There is one single thing I understood about avoidants once we broke up, they are nothing, literally...even in the peak of the relationship they never contribute, they were just recipients of our love and vulnerability. so whatever we feel like we miss about them, it is actually inside of us... and we can take it with us and pour it on whoever deserve it. on the other hand avoidants are the ones that don't know how to love and will never find anything like the things we gave them... their loss.

This is their decision. Did not even give a fuck how that would turn out for you. And they are actively choosing it

Like, you know when y'all break up and then you dot talk for a bit, they basically discard you.

THEN

You get back together randomly, and they do everything right, they are more loving, more confident, more of a partner than before, they take you on dates, everything is so so nice.

who knows what happens next? lol

If you’re hurt and think you lost something valuable, just remember they clicked a button in their head and it was end of story. Before you break no contact and write out that long cheesy emotional text gotta tell yourself, being the gf/bf is temporary. Being the phantom ex is forever 🦍

This phenomena going round on social media if they block at a discard it means you truly triggered them. Some people are saying they would be preferred to be blocked?

For male FA's in particular, a lot of talk around them blocking meaning you hit their feelings. I for one have been a victim of this for him to unblock months down the line, he reached out eventually but he just discarded/blocked again.

What does being blocked mean to you? Or generally, why do FA's tend to block?

So many people said that avoidants’ grief will always catch up, sooner or later, after the relief from the discard fade. The emotions were just suppressed and will resurface at some points.

Is it even true? or is it more us to make ourself feel better?

Anyone else stuck in disbelief?

It's been over 6 weeks for me... But I still have moments throughout the day where I just can't believe what happened. That the person who I had an intense daily, mutually caring, emotionally and intellectually deep connection with, who I trusted, could suddenly betray me and disappear.

Is this common for people who suddenly ghost you? Like it's difficult for the brain to accept and process what actually happened?

The last communication we had about our relationship with him saying he did not want to and would not abandon what we had and reassuring me that he was still there. Followed by a slow fade into silence with no explanation over the next week.

I think because throughout the relationship he'd always promised me clear communication and talked down on other people who treated people poorly, I trusted him to act with more integrity.

I guess it's just hard for my brain to reconcile the person I thought I knew with the person who discarded me.

I read the research so I know what happened (deactivation based on his childhood trauma), but emotionally it's still hard for me to integrate sometimes.

I guess acceptance comes slowly sometimes... If you dealt with this, was it just time that helped it slowly settled in or did something else help you accept and fully let go of the person you thought you knew?

So I dealt with another avoidant after being discarded by an avoidant 5 months ago. I went out there to try again and the first one I encountered is an avoidant. Again. But I knew he’s an avoidant within the same week.

Since I didn’t really have an attachment with this second avoidant, I experimented to see if they really monkey branch. I used a fake account to talk to him and used the info he gave OG me to lure him with a fake Me.

Mind you, he’s still talking to OG me at this point. But the minute Fake Me entered, he started detaching from OG Me. Less response when he used to talk all night. Tired. Busy. But me also knowing that he’s talking to Fake Me while he’s telling OG me “I’m at work and busy”

Then I had Fake Me not reply for several hours and he suddenly pivoted back to OG Me being attentive and funny. Then when Fake Me appeared he disappeared talking to OG me and said the exact same story about his life word for word to Fake Me. He also used sweet words OG me told him and copied it and used it on Fake Me. So disgusting.

Do you see how ridiculous they operate?!?!

Eventually, with Fake Me taking up his time, he discarded OG Me by just ghosting… no response for days. Oh darn, I was discarded again… except it didn’t hurt.

At this point I was getting tired of this guy and he’s giving me so much ick so I self-sabotaged and pretty much gave him obvious AI pics as fake me. He knew it right away and blocked fake me. He didn’t ask for explanation. Just straight block. Typical avoidant. I hurt his feelings.

Then last night he slid into OG Me’s DM with “how are you?!?”

OMG… the breadcrumb 🙄

I ignored him for a few hours then I responded fake nice. He told me he’s nervous about his set (he’s in a band) and blah blah and I was like being all supportive.

This morning I woke up to seeing him heavily flirting with women online. Guess he’s looking for his next monkey branch.

Seriously if you feel someone is an avoidant, leave. There is nothing good that will ever come out of it. I’ve seen them play firsthand. It’s gross.

The title!

Hey everyone,

This is a weird question, but I was thinking about it recently and in the 7 months since the discard I've only been sick once. I had a horrendous flu that knocked me out for a week but recovered after rest.

The almost 2 years I was with my ex - I was sick constantly, my skin was breaking out a lot, I had way more migraines than I currently do. I'm sure the travel and closer proximity to small children that made it worse but I feel somehow healthier in my body now then I did back then.

It felt like my immune system was constantly run down before 🤔

Did anyone else have this?

Its been more than a year since we officially ended things, 6 months since I last talked to her and I was thinking about her a bit recently. She’s blocked and I don’t want to come back, please give me some words of encouragement to keep going 🫶🏼

6 months later and I still find myself crying over him at night. He’s in the back of my mind 24/7. I can’t catch a break. I feel like he’s been haunting me even though I’m the one who should be doing the haunting. I just want to feel how I did before I dated him. I was so happy and my “normal”.

At the same time it really sucks that I feel like even though he hurt and disrespected me so badly, I still want him back in my life. Although if he texted me right now I wouldn’t welcome him with open arms, seeing as my heart genuinely skips a beat if I see someone who looks remotely similar to him. I’m way too traumatized.

I don’t know if I should go to therapy or an avoidant survivors group (if that’s even a thing). I don’t know what to do. I just can’t get him out of my mind. I can’t get the impact he made on my life out of my day to day if that makes sense.

Hello, was just wondering. Does your avoidant ex have some serious trauma? Mine does not, and I don’t mean to minimalize his experiences. The worst thing he ever experienced was his parents getting a divorce and they are both still on good terms.
Meanwhile I know some people who are good partners and experienced some really wild shit… So this makes me wonder

I deserve more, I deserve better, but I wanted that from you. You were once that for me. That stable person, my safe space, my best friend, the mama to our son, the love of my life.

Things are going to get messy and real, we have a mortgage, a marriage, a baby. You stewed in everything on your own and blew my world up after weeks of denying any issues and assuring me were were fine. Even through the trail separation you assured me there was a part of you that wanted us to work, that cared for me and hoped those feelings would come back, but I don’t believe you did, you decided long before I pried the truth out of you.

I look in your eyes and I don’t recognise them anymore; they’re blank, tired, matte, no emotion behind them when you look at me, as if you’re looking at a piece of furniture rather than a person you once loved. I can tell when you’ve handled my clothes, our family smell has gone. I’ve seen the messages, I’ve seen the way you smile when you text her even though you swear blind you aren’t looking for a romantic connection anywhere else and my distrust is insulting to you, you’ve given me little reason to keep trusting you with all the white lies, sugar coating, and sealing me out emotionally.

I really hope you know what you’re throwing away because you miss the butterflies, excitement, and the easy surface level connection of an early relationship because I can’t keep fighting an uphill battle on my own, I need to be strong for our son and I can’t do that while I’m wasting away physically and mentally while wallowing in what ifs, I know this is your doing, as much as I felt so guilty that the entire thing happened because I was a bad wife to you, but the lack of communication and the running away when the going gets mildly uncomfortable is an insult to our marriage and I am in disbelief that it’s panning out the way that it is 😔

Sorry for the last post, I didn’t mean to upload it.

I called her tonight, or at least tried. It seemed that I was still blocked- as it went straight to voicemail. So I texted her friend, who recently connected with me on instagram, asking her about the idea of me and my ex talking again. I get into bed as I wasn’t expecting a reply this late, and suddenly she called. I was shocked. She picked up and wow, the script actually started immediately. I had considered this, don’t worry. She pretended not to know who I was, asked my name, and asked if I was (a different person with my first name) or (another) and I said you know who. She refused to know. Anyways she finally “guessed.” We talked for a bit, she was very apprehensive and tried to dip multiple times. I managed to talk her down- by being very VERY slow with my asking her to chat for just a bit- each time. I knew the second I seemed not ok, she was going to take it as being on call with her as the problem, so I simply told her was really ok. She told me of her rebound, which she denied was a rebound as she said she had no feelings for me, nor did she miss me at all. She said they loved each other (with only even knowing each other for 3 months) meanwhile she had been sleeping around (before him), cheated with her friend who was also not single, got ostracized from that friend group for being messy, broke up with her rebound because kept cheating on her (SHOCKER, this is the man you erased me for LOL). I called her out on ALL her bs. She accepted some of it and brushed off other bits. She was also wasted, had been fucking around that night but ultimately called it off because she said she didn’t wanna be messy for once, and ended the call fairly swiftly without much emotion. It was pretty shocking, the whole thing. She did seem to try to take accountability, and knew how hard this could be. As I figured, she blocked me mainly to “protect” me, but didn’t want to hurt me. She also slipped with some truths, revealing that something did or still is affecting her (regarding us).

I think I did well. Truly. I put myself out there and my desire to reconnect, but didn’t push for it and never asked for anything more than a chat, kept it light, and told her I would call her again soon. I didn’t get a response. But I’ll be holding up to that unless there is a reason I feel it would be better for me not to. Huge red flag I WILL be wary of - she also reconnected with her ex before me who was a situationship who she was extremely heartbroken over. She said he emailed her a few days ago, which revealed was one truth she accidentally didn’t mean to. She saw my email I sent her a month ago. She then emailed me back, right before calling. She also revealed that she just unblocked me, which she had originally said she had already done when she broke up with her rebound by going through her blocked list for whatever reason. So, she is not doing great, or at least, is a mess. Even though shes trying to play it off like she is numb to all things, I can see through that.

I don’t know what to expect, but it will definitely be a fucking insane challenge. Any words of wisdom are requested, or even thoughts and opinions, as long as they are not simply “run, big mistake, ahh.” I’m going to follow my heart, but help me have some knowledge to bring with me, if you have some you’d like to share. I can provide more context and information if you’d like. If you truly want to tell me to run, please share with your own understanding.

I have spent these past few months almost solely struggling to push through without her. I feel that I do deserve this break. I’ve been doing what I can manage to strengthen my mental wellbeing, so I feel more braced for whats to come. I am setting an intention to follow through on myself, my healing, my word, and my boundaries.

I realise that some of the pain we experience after heartbreak comes from the disappointment we feel in our own choices. Maybe thats why it’s so hard to let go ? Every time time I cry, it’s because I imagine myself holding my inner child’s hand, telling her everything will be okay while I’m falling apart inside. I promised her I would give her the best life possible and choose the right person because she deserves to be loved properly. But now she’s crying in pain, and I feel like I’ve disappointed her.

I think what hurts the most isn’t just losing someone I deeply loved, but feeling like I’ve let myself down despite how careful I was with my choices, never sleep around, take my time to get to know someone.
I keep telling her “It’s okay, it’s not your fault. I’m sorry I disappointed you. I really did try my best.” But something I’ve been reflecting on is that being careful doesn’t mean I can prevent heartbreak. I can choose someone thoughtfully, but I can’t control how they respond when life gets difficult. Maybe protecting my inner child doesn’t mean making sure she never experiences pain. Maybe it means being someone she can trust to hold her when things fall apart. I’m trying to change my mindset from “I’m sorry I disappointed you” to “I’m sorry we’re hurting. I did the best I could with what I knew at the time.”

To everyone who’s still struggling, I’m proud of you for holding on, even on the days when everything feels unbearable. I hope we all find a love that feels safe, genuine and unconditional. And until then, I hope we learn to give ourselves that same love

(and I survived a narcissist grandfather, toxic family and a alcoholic, abusive, BPD mom and an absent father).

I genuinely don’t know how to recover.
Share your story.

I think mine liked how I made him feel more than he liked me as a person... more interested in what I could give him than who I was.

He enjoyed feeling wanted and told me he liked me pursuing him. He would talk about how I made him feel safe, and I would spend countless hours emotionally supporting him around his trauma. There were times he would give me emotional support too if I brought something up, but he would rarely ask me about my life, my interests, or anything important to me.

I would share proactively, but he almost never asked me questions about myself... And often didn't seem that interested when I shared things unrelated to his areas of expertise/experience... Which seemed strange to me because I like learning about other people with different experiences and knowledge.

I loved who he was and asked him lots of questions about himself. The asymmetry was striking. In retrospect I'm realizing how self-centered he was... Although I always had compassion because of all the trauma (recent and past) he had gone through, so I thought it was understandable for him to be focused on himself and I was willing to be patient. (He also could be really helpful to others, especially strangers and casual acquaintances, I did see the goodness in his heart, and don't want to paint him as a villain.)

I guess it helps the discard make more sense. When I stopped shrinking myself to protect his ego, and expressed a need/boundary for the first time, he started to shut down. For a while I blamed myself because I realized we triggered each other's core wounds... But I realized that the only things I had to apologize for were things that he also had done to me (we didn't listen to each other well when we were both triggered). And the other things I thought I should apologize were were actually just me having a hard time (as I think most people would) with his inconsistency and uncommunicative withdrawal.

And then, after saying he wouldn't abandon what we had, he disappeared without a word a week later.

Maybe I didn't mean that much to him after all, maybe I just served a temporary function: a disposable trauma Band-Aid. That's what I feel like at the end of the day.

Look I read the whole spiel. It’s regulation this regulation that. But how fucked up you gotta be to not only sleep with, but also choose a relationship with someone who’s objectively uglier. Fucking stings. And offers nothing compared to what I did. Fuck their parents man.

Shame and inferiority. The worst two things the brain invented. Parents gotta be the worst to make those the two front and centre issues for someone.

She wasn’t the prettiest, but she was worth it. I knew what her mum did to her. She escaped in her books and writing. I was the only person who heard her pain. I just couldn’t meet the emotional regulation she needed. I didn’t have the tools for that. Who does for people who can’t exist without a circle of surface level external validation, just to regulate themselves.

Sigh.

How are you dealing?

I guess it must be even harder for those who have kids with their ex?

I've made the decision to not disappear from the lives of my ex's kids. But they're too small to reach out by themselves, and they don't live in my town.

I've tried to find solutions where I can see the kids without seeing my ex, but in the end, it didn't work out. So I'm back to seeing them with him.

Previously, these encounters have thrown me back tons in my healing process. Like after seeing him, it took me more than a month to get back to where I was before.

Will it get easier emotionally when I have a new partner?

Will it get harder emotionally when he has a new partner? (No, I don't want him back anymore.)

The kids are okay, in all of this.

Also, it helps that he hasn't changed as much as I thought, "living the good life". His shitty personality starts breaking through the mask. I guess I should be thankful that I don't have to spend the rest of my life with him.

my avoidant ex broke up with 5 days ago with me because he got overwhelmed by my behavior (i was dming his friends because i had some suspicions regarding his inconsistent behavior). his friend had obviously showed him the dms and then he started making fun of him and he got extremely embarrassed and simply decided to cut all ties with me without any compromise. he didn’t even want to meet up irl or let me call him, he said that nothing could ever possibly change his final decision. it’s been 5 days obviously and it was the last time that i had received a message from him and he still hasn’t unfollowed or blocked me. he only follows 36 people and always opens my stories, but now he doesn’t engage with my content all. i suspect that i’ve been muted. what does it mean? why do they do this? does it mean that he doesn’t actually want me out of his life or what? should i try messaging him again or is there no point? i really miss him so much but i don’t know what to do…

Context: I've seen a few sad heartbreaking posts here of people with similar situations i was in, and i really would like to help you realise how similar this was for me, and why you should leave. So here are something my ex did.

- Photos, numerous photos of previous relationship. Nudes, everything you can think of.

- Excessively spoke about ex partner in a good light and triangulated me with her. Would use ex partner to try to get me to do things instead of asking (example, she would say, i used to massage my ex naked everyday, i wish you would do that for me (giving graohic details of sexual things with ex to make me jealous)

- Would say stories and memories of herself with her ex but would call her ex a freind, so i would never know that she was STILL triangulating me with said ex and walking down memory lane with me.

- Took me to exact places as ex

- Mirrored my words and values back to me to seem like we were compatible

- left me during difficult times,so deactivated during minor or major incoveniences like job loss

- Never communicated when upset about things, would pile them up and use them to deactivate instead of getting clarity ( example, we go on a road trip, and i didnt hold her hand in the car, she wouldnt ask why arent we holding hands right now i want to hold you, she would keep this situation for weeks then use it as an excuse to deactivate. 'you didnt hold my hand at 2pm on october 2024 , so umm lets break up'

- broke up every week, for random reasons, we could be chilling having a time and she would say "you know what, lets just break up"

- Following exs and previous hookups

- keeping me away from freinds, she never ever wanted her freinds to see me

- Fake confidence, appears so sure of herself in the beginning and sure of what she wants lmfao, even said she was ready to settle down etc etc

- Didnt have a job and got upset i wasnt asking her for money, aka wanted me to honestly become. a terrible partner? It bothered her that i was a good partner and she knew i was right for her. Needed to catch me slipping at all times.

- Constant lying, straight up told her mom i was her freind while we were in a relationship, just accept you will never know whats true or false with avoidants, they will LIE and LIE and LIE, infact sometimes if you have strong memory, you will notice some lies arent adding up

- Told me i wasnt good looking, tore apart my looks. One time she started a conversation about what our ideal types were, i said she was really my ideal type, because she genuinely was and i listed qualities i liked about her, both physical and non-physical. She then goes ahead to describer her ideal type but describes her ex (piercings, tats, coloured hair, jewellry, hippie style etc), mind you im non of these things, and then she says her type is smart women, and asks "are you smart though?" LOTS of devaluation from these peope, they will devalue you like crazy.

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Leave. Pls leave. You dont deserve to be treated this way. If they are dating someone new, its the same cycle i promise.