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Relationships

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

Head spinning. Would this be a problem to you at the start of a relationship?

69 replies

LolaCreamTea · 02/03/2020 20:18

Head been spinning with this so would really like some opinions, maybe I’m blowing out of proportion

Had many dates with someone since late December. He’d had a break up in later October and we took things very slowly, only did the deed in February and mostly developed a friendship in this time. The last couple of weeks we have got much closer and it’s started to feel like the beginning of a relationship. Throughout the last couple of months I had understood that there were some loose ends to tie up with this ex - some stuff at her house and they were going to meet in the new year just to clear the air. He said he wasn’t really sure why she ended it, it was all vague and quite out of the blue, so he wanted this conversation to better understand what had happened. I was fine with this and he was always eager to tell me he had no desire to be with her (when she did text briefly in January about something practical he sent a very nice but simple message back and didn’t try to chat with her further).

Last week he came over on Tuesday after work. This is usual for us and we’ve been doing it for a few weeks. He seemed a bit down and after a while he admitted that he had seen a photo of his ex on Facebook on holiday with someone she was clearly in a relationship with. He was with her for two years but he didn’t break it off. He explained it was a bit of a shock and that he didn’t want to get back with her but he couldn’t stop thinking about the timing of it and whether she had met him while they were together etc. He also said he felt confused because they were supposed to meet in the new year and he never felt he had the opportunity to properly close the door on it all, a bit like it was hanging over him. I suggested he just ask her about this new relationship and the circumstances if it was affecting him that much. He did and she replied saying they’d met shortly after she broke up with him and that yes she was in a relationship and she said sorry for putting photos up without telling him first.

Anyway...since she’s told him this it’s like a weight has been lifted from him... he even said ‘I feel like a burden has been lifted.’ I’ve asked him why this is and he said part of his poor mental health is that he always wants certainty and to understand things and doesn’t like animosity with anyone. This does ring true for me with him as that’s exactly how I would describe him. BUT all of this has thrown me a bit. I felt we were progressing as a couple and then now I realise that all this time he was still analysing a past relationship? I’ve expressed my concern to him and he’s been desperate to tell me that it’s me he wants and that he sees a future with us and hopes that we will continue.

Would this bother you or put you off? As I said at the start, I really really like him and before this happened I felt deep down that this would go somewhere.

OP posts:
Soen · 02/03/2020 20:22

Honestly, I'd slow down. He's barely out of his last relationship. Why the rush to label things? I'd cool off if I were you and let him have some time alone to work through his feelings. If it is meant to be it will be.

Wearywithteens · 02/03/2020 20:24

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

LolaCreamTea · 02/03/2020 20:26

I’m not in a rush for a label, or to rush it all. Just wondering if my concerns are fair or is this just how things run their course after a break up and it has no impact on us

OP posts:
Soen · 02/03/2020 20:30

Your concerns are sound. The fact you've questioned it shows your gut instincts are kicking in. I stand by my original response which was to cool off. He will have lingering issues from his breakup, he is only human. You will get caught in the cross fire. Just stay friends for the foreseeable.

LolaCreamTea · 02/03/2020 20:32

Friends who kiss or purely platonic?

I’m 35 so don’t really want to waste much time and I’m wondering if I get back to dating instead of waiting this one out.

I do like him though so it’s a bit shit!

OP posts:
HundredMilesAnHour · 02/03/2020 20:38

I think it's too soon for him. He doesn't sound emotionally available right now. You either need to give him some time (by being friends ONLY for a while) and see if you're still interested in him once he's in better shape emotionally or get the hell out of there if you don't want to wait for him. Otherwise you risk being a rebound relationship and you continuing to be his shoulder to cry on about his ex. Which might be lovely for him but it's shit for your self-esteem OP.

anotherdisaster · 02/03/2020 20:42

I wouldn't have been so understanding about him wanting closure with his ex while he was seeing you in the first place. That would have been the red flags for me. Not sure why now you are suddenly bothered.
If you really like him, I would tell him you want to cool things down a bit for a while. Let the dust settle and see how things develop.
I think you are right to be concerned. No-one wants to be the rebound.

Toria70 · 02/03/2020 20:42

If he was over her, this wouldn't have bothered him at all.

Don't waste any more time or energy on someone who isn't yours to have.

Any heartbreak you feel now will be even greater down the line Flowers

LolaCreamTea · 02/03/2020 20:43

He’s never really mentioned her until this last week with the photos that came up. I do think it’s a reaction to that which has come as a bit of a shock. But the other part of me thinks sod this he’s been thinking of her all this time.

OP posts:
Hirsutefirs · 02/03/2020 20:46

Rule 1 of Ex Club: You have better things to talk about than exes.

whereishappyat · 02/03/2020 20:47

I personally wouldn't feel comfortable with his reaction... how can he be giving you reassurance this whole time that it's you he wants and then feel so shook when he finds out about his ex? He isn't over her. We have all been there. Maybe you two are meant to be, but enough time hasn't passed he needs more time whether he realises it or not. Protect your own heart, take a step back.

Onemansoapopera · 02/03/2020 20:49

I think he's having an entirely natural reaction to his ex moving on and if I was him I too would be questioning how quickly she got with the next guy (lets be honest it looks like she had moved onto him before she'd properly finished with you bf) so i think he's behaving completely understandably and wanted a chat and closure is again probably a rubbish idea but we've all been there. I think just give him space to work through his emotions - you started seeing him knowing he was fresh from a break up so if you like him, help him through his processing of the ending of that and the beginning of you and him. It might be too soon for him and that's no reflection on you and at the same time this isn't about you, it's about his feelings and emotions so if you don't feel you can stick around for him for that then let him down gently and leave him to it. (He may have been thinking of her a lot - again entirely normal when they only broke up a few months ago in the big scheme of things). Doesn't mean he doesn't like you. I think a lot of it now depends on your emotional maturity.

pisces12 · 02/03/2020 20:50

How did he see the picture of her with her new guy, was he checking her instagram/Facebook?

random9876 · 02/03/2020 20:55

I would see how it plays out over the next couple of weeks. If he just did need this clarity and closure (kind of fair enough maybe?) then maybe you‘ll now things shift into a different mode - if not of course it’s no good. I got together with my dh just at the end of my previous relationship and kind of took it gently for a couple of months which gave me a little space I needed - but DH was so the right relationship for me so I was just able to get my head together and put DH front and centre, and we‘ve just been very happy. But I think that if this Is to be the case with you and this man, you need to see that shift. It’s hard - life and timing isn‘t always ideal but for the right person you need to be able to raise your game

LolaCreamTea · 02/03/2020 20:56

Saw it on Facebook feed I assume, haven’t asked. I don’t know what to do...I’ve not met anyone I liked as much as him in over ten years. But I don’t want to be messed about. It’s shit and so far I’ve pulled back completely which will probably destroy things anyway in some ways. Maybe not meant to be!!

OP posts:
LolaCreamTea · 02/03/2020 20:57

random his approach has changed since he has had this ‘closure.’ It’s like he is less anxious and focused on us more, yet not in an overbearing way.

I’ve drafted a text message to end it and still unsure whether to press send :(

OP posts:
Onemansoapopera · 02/03/2020 21:01

So he's more focused on you ....and now you want to end it? is that right?

LolaCreamTea · 02/03/2020 21:06

Yes but only because it seems like it’s a result of this closure , which I read as him basically accepting he won’t get back with her?!

OP posts:
Onemansoapopera · 02/03/2020 21:08

Oh man! I think it might be best if you let him go then yes. I think your mind is set and whatever happens now you're going to read into it that you're only together because they're not - no way to live and not fair on him.

TimeForPlentyIn2020 · 02/03/2020 21:09

I think you’re jumping the gun a bit here.

Pandamoore · 02/03/2020 21:10

I think you get whatever closure you need to get before screwing someone new. He bad what, 2 months to wrap things up before you two got close enough to sleep together. But NOW he chooses to keep bringing her up. Nah. If you stay with him you mind find you always come second to a memory of her. Because he wants it that way.

I'd be off.

Pandamoore · 02/03/2020 21:10

*had what

Russellbrandshair · 02/03/2020 21:13

I think you’re his rebound. I’m so sorry op x

Menora · 02/03/2020 21:13

I’m in a new RS with someone who had a horrible shock of his DW ending marriage and him finding out she was cheating

From the start I asked him if this was too soon for him and he said like yours it was the closure part he found hard. We are just very open that his feelings are still raw from the rejection, not necessarily any love he has for his ex wife. I understand that rejection is a huge blow to the ego and can take some time to recover - just protect yourself that you are not the ego boost here helping him recover. I would ensure that you know where you do stand and I think if you are both open and don’t rush too much, it isn’t a done deal of being over. I think his mistake was hiding it and then offloading it on you suddenly like he has - it’s ok to tell him that it’s set you back a bit and you are wary that he has unresolved feelings - ask how he feels

Menora · 02/03/2020 21:14

@Onemansoapopera

Post makes a lot of sense OP

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