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Very confused

8 replies

Maisie0 · 12/04/2014 23:38

I've met a guy who is 37. I am 36 myself. I didn't want to do online dating for a long time, but from a little bit of pressure from friends and family, I kind of went on there. The experience has been quite horrific personally. I realised that I see a lot of things that I do not want to see. It's like I always think the best of people until you meet someone else, and you start to question your own self ? I do not know if doing this kind of dating also set me off the wrong footing as well with this guy.

This is a long distance relationship. He is in the US and I am in the UK. We have been kind of seeing each other for around 5-6 months now. There has been such a lot of ups and downs overall, and even in the beginning he kind of laid down the gauntlet and set the condition that he will one day move back to SE Asia. I had a thought about this, and I agreed. So, overall, I went over to see him first, and then he also came to see me soon after. We did sleep together, but I also felt that it wasn't meant to. He is kind. He is sometimes patient, but then he is also one of these people who is deeply emotive. The other thing is also that he has a controlling brother, and he has made provisional plans to move to NY so that he can take up his brother's flat and settle there and to be near his family, instead of making plans with me and move towards a committed relationship. The first time he told me this I was deeply unhappy because I felt quite betrayed in a way, but then again, I must have been demanding also too, right ? Because how do you commit to someone when they have another plan and path already ? At first, I was considering coinciding my plans with his and consider finding work in the US, but I have stopped doing that when he told me of his plans, and I felt quite unwanted to begin with. He also told me that he would not give up the chance of getting his green card. I have dual nationality, and can work in SE Asia if I need to. My mother is out in SE Asia, and I thought that it would be feasible for me to do that, and I would feel emotionally happier. But when he told me that he needs to stay in the US for another 4 years. I just felt lost.

So far, we have kept in touch, but we have broken up. I was watching the one day movie, and then I was bubbling so much. I realised that was the kind of relationship I wish I had, but he was also annoyed that I ditched him the same day after I watched that movie. lol. Erm... but underlying it all, I feel that I deserve such loving relationship and devotion as well.

Somehow I do not feel quite right in the relationship, and I do not know why. We still keep in touch as friends. When I saw that he activated back his online dating profile, I was so upset. I have also done the same too, but I have not contacted anyone else. I feel quite stuck.

I'm not really sure what it is that I am asking here... I'm just confused.

OP posts:
CogitoErgoSometimes · 13/04/2014 06:07

It sounds as though you entered the whole 'dating' process rather reluctantly and that you don't have very much experience. Have you had many boyfriends previously? I'm very concerned that, given that you'd only known this person for a few months, you were already flying to the US, agreeing to move to a different country and were hoping for a committed relationship. Worse, that you seemed to feel obliged to sleep with him when you met him. I have no idea what 'deeply emotive' means but I'm guessing it isn't pleasant. It's clear he was just a chancer.

Yes you deserve something much better but please step away from online dating because I don't think it's appropriate for you. If you're under pressure from family to get married tell them to back off and leave you alone. If you really want a romantic, long-term relationship get to know men socially instead. Keep it local, find common interests, make friends and take time to get to know people for who they really are, not some internet profile that could be a pack of lies.

Egghead68 · 13/04/2014 06:53

I would stop contact with him.

chocolatespiders · 13/04/2014 07:56

Life is to short for this kind of stress!! Stop contact

superstarheartbreaker · 13/04/2014 08:21

Far too stressful. Stick to guys in the uk.

EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 13/04/2014 08:32

You're crazy. This relationship is ridiculous. You barely know him, he is t very nice to you and you are thinking of moving halfway across the world for him? Get a clue.

AntsMarching · 13/04/2014 09:03

Please just let him go. He isn't committed to you and he's been very plain about "his" plans. You shouldn't make "us" plans when the other person isn't doing the same.

I'm from the US and dated a man from the UK. We did long distance for a year but early on we talked about how to manage seeing one another and we discussed which of us would move. We had an in depth discussion about the pros and cons of each of us moving, how it would affect job prospects, family, etc. In the end, I agreed to give up my job and move because we had come to the conclusion that it made the most sense for us. And my boyfriend (now DH) and I agreed to get married just after I moved over. Those were "us" plans.

If your boyfriend is only making plans that affect him, where do you fit into the relationship? Don't give up your life for someone who won't even consider you in the plans they make.

Maisie0 · 13/04/2014 10:52

At first we did talk about plans because I am also in IT, that is why I see an opportunity to do that too. I did not tell this before. This is why I also kind of picked him. I also picked him because he is SE Asian, and that we may share similar values. He does. He told me of his own filial duty way before I even asked him. (But I am also the same too.) Since August, I took a career break, and this is why I was able to date as if we were teenagers again, and give each other time. I couldn't have done this even when I was working. This is why this was more intense than I would've done normally in such a sort period of time. The other thing about dating is that, yes, I dated a lot more in my 20s, and I didn't have this kind of commitment, and then I found my ex. That was the biggest mistake on my part. He was even more selfish than this guy alone. That was a rebound, and I hurt myself so much more. That is why I didn't date many people after that, and yes, maybe there is a little bit of pressure too on my side, as I do want a family, and realising that my body is slowly changing.

Before this guy, I also met another guy, which was less steady than this person, as he was a postgraduate student. He was still quite laidback in attitude. At least this new guy was actually a working professional and is more clued up. We did speak a little bit about future plans and things like that. Cos we seem to be that age for this, but during our dating, it seems that we couldn't make the every day to work. I do not know if this is the long distance affecting how we feel about each other or not.

When I went over there, I deliberately wanted to see his surroundings and see if I can live there, but I realised that I couldn't. When he came over, he couldn't see himself living in the UK either too. After we stopped putting pressures on ourselves and timeline, we kind of see each other for who we are, and I can see him actually relaxing so much more, and as do I. We actually slept so much better knowing that we are in each other's lives, but I do not know how else things can happen. We did break up. After we broke up, it felt better, but we did keep in touch. He seems to be more considerate and flirting after that. Before he was so stoic, and more sarcastic. (Most guys online are quite sarcastic, it is quite hurtful to continually be facing this kind of attitude.)

I will also admit this too. I am quite put off by a lot of the things that I read in this relationship section of MN and I have started to second doubt my own decisions and gut instincts too. "What if..." I do not know any more.

OP posts:
EhricLovesTheBhrothers · 13/04/2014 11:47

There are lots of South East Asian men in the uk. Probably lots in your town. I really wouldn't go looking in America if I were you.

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