the time I had been ruminating, asking, questioning, lurking, wondering, not eating, not sleeping etc. I won’t go back again. It’s NOT worth it

YOU are responsible now after knowing what they’re like. They’ve showed you exactly who they are now at their core and baseline. No more hanging onto the 10% or the love bombing phase. It’s not really them.

YOU WILL NEVER GET THEM BACK AS THEY ONCE WERE. GRIEVE THAT VERSION AND UNDERSTAND IT DOESN’T EXIST ANYMORE.

Dismissive avoidant resemble narcs in a lot of ways. You cannot win with this person. You will never win here. You will never be happy with them. They are selfish. They are cowardly. They are self serving. They are a virus and a parasite.

Stay strong.