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Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

The no contact/texting/email thread

849 replies

cathkidstonbag · 14/06/2011 14:19

I know it can't just be me who is struggling with not contacting someone they shouldn't so wondered if anyone else would like to join in here and we can support each other?
I have a thread somewhere titled don't want to sleep with DH and my circumstances are on there. But basically I need to stop contacting a man who is making my life miserable. I emailed him on Sat ending all contact with a brilliant email and was so proud of myself :) He then replied and instead of it being horrible it was nice sweet charming and I replied back :( So cross with myself. In it I told him about something awful that had happened so expected at least some sympathy for that. I got nothing :(
I need to never contact him again. To be strong enough not to beg him for contact.
Anyone else needing support???

OP posts:
TheOriginalFAB · 24/06/2011 18:15

Please everyone. This thread has been one where posters have supported without judging. Let us keep it that way.

hardshipuntold · 24/06/2011 22:06

nothing again today - maybe he is just being cruel to be kind ?
ive found out today that my sister is inviting him to a party she is having for her birthday
dont think he will go.
just been trying to keep busy and working on things with dh.

Blondie73 · 24/06/2011 22:13

Hello again. Thank you Singout - I could definitely do with any hugs that are being offered to be honest, plus alcohol and a few v naughty cigs... (and I don't smoke! Honest!) I hope I can continue to vent here - I was hoping this would be the one place on MN where we could and not be judged/flamed/whatever else. Believe me Aislingorla - not much you could say would be worse than whats already in the back of my head even if I don't like thinking about it, but seeing it in print from someone who does not know me, and probably hasnt read the whole thread from the start, has not helped - at all. I was hoping this thread would be safe from people coming on and flaming/judging - I was finding it really helpful to come and post instead of contacting him....

Aislingorla - you're right, I am quite resentful of her (but I certainly don't hate her!! In fact I've told him he is behaving v v badly to her as by staying and, at the time carrying on with me, he is taking away her right to make her own choices in her life, and believe me I am well aware of his weaknesses as a person, also of his strengths) - but only from the point of view that she seems to have a good man that she has been rejecting and turning away for the last 5 or so years.

I do resent that she has him, but doesn't seem to want him other than for the lifestyle and babysitting duties. He says she seems to want to try to control him (ref. the calling him out of work at any given time to come home to sort the kids out, calling him to come home early for babysitting, calling him if he hasn't left work dead on 5pm, telling him he's done this or that wrong, talking to him like crap, etc) Problem is my parents' relationship is exactly the same and I can't bear the thought that he's staying and going through what my dad does when he doesnt have to - my mum can barely disguise her contempt for my dad, and I think that for the sake of their own happiness and sanity they should have split years ago.

Unfortunately, my dad still idolises her even though she talks to him like dirt, nothing he ever does is good enough, and she treats him like a child and a burden. She on the other hand should have left if she felt like that a long time ago, but probably never had the courage (they married in 1971 so not sure if its a generational thing?) She has worked full time since I was 14, but stayed at home full time up til then looking after me and my two younger sisters. All I'm trying to say is she (my mum) belittles him, puts him down, disrespects him, wont sleep in the same bed or bed room with him, won't even eat in the same room, she won't watch tv in the same room, mocks the programmes he likes to watch, he stays in the lounge and she goes in the dining room. She seems to really resent him, and from what my OM has told me it sounds pretty damn similar to his marriage - only it doesnt have to be that way!

Morepositive - no not necessarily.If we hadnt been trying NC now it either probably would have carried on - it would have been easier actually in terms of logistics as we're having to keep it under wraps at work as his new boss knows about us and the rumour mill apparently is red hot about us and has been since xmas. We would have been able to arrange days together once I'd left and no one would be checking our diaries like they do now... - OR it would have made NC easier if I'd decided at that point to finish it. Does that answer your question? We had been discussing what would happen when i leave and he said we'd work it out somehow... I'm not saying thats how it will be for your ex and his OW....

SingingTunelessly · 24/06/2011 22:37

Blondie73 - I used to work with a man who sounds just like you have described with the moaning 5pm phone calls from his wife. All of us in the office knew that he had a 'special' ahem 'friendship' with one of our colleagues. We all thought in our youthful innocence that wife was a 'right cow', for want of a better description. Nice house, you don't have to work, blah blah blah.......what are you moaning about.....Turned out she had post-natal depression.

Now I'm not saying obviously that this is the same in your situation but just something to think about. Mr Wonderful as you think of him has a whole other life going on. Our colleague and his OW's alternative life was brought to an abrupt halt when he had to announce that his wife was expecting again. We in the office were all Shock obviously we thought that there was no way he was having sex with his wife.........well durr.

You sound so desperately sad I just want to shake you and say there is life after this you know. Sending un MN hugs to you.

Sorry FAB I know this is a support thread and I don't mean to de-rail it and hopefully this won't but couldn't sit on my hands any longer.

SingOut · 24/06/2011 22:51

I think there's support and then there's enabling someone or actively condoning what they are doing even if it's hurting themselves and/or others.

I'm sure we all want the kind of support here that we'd get from a good friend in real life, the kind who would tell you straight when you were being a bit daft but also make you a cuppa and let you cry on them. I don't want to surround myself with 'yes men' who tell me I'm great no matter what my actions are, but equally it's nice not to feel judged and belittled and to have a nurturing space here to let off steam - especially if that then helps with no contact, and subsequently, towards moving into a healthier place mentally. As Blondie said, we can all do ourselves down quite well anyway; perhaps if we all had higher self esteem, this thread wouldn't be needed anyway. A sad thought. :(

Hopefully this can remain a therapeutic place to vent without turning into the equivalent of 'Yes I know he beats me and says he hates me but he loves me really. I'm standing by my (Other) Man' Grin
You know I wish we all had the ability to be truly alone and apart from these damaging blokes for just 6 months, on some kind of MN self-imposed No Contact desert island, because I'm sure we'd all feel about a million times happier and saner after a stint there. The kinds of relationships that end up requiring NC are like a drug, and should be treated as such, I feel.

Right, early night for me. Sleep well, all. x

Blondie73 · 25/06/2011 00:08

Its ok SingingTunelessly - I didnt take offence to any of what you said. It could be relevant, I don't know. I pretty much believe it when he says they only sleep together once in a blue moon, because he just did not know what he was doing really when we first got physical. I mean, right from the kissing stage at the beginning all the way to sex - its not that he's no good at it, because since we've been together and I've told him what I like its amazing, and I've never been made to feel like that with anyone else. He certainly knows what he's doing now! sorry if TMI.

hi Singout - Thanks.... I have no problem being told "straight" its just that some are able to word it in better ways than others.... if you know what I mean!

I have told him in the past some of what my parents' relationship is like, but we haven't spoken about it for ages.... he's just texted me to ask if it was really as bad as I have said, and was it true? I replied that yes, sorry, it is true... and told him a bit more detail i.e. them not eating together, the way she speaks to him like an irritating child, not sleeping together for over 10 years, and the way she barely tolerates him, and thats why this thing with him and his marriage upsets me so much. He said "ok, now I understand more" i.e. the link between him being in such a marriage and what we see as normal from what we have experienced from our parents (plus the effect seeing our relationship choices will have on our children). Until I fell for him, I only had my Mum's model as a reference - now I know how it could and should be, and I want it - so badly.... So, more I love you's and wanting to hold me, he's hurting so bad, etc etc... He apologised for contacting me but said he couldnt help it, but will now shut up and leave me alone, but realises we all only have one life.... FGS! I said that if he's committed to sorting it out with her then he has to stop contacting me, (but I said it doesnt sound like thats what he's doing right now) but if he really cant stop and needs me then he knows what he has to do. I said to him to stop sitting on the fence - jump one way or the other because its not doing the way I see him any favours.

Strange

TheOriginalFAB · 25/06/2011 08:53

Blondie FWIW I hate my exes wife and used to like the fact I had shagged him in their bed when she was away. In my defence I didn't know he had a girlfriend.

TheOriginalFAB · 25/06/2011 08:55

SingOut - no one is enabling anyone and if you read my posts you would see that I am pretty firm with what needs to be done. I can say that as I have been there. Have you?

SingOut · 25/06/2011 10:11

FAB, I wasn't accusing you of enabling.
Yes, I have been there. Very much so.

KiiKii · 25/06/2011 10:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

iknowmyheadsintheclouds · 25/06/2011 11:26

Day 5 no contact...thank goodness for this thread.

Today I'm feeling so sad. I'm mourning the life we'll (probably) never have together, the children we didn't have etc. etc. I know I'm just fantasising but still...I always always thought 'one day'.

However, I am also very very relieved that I don't HAVE to think about him or check my emails. I also feel very present in my real life. And that's a good thing.

TheOriginalFAB · 25/06/2011 12:49

KiiKii - meeting him will either help or make it worse but be honest with you about what you want to happen before you go.

FreakoidOrganisoid · 25/06/2011 13:34

Kiikii, you sound very much like me a year ago. Everyone I spoke to about it advised me to just forget about him back then, but I didn't because I couldn't bear the thought of not seeing him, I was hoping his situation would change, I was kidding myself we could be just friends and my feelings would fade...I was also hooked on the attention and excitement...told myself it was different from everyone else's situation, that what we had was special. And yes, it was, to have such an immediate connection with someone is rare, and it is special, but that doesn't make it right and actually, with hindsight, I can see that it wasn't so much different to everyone else's situation. Different circumstances yes, but so much of it was following the script.

I know this won't make any difference to you at all, because it didn't to me, but honestly, it will hurt less if you walk away now. I don't regret the time I had with him exactly, but now that i've finally had to let him go I can see it would have been a lot less painful if I'd done it at the beginning, before he'd become such a big part of my life, before I was quite so emotionally attached to him. I now have films that remind me of him, outfits that remind me of him, 'his' cup in the cupboard, songs that remind me of him, it's hard to get over him when I feel like I'm assaulted by memories of him all the time, and that would have been easier if we'd shared less together.

The good times were great, never reget those, but how much more time was spent feeling envious of his gf, missing him, feeling lonely, second guessing myself, waiting for texts, feeling rejected or sad?

I've spent so much emotional energy on him over the past year, from the excitement and buzz of seeing him or getting a text, to the disappointment of not hearing from him or getting a 'cold' text because he was with his gf, the crushing pain every time he said he was going home (because home was her) and I'm wondering now, what was it all for?

I wasn't ready to hear it before, but I can see now that severing the link is the only way to move forward, how could I have before when he was one minute telling me how much he cared and the next sending me an abrupt text without kisses on etc...hot and cold all the way through, not because he didn't care or was playing games but simply because he had a whole other life, his real life, and so couldn't invest in me fully.

Sorry this is really long, I started out writing to you but am now more thinking out loud and writing to myself, it helps to keep me focussed on what's the other side of the pain.

I hope you manage to get through this without too much hurt, it's really hard and I think many people underestimate it when they expect you to just shrug it off and move on.

Iknowmyhead sorry you are feeling sad, but I can completely relate to your last paragraph. For a long time he has been the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing I think of at night and it's hard to break that habit. I'm also dreaming of him every night at the moment which is very difficult. BUT there is also a sense of relief now that I'm not waiting for his calls or to see him, I don't get that jittery anticipation everytime a text comes (or the disappointment when it isn't him) because I already know it won't be him. It's really hard and upsetting to think that it won't ever be him, but at the same time I'm no longer waiting and feel as though I can now move on with my life.

Blondie73 · 25/06/2011 13:38

Hi FAB - well I've only just really got out of bed! I'm in my dressing gown on the sofa just had weetabix and strawberries for breakfast Smile

I really don't think Singout was referring to you - and I also wasn't referring to you when I said some word it better than others.... I was referring to someone else - promise! In fact sometimes I wish your posts were a bit longer! Grin

Thanks for allowing me to vent - I really needed to yesterday and last night. I know I responded to his texts last night but thought I really should as it was such an "out there" question, particularly as at the same time as he sent it I was posting on here about exactly that issue - my parents' relationship. That was a totally out of the blue question and really really not like him at all - he can be deep, just not very often and him texting me that question just showed me he was still thinking seriously about the whole thing of him, his wife and me and all our lives.

I am still trying my best to be NC - if he texts me tonight with some inane "I miss you" or whatever I won't reply (or I'll do my best not to!). I don't think he will bearing in mind my last reply to him last night said jump one way or the other... think that will have snapped him out of it!

Anyway, thank you again - I think I was just in a really really bad place yesterday. Having some decent undesturbed sleep has really helped too. Good luck to all of you who are managing to be successful one day at a time at NC. You're so strong!!!

B

TheOriginalFAB · 25/06/2011 13:57

Blndie - you will get there. I was in touch with my ex from the end of 2009 so it has taken 2 1/2 years to get to this point. We have seen each other once, talked on the phone and on web cam a few times and mostly emailed and texted. I am certain I won't hear from him again but the sadness about that has gone completely and I am very happy with my dh. I always was happy with DH, I just thought I needed to be somewhere else.

DariusVassell · 25/06/2011 14:09

I'm sorry for all the pain in this thread, but there is a truth that dare not speak its name going on here, regardless of what a few of you prefer to believe (some of you are far more realistic)

The reason these men won't commit to you is because actually, they love their wives more.

They won't say that to you, because it will hurt and it will ruin their back-up plan, but it's the truth. They aren't staying for the children, or the money, or even the status. They are far too selfish to martyr themselves - as proven by what they are doing with you.

They are also much more content in their marriages than they are letting on, but some of you would prefer to believe their wives are undeserving and horrible Hmm without really acknowledging that you have no real clue about what's happening at home.

All you can verify with any accuracy is that these men are dishonest cheats who don't have the balls to tell the truth to any of the women in their lives.

TheOriginalFAB · 25/06/2011 14:31

Some of them probably love their children more and that is how it should be. Your love for your partner and your children is different but I am sure a lot of people would chose their children over their spouse if they had too. I know a man who isn't happily married but he stays for his child as his parents divorced and he doesn't want that for his child while they are still so young.

iknowmyheadsintheclouds · 25/06/2011 14:32

Darius..the point of this thread is not to determine why we are engaged in these relationships or why the OM (or OW) involved in them are either.

It is to offer support to those who are trying to stop contact with the person we shouldn't be in contact with.

DariusVassell · 25/06/2011 14:42

I think posters need support to maintain no contact too.

And what actually strengthens that resolve is to acknowledge some hard truths. It doesn't help to keep resolutions if posters are still believing lies from a proven liar and blaming these men's partners.

Tell me something. If you chose instead to believe that these men actually loved their wives more, were lying to you about their marriages and that if they can treat their wives and children this badly, they could do it to you too, wouldn't that help with staying away from them?

Wouldn't it help you to decide that you are worth more than that - as are their wives and children?

SingOut · 25/06/2011 15:16

I agree that insight into how ones situation came about in the first place and how dysfunctional it is in the present is crucial in terms of permanently stopping contact. Stepping away from this thread for the time being, thank you ladies, and all the best to each one of you. x

TheOriginalFAB · 25/06/2011 15:24

With respect, Darius if it was as simple as that this thread would be very short.

iknowmyheadsintheclouds · 25/06/2011 15:49

Speaking only for myself, I've known the 'hard truths' for nearly 20 years. I accepted that OM is with someone else, just as he has accepted that I am now with someone else.

I just need help dealing with the fact that I've got to let go. And the best way to do that is to have no contact.

Blondie73 · 25/06/2011 19:38

Oh God - Singout hasnt left because of me has she? I'm sorry! I will get there! I was just having a melt down yesterday! Sad Sorry!

Dessie12 · 25/06/2011 20:24

Hi girls,
well it was 3 weeks yesterday since NC and I was doing fine until I looked on his gf's fb page and saw a pic of them kissing!!!! FFS, that has really sent me over the edge and left me really sad, feel like my heart has ripped in two since seeing that, funny thing is that I have never felt any jealousy for her until seeing that pic.
Wish that I would never have got back in contact with him now, first me him when I was 15, went out from 16 to 17 then no contact for 13 years till last year, we have no mutual friends nothing, so never heard about him then he came back in my life with a bang and fucked it up. He always said from the off that he didn't want to ruin my idilic life with my DH and DD, but when you are sending someone up to 70 txts a day it's abit hard not to become envolved isn't it?
The problem has been and always will be with him that he is an emotional retard, he is incapable of admitting his feelings to anyone, the closest I got was that he said he will always have a soft spot for me FFS!!!!!, I told him that I love him and will always love him and that's what I get in return.
Sorry need to vent today, havn't cried or anything, trying to stay strong, things good between DH and me TTC for a 2nd child, what the fuck is wrong with me why am I doing this to myself???

IShouldBeHereToo · 25/06/2011 21:14

I should be here too, hence the name change. I'm a regular who's been here a LONG time but I fear I am beyond help as seem to be on a perpetual road to self destruct Sad

I've lurked and watched and cried/snorted through recognition and cringed with you all.

For some reason tonight's the night I can join in - DH on nightshift and the DCs are in bed. I've been with DH for 11yrs and we're so happy when we're together. The OM is an ex who I was involved with for a short time prior to DH and I getting together. They know each other, in fact knew each other before DH and I were an item. OM and I had a short but turbulant relationship where the only things we did well were sex and arguments. We have remained friends ever since and I continue to class him as one of my best friends. He's been at the christening of all our children, who call him uncle. He was at our wedding. The first one to visit the DC when they were born. His partner is a colleague of mine, well works for the same organisation - we don't work together. Our children are friends.

He isn't happy in his relationship and hasn't been for a long time. He had an affair 2yrs ago which his partner forgave him for but I couldn't Hmm and I refused to speak to him while he was away (in the forces serving abroad) It was easier then.

I am his crutch who he can speak to about everything and from that I take more than is there. He helped me through the worst periods of my life in terms of bereavements as well as causing me the most unhappiness. He has even told me he only loves me as a friend whilst I continue to justify this intense relationship by fooling myself we are destined to be in each others lives hand in hand with my being married Hmm. We had a big chat the other day, which is unusual as normally we are surrounded by friends/family/DC. He admits he is unhappy. He knows things have to change with his relationship (not because of me) but he has very young children and if he goes she will NOT take him back again. I don't blame her - he is a complete arse in those regards.

There are no long drawn out meetings/emails/conversations it is all text messaged. He's been away on a course and I've been watching my phone like a woman possessed - my heart doesn't jump but I look forward to the texts.

I cannot stress how much I love my DH so what the fucking hell am I doing entertaining this nonsense? Whilst sitting reading the threat I have texted him twice Blush I am beyond hope. He drives me fucking crazy and thinks that's hysterical yet time and time and time again I let him. 15yrs and counting. I'm not a daft wee young ffs. I am an educated, intelligent woman who has a position of responsibility, a great DH and a weakness for this man which I can't explain.

It's taken me 10 minutes to work up the courage to hit 'post' It's almost as if it's making it real.