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Relationship ended but not what I want :(

758 replies

ccat1901 · 31/08/2021 11:27

My partner of 9 years has just told me that he loves me but not in a romantic way anymore. I asked if we could try the sexual side again and he said he doesn't feel it and that he doesn't want any counselling. I am going through the menopause and we talked and I was depressed for much of last year so our sex life suffered. I started new vitamins and now I feel great and was up for sex but that is when this happened and he wanted to end things. We live together with my 2 children my 15 year old has autism) and his 16 year old daughter (who has suffered mentally when with her mother). He wants us to live together and nothing change apart from not being a couple. He said he wants to go to the gym and try yoga and hang out with me as I'm his best friend and wants us to be closer than before. I'm absolutely devastated - I love him and want him but he blankly said no. We can't cause the kids upheaval at the moment with exams and final years in school but do you think spending "more quality time together than before" as he said means he may change his mind? Or is he saying this to soften the blow? I'm so confused and sad.

OP posts:
ccat1901 · 31/08/2021 12:50

I'm quite an emotional person so its just so extremely hard. We slept in the same bed (which I said I wanted as I'm not ready to say to the kids we are "just friends") and i didn't sleep much, but he did cuddle me and hold my hand in the night as I said before I was struggling to accept what he had said.

OP posts:
lking679 · 31/08/2021 12:50

Op not sure why you keep focusing on if there is anyone else or not. It doesn’t really matter he has said you’ve split up and said he doesn’t want a romantic relationship with you. Whether there is or was another person is beside the point.
You seem to be clinging on to the idea of a relationship, and about how he wants to get closer and travel the world with you but it’s as a friend. Don’t think a romantic relationship will come out of all of that and it’s worth hanging on. Believe me
If he doesn’t meet someone he will be travelling with them not you.
I know you’re struggling with what he’s said/written but writing it down is very final from him. A lot of people try to hang on even when a partner has told them in no uncertain terms it’s over. It sounds like some of the things he has written are to soften the blow..

I hope from these messages you can start to process that loss and move on. But don’t waste time thinking everything will turn out dandy... he would have been kinder leaving you properly I think.
Best wishes for your future.

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 31/08/2021 12:51

He has said we are invited to our friends house tomorrow night for drinks and has said we will go

How the fuck is he talking for you? He is not Hyacinth Bucket. He doesn’t get to keep up appearances when he has pulled the right from under your feet.

Interested in this thread?

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lking679 · 31/08/2021 12:52
  • if he does meet someone
SheldonesqueTheBstard · 31/08/2021 12:52

Rug not right.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 31/08/2021 12:55

Oh honey, you really need to wake up and smell the coffee, hard as it is. This relationship is dead, he is lying to you, he has his eye (at least) on someone else. He is trying to keep you on hold in case the other woman doesn't work out, please don't do this half hearted friends thing, it will destroy you. He can't miss you if you aren't gone! So stop doing anything for him, and move out, because this is over.

alwayscrashinginthesamecar1 · 31/08/2021 12:56

And get the hell out of that bed!

OneAugustNight · 31/08/2021 13:00

He’s told you you have split up. You have to accept he means what he says but don’t go along with this living as friends business.

And it’s not a coincidence that he’s met someone he feels a connection with Confused.

Mariell · 31/08/2021 13:00

Held your hand and cuddled you in bed?

But you’re only friends according to him?

Let that sink in as you can now see what boundaries he has with ‘just’ friends!

Better to be able to cope with climbing up a cliff whilst a few rocks are tumbling down around you than to fall all the way down into the sea with the huge landslide that is coming your way and you are refusing to believe is going to happen.

ccat1901 · 31/08/2021 13:03

I have lots of processing to do - last week we did sleep together - well I did for him what men like and he touched me a bit but we were interrupted by our puppy. I text him the next day and said I liked it and he said me too. I then tried to initiate again and he said he was tired (well we both were) and then said when I had stroked his back he didn't want it and then yesterday the letter. I'm a fool

OP posts:
itsme1978 · 31/08/2021 13:03

This is an absolute mindfuck! I think what you're saying is that you're ok to continue to stay with someone whose just not that into you! He's being so cruel and it's all in his terms. He knows you're not going to leave you so he's just playing with you

Marni83 · 31/08/2021 13:05

What’s your financial situation like
Is he suggesting this because financially moving out isn’t an option for him?

TheFormidableMrsC · 31/08/2021 13:06

He is giving himself permission to have an affair and is trying to get you to agree with this by stealth. Look up The Script on here. It's an eye opener.

My ex did this sort of. Told me he was leaving but wouldn't be moving out for a "long time". I said I couldn't deal with that and packed all his stuff up and told him he had to go. I wasn't aware of an OW at this point. What they wanted was to continue their affair behind my back, leave me to deal with our toddler and then have time to build a "story" of how they "just met". Pair of cunts. Didn't work out that way did it? No way can you be expected to live like this. The children are going to be disrupted eventually anyway. I think you have no choice but to end this relationship Thanks

Ilady · 31/08/2021 13:10

He wants you their to play happy families. He wants you their to make his life as easy as possible.
Meanwhile he is planning or possibly all ready has a new lady friend lined up even just as a friends with benefit situation. Perhaps he wants some time to see how things work out with her.
To be honest he wants it both ways and that's not fair on you. He wants you in limbo when he goes on living life on his terms.
He an adult so it's time he grew up and was honest with you about ending your relationship.
I tell him that since he no longer wants sex with you that your relationship is over. Tell him that he can move out and bring his daughter with him as you won't stay their playing happy families for him.
You deserve better than this loser.

leakymcleakleak · 31/08/2021 13:11

OK OP you need to be clear to him (and first, to yourself).

There are two options. He commits to trying to be in a relationship with you - counselling, sex, a romantic relationship. You can mutually agree what that period of trying would look like, and how long it would go on, but it needs to have a commitment to total exclusivity and to a goal of being in a committed long-term relationship. That is what it sounds like you want.

The second option, if he decides to end the relationship, is that you split up properly, divide assets, agree custody, and live separately.

These are the only two options that will let you be sane. It sounds like he still likes you, that you 'work' together domestically and for the kids, but he does not want to be involved romantically and wants to sleep with other people. I absolutely believe he'll find someone in the short term who is ok with this set up. Then, if that's going well enough, and he can see a similar cushy domestic set up with them, he will walk away from your home. Or maybe he'll string you along for years, happy with you doing all you still do at home but unable to put any restraints on who he sees/sleeps with/what he does, because 'you're not in a relationship.'

OP I know you say its impossible to split, but you don't have a choice. What you can decide is he can't treat you in a way that will ultimately mess with your minds and those of your children. You can't model this set up to your kids, it will mess with their idea of what a functioning relationship is for years.

You need to take some time and give him a serious ultimatum for your own sake. I can totally see what he'll get out of this situation, and all I can see for you is heartache.

ccat1901 · 31/08/2021 13:13

Yes it is! I felt so awful that he said he didn't like me stroking his back. It is screwing with my head = today we went to the gym, great session then he dropped me home and went to work (I work from home) and has called several times and telling me about the changes he is making to the van for when we go away and the quotes he has asked for so I know what is doing and planning !! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

OP posts:
ccat1901 · 31/08/2021 13:16

The first option is what I want - he did agree to try the romantic side last week (see previous post) and then yesterday the letter. And I asked him if he would consider counselling and no. He is not home til around 10pm tonight so some thinking time, but he is working at the park where the girl he felt something (not sexual but a connection) but he hasn;t been in contact with her

OP posts:
Mariell · 31/08/2021 13:16

He sounds truly selfish and horrible.

ccat1901 · 31/08/2021 13:18

The way we are talking and spending time/planning is like we were first friends years ago - so confusing

OP posts:
TheFormidableMrsC · 31/08/2021 13:21

He is screwing with your mind. Next thing he'll be telling "connection girl" you're crazy. You need to take control here. None of this is ok under any circumstances. Don't be a doormat.

leakymcleakleak · 31/08/2021 13:22

But the letter negates it entirely. As does refusing the counselling - he is trying to wear you down to his 'friendship' outcome, or blur the lines so you think you're getting/could be getting one thing but he can say afterward that you agreed to something else.

Personally, I don't think option one is on the table, but it is what you want, it is an entire package, and I think maybe you need to lay it out to him that they are this two options so you hear him say no. I wouldn't actually offer him option one given how he has been behaving but its one way to set a benchmark - don't be surprised if he sees your'e serious about it ending, agrees to it then rolls away from counselling and tries to reinstate this. You're going to need to hold your boundaries firm now. And not go along with this ridiculous charade you can go back to being mates after a 9 year relationship with blended families, unless you want to seriously damage your children.

SheldonesqueTheBstard · 31/08/2021 13:23

He has been connected with connection girl by the genitals.

Know that.

MutteringDarkly · 31/08/2021 13:24

Perhaps it feels like when you were first friends because it's MUCH more comfortable for him to conveniently try and re-write the past nine years?

I'm sorry. You can't switch off your feelings, but you can switch ON your self-protection and self-respect. He has told you he is no longer in a relationship with you. That means he is not going to be putting you first any more. So you need to put yourself first (and your kids) and start to figure out what kind of person you'll be proud of being. You are worth much more than this Thanks

bigbaggyeyes · 31/08/2021 13:25

Sounds like he wants his cake, and he wants to eat it.

He wants the ability to see other people and have a sexual relationship with them without the label of being an adulterer. But he also wants to keep this lifestyle he has with you. Problem with this is it's all his way, no compromise on his behalf and you get half a life and will have to eventually watch him build a relationship with someone else. Then he'll drop you like a hot potato, and move in with his new interest and she'll be his best mate. You'll be left as a shell of your former self and feel even worse than you do now.

Personally I'd be kicking his arse out, let him live by his decision and see how he likes it. Take some control back

Maassi · 31/08/2021 13:25

Why are you refusing to accept what every single woman on here has said to you OP?

Why bury your head in the sand and wait for him to destroy your life? Find your fucking RAGE!