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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

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At rock bottom- 2 years thrown away on a text

428 replies

yestocarrots · 11/12/2016 22:05

Just hoping for a bit of a hand hold. Sorry this is so long. I'm feeling very bleak right now and have no one to talk to. Please, someone, sanity check me. I am reeling from a turn of events that has put me into a depression worse than any I've experienced in a while.

My ex partner was an army guy. We lived quite separate lives because he was posted the other side of the country to my city, but we saw each other most weekends. He has known my dd since she was tiny (she's now 2). Been a dad to her in every way, it was like we were a family. We argued quite a lot always about the same things- he didn't communicate much at all during the week, often would only text, and would get angry and belligerent if I expressed a wish for this to change. I wasn't perfect- I had bad PND and would get very emotional in conflicts which seemed to frustrate him. I was working full time in a demanding job and running a home and being a single parent and I know I took shit out on him. But I also loved him deeply. Showed it in any ways I could. Keeping the house lovely for when he came, making plans for days out and little holidays, putting on Xmas for him including a stocking and a sack of gifts, sending him packages, kept myself available for him basically every weekend and never asked for more than just more contact in the week (which frankly he never made the effort to change.) Earlier this year he was posted abroad at very short notice. I was devastated and scared but we both mutually agreed we would not let it break us. Both of us were in bits the day he left.
Then it all fell apart. While he was away I got so used to us not being able to communicate at all, I just sort of shut down. But my eating disorder and depression came back with a vengeance. My periods stopped entirely and I nearly lost my job through stress. I found it impossible coping with work, health and my toddler, I missed my best friend and partner so much. I sent him packages but it was all I could do. I had bought him special notepaper to write to me and he never did, when I asked him to once he snapped and ridiculed me as he thought it was such a trivial thing for me to want. When I finally confessed I wasn't coping and didn't know how to deal, told him my health was deteriorating and I just needed to know a rough time of when he would be back, or needed some more support (I don't really have any IRL and I didn't get support from the army as we weren't married.) he was furious when I said all this. Accused me of breaking up with him, saying I had no empathy for the stressful situation he was in, was so angry it shocked and hurt me to the core. It was like the more upset I was the more angry he was. After a week or so of this I suggested we go on a break til he got back as the miscommunication seemed tto be so damaging (I now deeply regret this as feel it was selfish but literally at the time I couldn't stand this anger coming from him and the fact that in fact he had no empathy for me.)
Within a month he had a date to return to the UK. I asked how/when I could come and meet him off the plane at the base. He never got round to letting me know- he was too busy apparently. He didn't let me know he was back in the UK til he had been there almost a week. He then asked on the Wednesday if I was free on the Friday to meet and talk. I had a work commitment I couldn't get out of and said I couldn't, but asked how he was and how the journey was. His response- "Are you serious?! All that bullshit about priorities and you won't meet me. Bye then". I immediately replied asking why we couldn't do the weekend instead. He simply replied "don't bother contacting me again." All by text. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe he did that. A month later he still hadnt come to his sense. I was missing him terribly but so hurt from his text I hadn't contacted him. Finally got up the courage and texted him. He responded so furiously and verbally abusively and yet we ended up sleeping together twice, him telling me one minute that I had hurt him so much and was a shit person with no empathy, then next that he loved me and was sorry i suffered so much when he was away. I was so confused about how he twisted it into me having done something unforgivable by not being able to see him when he decided I should. After 2 weeks of hell he texted me to tel me he would be no worse off if he ever saw me again. I've been bereft all over again. Calling him in tears- sometimes he answers and is reassuring, sometimes he won't answer but sends angry texts. Texting him how much I love and miss him, how sorry I am for what I did and begging him to see me. He has stopped responding altogether. I just don't know what to do. My dd calls him daddy- he said in a year it would be like he had never existed to her. I miss him so much, I can't bear how this has played out. I feel racked with guilt. I just want him to understand why I shut him out. I'm still having tests for my lack of periods, I'm still suffering terribly with my bulimia but he just accuses me of having no empathy and making his life hell. I feel so guilty I want to just hurt myself.

Sorry- I know it was long. I just need someone to tell me I didn't deserve this. He slept with me and told me he loved me just 2 weeks ago. I just want to curl up and cry. 2 years meant nothing to him in the end.

OP posts:
HorridHenryrule · 14/12/2016 19:53

I am sorry PaulDacresConscience I didn't mean for it to sound that way. I have been abused myself in the past and it weren't a nice feeling so you know what I will fuck off I'm used to getting abuse from non entities. Feminist don't make me laugh.

The only way forward is to work on yourself what makes you who you are. You will meet someone who will love you and respect you. Your a loving mother just stick with that for now and work on yourself. Get yourself better. Good luck OP.

HorridHenryrule · 14/12/2016 20:05

BTW I do have a story to tell that will probably shock you PaulDacresConscience. I have survived for a very long time after the abuse I went through I had PTSD. I sorted myself out I have a loving partner and 4 beautiful children. I don't claim to be a feminist or a man hater. You have to pick and choose wisely the person you want to spend time with. If he is just shit all over you and use you when it feels good for him. Back then it was only me who could say no no more I had enough. I had a break down after it ain't funny or nice to go through. You don't want to feel that way or be in that situation but you are. The only person who can stop is you.

yestocarrots · 14/12/2016 20:09

I know this is stupid but I answered the phone to him in a weak moment and I so wish I hadn't. I was upset and he said he was sorry and didn't like hearing me upset but that he didn't want our relationship and it made his life hell. It was like he had nothing good to say and the last 1.5 years had been bad. No reasoning why he didn't end it before. When I addressed why he didn't just come that Saturday or Sunday the weekend after he came back, he got nasty. It always makes him see red that topic. I was so upset and trying to explain why I had said yes to the work thing on the Friday because I had been so lonely and trying to do more stuff like that, and he had not given me more than 2 days notice of him even being back in the country, it was like a mental block he simply wouldn't accept that it was legitimate. His whole voice turned spiteful and swearing saying I should have prioritised him having come back from a war zone and I knew he would be back that week. He said he would have seen me Saturday or Sunday but I had killed it for him by not prioritising seeing him over a work thing. He also said the conversation only made him more sure he had made the right decision because we "cannot communicate". I don't understand I don't think there was anything to miscommunicate, he simply wouldn't understand why I didn't see him that Friday; and yet again I am back to this desperate guilt and wishing I could go back and change it. I should have said yes, I should have seen him that day, I should have put him first and not expected him to wait for me to be free that weekend or to ask for another day. If I had just done that maybe things would have been so different. But I can't be such a bad communicator or so unreasonable as he says- it makes me doubt my whole fucking self and I'm so scared I am just broken, my priorities and my thoughts and everything. Yes I know I sound pathetic but I can't stop feeling this.

OP posts:
gamerchick · 14/12/2016 20:12

You will if you cut off contact with him and stop going around this circle of this Friday night you keep obsessing over.

He is a prick, stop letting him abuse you.

redexpat · 14/12/2016 20:23

BLOCK HIM! Stop torturing yourself.

You.

Deserve.

Better.

KnowOneNose · 14/12/2016 20:24

Sorry my last post sounded harsh.

I can't believe you answered a call from him. 😳 Why on earth would you do that?

I would now block him AND delete all his contact details. I would then throw away everything that reminds you of him. You can't possibly think there is any hope of anything good coming of keeping in touch with him.

BumDNC · 14/12/2016 20:30

I've felt this way before when someone was emotionally abusing me. I would like to add I have never behaved as irrationally with any other man in my life before or since -it was just him. I felt like I was utterly losing my mind. I couldn't believe the person I had become and the lengths I would go to to try to change things. I just had this feeling I could put it all right.

This is because he wants you to take the blame. It's easier to give it to you and look -you have taken it. You are still being his emotional punch bag even now. You have to urgently block him. He will not stop doing this horrible cycle because he wants to break you. He's an ugly black hearted sociopath that's why he's made you feel so unhinged.
Nothing you say or do will put this right, no time machine to change that one moment. That moment would have happened anyway, if not that Friday then another.

Allalonenow · 14/12/2016 20:32

If you had seen him on that Friday he would have immediately come up with some other excuse to cause an arguement and finish with you because that is what he wanted to do.

Are you now seeing the true HIM, I do hope so.

One of the reasons everyone is telling you to cut contact with him is that we all know he will use any contact with you to abuse you even more, and we have been proved right here.. you are now feeling worse than you did.

Block his number, delete him from your phone, protect yourself from this cruel bastard for your own sanity.

Allalonenow · 14/12/2016 20:34

Stop having weak moments, you need to be stong for yourself and for your little daughter.

PaulDacresConscience · 14/12/2016 21:23

It doesn't shock me at all HorridHenry. And I would always respect anyone that has the strength to break away from an abusive relationship. But don't assume that you are the only one that has first hand experience of something.

I'm not sure why posting my opinion makes me a non-entity. I find it baffling that someone who has been om the receiving end of abuse would seek to use language to diminish and belittle someone else. Seems very counter-intuitive Confused

HeavenlyEyes · 14/12/2016 21:27

So he called you up to just tell you how crap you are? Gosh, isn't he an utter charmer. You have blocked him now?

HorridHenryrule · 14/12/2016 21:59

You told me to fuck off and to me that's abusive. I don't know you and vice versa.

yestocarrots · 14/12/2016 22:09

He sounded comforting and mild when the call started and was consoling me because i was so upset but when we got round to why it ended he returned to the fury he felt at me not meeting him that Friday. It obviously really touches a nerve for him. He cannot forgive me. He also said he shouldn't have said he loved me a couple of weeks ago and then hung up. Leaving me feeling absolutely bereft again. I know I have to block him but I still miss and love him and my head cannot get out of it.

OP posts:
yestocarrots · 14/12/2016 22:15

I know there's no point in feeling any of this it doesn't change the outcome. Reading back over old messages we had a lot of arguments borne out of insecurity, I was always so nervous that he would leave me or that he didn't have feelings for me, and I know that was partly driven by his behaviours, but I wish it had not got so bad that he was utterly cold to me. He didn't use to be like that. In the very big picture this could always have been a temporary situation for him given that he was never really emotionally available (rebounding from ex, found me having a small dd overwhelming, stressful job based elsewhere, not having grown up much himself and having all his own insecurities.) Awful, awful, awful. When we were both 20 and I first knew him he was so different and just a bit less hard. I guess people change over the years. I feel like I will always miss the idea or dream i had of him, I can't get my head round him wanting to just shut me right out. I can't imagine ever being ok with him gone he has been in my life for years. I can't understand why he is ok and I'm so sad.

OP posts:
Grittlelayrabbit · 14/12/2016 22:24

Im not by nature, a gambling woman but i would put the deeds to my house on him having someone else in the frame on the saturday and Sunday. THAT is why he is so angry and defensive. He knows he is being an absolutely collossal twat. And i will also bet that he had someone else in the wings somehow when he first came back.
It makes no sense whatsoever to not see you for a few days when he first got home, or see you on the saturday or sunday. In his head he had scheduled shagging you on the Friday, and if he was in any way keen he would have done anything to see you. Instead, he is outraged that you didnt fit his plan but then makes it all YOUR fault. He is a terrible bastard.

Grittlelayrabbit · 14/12/2016 22:25

Also, you rang him didnt you?

Its ok. Been there.

ToadsforJustice · 14/12/2016 22:36

"He is ok and you are so sad" is because he never loved you. I'm sorry to be harsh, but I believe he has used you from the beginning. I suspect he had a girlfriend during the week and picked up with you at the weekends. This man that says he loves you and wants to be with you but is in the UK a week before contacting you - he does not want you. He used you.

HeavenlyEyes · 14/12/2016 22:36

He cannot forgive you?? So you called him begging for forgiveness and asking him to come back and he has destroyed you again.

yestocarrots · 14/12/2016 22:44

Grittle I just don't know. Because of the sort of person he is I thought it was his pride being hurt that I would turn him down for work (he was always a bit funny about my job, slags off corporate industries a lot and obv never saw it as equivalent to his job in importance, though I have done quite well since I started there a year ago and already got promoted.) It blows my mind that he might have made other plans for that weekend which supposedly he just wanted to spend with me sorting things out. But anything is possible I guess. It's a bit like now when he is furiously backtracking on his change of heart a couple of weeks ago. And hinting that he wants to meet someone else (which I guess he probably already has.) The thought of it made me so obviously panicked on the phone and so distressed he jjst hung up. That had become his normal reaction when i had an anxiety attack in response to his angry outbursts- he would just hang up. Even before he went away on tour. I KNEW when he did stuff like that, that he probably didn't really love me. And that for all I've been agonising about having hurt him he doesn't care if I'm getting through this. I jjst wish he had never come back to my home again. If he had never come back after tour it would have been easier. But he was here 2 weekends in a row and he slept with me and played with dd and it's so hard to let go. I wish in some ways he had blocked me when he first got back from Afghan. When I was still angry not just sad.

And no- I asked him to call me not expecting he would and he did, despite having had no contact for a week. Not sure why he did that.

OP posts:
FrankAndBeans · 14/12/2016 22:45

Are you 22? If you met at 20, just wondering. You are so young and have so much life ahead of you. Seize it, move on from this loser.

Grittlelayrabbit · 14/12/2016 22:45

You were always so nervy because he MADE you feel insecure and all your spider senses were telling you he just wasnt that into you.

You want to live happy ever after? This man leaving your life takes you a huge step CLOSER to that.

Grittlelayrabbit · 14/12/2016 22:49

Whilst im on a winning streak, i confidently predict that this charmer will try his luck again with you, just to keep you warmed up. And he will tell you that maybe you could try again if only you dont give him any hassle or crave reassurance.

Be warned.

Grittlelayrabbit · 14/12/2016 22:50

And he belittles your career? There's a fucking surprise. Devalues you. Ugh.

Codeybear2015 · 14/12/2016 23:03

Omg listen hun i dont mean to sound harsh here but you really need to get a grip ,thats a shame this has happened but more a shame your little one watching you tearing yoursekf apart for what an absolute selfish twat .....block his number and tell him to piss off honesty the more obsessed your acting over your the one thats getting hurt no him he couldn't give a monkeys and your littke one missing out on a happy mummy , delete him and block his number for gods sakes its OVER

Allalonenow · 14/12/2016 23:05

He's hoping to keep you on the back burner in case it doesn't work out with the new girl, or in case he fancies a screw and she's not available, as was probably the case the last couple of times he was with you.

You must only be about 26 then, so young and with your whole life ahead of you, please don't ruin it by wasting any more time on this horrible man.