My partner and i have been together around 10 months and are still very much learning about each other and boundaries etc. We’re both 37. 1 Child each, we live separately and see each 3 times a week but have almost daily contact by text or phone calls.
For the most part, i absolutely adore him, am head over heels for him and feel really safe with him. He appears to be an absolute genuine,caring person. But…
On Tuesday morning as he was leaving for work, he openly said that on his xmas work night out this weekend, that he may end up in a strip club because thats what his “workmates” always do, he said hes just interested in boozing not get a private dance etc. He wanted to make me aware and be honest about it. I do appreciate his honesty and its one of the things i really admire about him.
I made it quite clear at that point i wasnt happy about it but didnt go into detail. I had 24 hours thinking on it and the more i thought about it, the unhappier i became.
I didnt want my feelings on it to influence his decision. He is free to make his own decisions. So i said im not happy about it but i dont want to go into my true feelings because i dont want to manipulate his thought and decision making, he can choose to do what he wants.
He has always said its important about talking things through and being completely open about feelings with each other which i like and he said he wanted to know exactly how i feel about it. So i honestly and openly told him how i felt about it. I explained its a mix of my own insecurities (i suffer with Anxiety, im not very confident about myself and recently underwent a hysterectomy which has made me feel less than a woman tbh) and its sort of being a boundary for me. I said i was worried i would lose respect for him and i really do not know how ill react to it. All i know for sure is how i feel right now.
I openly admit i dont like the thought of him gawping at near naked women, i dont like the thought of near naked women being around him. I understand its a job for them and its all about the money not the man. But these women in these clubs are beautiful with amazing figures and i know i wouldn’t ever compare to them in the looks and figure department.
I do genuinely trust he wouldn’t do anything and i have tried really hard to tell myself its just a laugh with the lads and its just a thing i have to be uncomfortable with and get over but i cant.
He said he “respects me” as his partner and he wouldnt go to the strip club on this occasion.
But he asked how id feel if it was a stag do and whilst i still dont like it, for some reason that sits easier with me. Its almost the done thing on stag do’s and its expected. I could swallow that. He would be with friends/close family (hes not exactly friends with the people he works with) and it just feels different to this current scenario. I honestly cant explain why i feel that way. I am pretty open minded and if he suggested we went together I wouldn’t be against it. It may even be fun. Who knows.
I do not want to clip his wings, i want him to be free to do what he likes when he likes but i cant help my feelings about it.
He said the matter was “put to bed” the decision had been made, he wasnt going and that was the end of it. But today hes messaged me saying he wants some head space to process what we spoke about and i feel like im being punished now for being honest about my feelings. He is very much into mindfulness and sitting with emotions and processing things but im scared to death when we have had these chats in the past he always end up saying things like i dont think we’ll work, maybe we’re not meant to be together and other things along them lines and i always took the blame so i didnt lose him (which is sad i know) so i was already anxious about telling him i didn't feel comfortable with it because i had a feeling this is where he would go with it again.
I don't feel like i can ever win with him and when he does ask for honesty from me, i don't feel like he actually wants it, particularly if it doesn’t match what he wants or believes.
Am i in the wrong here for feeling this way? Am i being unreasonable and controlling?
My previous relationship was abusive and i was manipulated, so its important to me that im not that way and i genuinely dont feel like i am manipulative or controlling.
Im questioning my feelings and i feel like shouldn’t be. Ive been told by my therapist to accept what isn't in my control and i shouldn’t hide my feelings or dismiss how i feel to keep someone else happy, i just have to learn to accept i feel that way and try and move on. Which is what ive tried to do in this situation.
Im sorry i know thats a lot of information and it probably doesn’t make a lot of sense so if anyone needs clarification on anything please just say.