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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

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What on earth happened?

779 replies

Newbie96 · 01/03/2021 10:55

Hi everyone, long time reader but first-time poster. I'll just jump straight into it. Please be kind.

My boyfriend and I have been together officially for a year, we've known each other since we were around 13 - 14 and attempted to make a go of it as teenagers (around 18) but it never worked. We've been in contact ever since because we both have mutually been drawn to one another. He often tells me he has compared every woman he's been with to me and to be honest I've done the same.

I am now 25 and he is 27. We got together just before lockdown last year and have spent nearly every waking second with each other since. We had been spending a lot of time together prior to lockdown happening and we both jumped at the opportunity to become each other's support bubbles when the time came and to be honest, it has been total bliss, we genuinely never argue, he is like my bestfriend.

Luckily for us, the lockdown has been kind to us mostly because we've had each other to get through it and it has made us grow extremely closer. I can honestly say the past year we both have agreed that we have been the happiest we've ever been, our relationship being one of the main reasons.

We both live alone and so we stay back and forth between his place and mine, only having to travel now and then for work etc. Due to our history and of course how much time we've spent together, emotions have definitely intensified and I am very much in love with this man, he knows this and tells me he feels the same way.

So fast forward to the weekend just gone, we had planned that I would spend the weekend at his house. I arrive at around 6:30 on Friday evening and things are good but I can sense that something is off/ or that he isn't exactly in the mood. I decide to ignore it but it seems to only get worse. Usually, we would sit down, have a conversation about our day and watch a series episode together which we commentate back and forth with each other but this time it's pure silence. Neither of us was physical with each other, he actually even sat on the furthest part of the sofa away from me. I can honestly say this was the first time I felt a little unwelcome in his home, which is odd considering how much time I have spent there and I've never felt this way before.

I mean maybe I overlooked everything far too much so please tell me if that appears to be the case. An hour of silence goes by, most of the time it was him on his phone whilst I watched the episode by myself, he stands up and asks if I am hungry, I say yeah and he says okay I will cook something for us. As it was the first proper real words we had spoken to each other all night, I decided to ask if everything was okay? he says yeah so in a jokey, laughing tone I ask if he wants me over tonight as it feels a little as if I'm intruding.

Well what happens next I didn't expect it at all, he is stood in the doorway of the living room and begins to get more and more wound up, he starts off by saying "of course I want you over but you have been sat there all night with this miserable look on your face, giving off bad energy" his voice is slightly raised but I don't retaliate and I calmy say "okay well I must have read it wrong, I wasn't trying to give off bad energy, I've been looking forward to seeing you all day" but he is so annoyed and goes off again accusing me of being the reason why the energy is so wrong between us tonight and how dare I blame him for it. I apologise again and say that I must have had a long day. He then goes on to say "well this is weird for me now so I think its best you leave" I am in shock as he walks out of the living room into the kitchen, in an attempt to let things settle, I leave it 5 minutes and walk into the kitchen with him and ask if he would really like me to leave? He responds "I'm just saying maybe its best", the thing is I can see on his face he is visually angry and in my head, I can't figure out why he is so annoyed, over something that in my mind was so trivial and silly. Like a fricken helpless puppy dog, I look at him again and ask if HE wants me to leave? and he responds "you know what yeah I do".

I take myself to the other room and begin packing up my stuff and I can hear him stomping and slamming about. I obviously felt a little confused because the whole situation felt extremely blown out of proportion. Once my things are packed I give it one last attempt and go and sit next to him on the sofa, I ask him if we can talk about this and I gently reach my hand out to touch his arm, but he blows up and is practically foaming from the mouth shouting at me not to touch him and that he just wants me to leave, at one point he swings the front door open and walks out of the front door in nothing his dressing gown, I don't chase him because I was honestly just shocked. He begins texting me telling me to leave his house or he won't come back? - I replied and told him I'm leaving but I would have appreciated it if he came back and just spoke to me. After 5/6 minutes pass, he comes storming back into the flat, pushing past me in the hall and is still foaming at the mouth shouting at how it's my fault and I'm making it worse by not leaving. Like a fool, I started to cry because I could see this has all escalated into a situation I didn't want for us at all. He tells me crying doesn't help the situation so tearfully I leave. As I wait outside for a cab, I check my phone and notice that he has blocked my number, my WhatsApp and my Instagram. I am totally confused and hurt by all of this and in my honest moment of craziness, I create another account on Instagram and message "I'm sorry for everything that just happened, I didn't expect any of that. I accept I was in the wrong and that I read the situation wrong, please can we talk when things are calmer?" he replies "please just let me know when you are home as I won't be able to sleep until I know your home" I leave it and let him know I am home, he bluntly replies "good, night" I again press on and I ask if we can talk? he responds and says "no I just want to go to sleep, we have been so good lately and now I'm laying here crying," I tell him I love him and that I don't want him to be sad, he replies and says he knows I do and that I should go to sleep.

Saturday morning comes and I message saying I hope he is okay and that again when things are calmer can we talk about this? he reads and doesn't respond. Sunday I message again along the same lines but telling him I miss him, again he reads and doesn't respond.

This morning I received a message from him saying "I told you that you were just making everything worse on Friday and you just didn't listen, you just thought you knew better and now I'm going to show you what I meant. I don't care, sorry" I sent some messages, honestly being very weak and pitiful, telling him that I would just like us to talk and sort this out as I miss him and this isn't like us at all, I then check for a response and he has blocked me from that account as well, so there are no ways of contacting him.

I just can't make sense of it all, we have never argued like this ever. I didn't expect him to blow up the way he did after asking him if everything was okay. I just feel like its all my fault for ruining something that we had so good. I feel really sad, low and alone and just wish he would calm down and speak to me.

Please give me your take on this entire, childish and shit situation. Did I do something wrong? and is he really never going to speak to me again over that?

Thank you

OP posts:
mathanxiety · 03/03/2021 01:09

If the roles were reversed & an OP said their BF had come round, weird atmosphere so they asked them to leave & then the BF had done all this we'd be saying that bloke was disrespecting boundaries & that shouldn't be tolerated.

@gutful
We wouldn't actually.

This is because many of us have read the OP's description of the hostile atmosphere created by the BF's silence and body language.

It wasn't a weird atmosphere that sprang into life of its own accord.

Some time between confirming the arrangement for the OP to stay over and her arrival, the BF arrived at a decision to devalue her, and he proceeded to blank her completely once she was there in person.

It takes a little time to fully catch up when a narcissist does this out of the blue. As seen on this thread, some people have still not caught up. The OP herself took to MN to try to figure out what the heck was happening.

A normal person with normal expectations of civil treatment from other human beings - and this goes for men and women alike - is very likely to be completely blindsided by a complete devaluing of the sort the OP experienced, because there is no experience on this earth to prepare you for it - most of the people we encounter in our daily lives are not narcissists and even if they are, it takes a previous intimate or close working relationship with one to teach you how to deal with them the minute they show their true nature.

When narcissists move on from putting you on a pedestal without telling you the plans for the evening are off, normal people are left trying to figure out where they went wrong, asking what they can do to get back to where they thought they were, desperately seeking some rational explanation for what just happened.

Normal people need rational explanations. A narcissist will never give you one. Instead you will get accusations about your own conduct, and rage.

(While I'm here, please allow me to take this opportunity to congratulate you on trotting out that tired old "if this was a man" chestnut...)

mathanxiety · 03/03/2021 01:16

It really did stem from a place of wanting to resolve the situation, I didn't intend on making it worse or purposely riling him. I don't know why I didn't leave or why I was frantically apologising. I guess in the midst of shock I thought in my head there was a solution and if he could see that I was calm and loving towards him it would calm him down too. I realise that was a mistake.

Please don't beat yourself up for being a civil, reasonable, normal person, @Newbie96.

Your response was that of a normal person seeking a rational explanation for being treated very badly, with no warning whatsoever.

What you experienced was narcissistic devaluation, and you got it from both barrels. I am surprised you were able to function at all when it happened.

GreenlandTheMovie · 03/03/2021 01:52

Goodness OP, that was one extreme narcissistic pyschopathic discard, and quite a practised one. This stood out from your OP He often tells me he has compared every woman he's been with to me. He has had practice.

They do it for the thrill of being bad and hurting people. Theres no logic to it. The worst things you think about him are probably the most true.

The best thing is to cut him off completely and don't respond - but it might take you time to get to the point of realising that this is the type of man you would normally avoid. It sounds like you've probably missed the usual signs because you've simply known him since your childhood.

My ex did something similar (and of course just before my birthday, but in a phone call and refused to meet up then blocked me a month later after no contact) and he had done it once before as well. It was only after spending a summer in lockdown being pestered by those awful men on social media who contact you and send you stupid messages despite not knowing them, that I realised he had more in common with those men and wasn't the ideal man I had imagined him to be. And thats when I went completely off him. Men who behave like that are not in the least attractive.

BritInAus · 03/03/2021 02:17

@Hesfamousforit

I wouldn't be surprised if he starts love bombing you soon. You take him back and then this becomes the pattern in your relationship. I know you feeling in love right now and probably want him back the way he was before so if the love bombing starts you are probably going to go back... My only advise to you if you do go back is when he starts his shit just recognise what's happening and leave. And if things ever become threatening call the police. However.... I hope you do have the strength to leave this behind and realise you've seen his true colours and he will not change. None of this is your fault. Flowers
This. A 100 times, this. Take care OP, it will feel better. Stay strong
MMfanalltheway · 03/03/2021 02:51

You want him back. Nobody could understand love like you had? He's the only man you could ever love? Only man who ever loved you? Only person who ever truly got you? That correct?

DoWhatYouWantTo · 03/03/2021 07:49

@Newbie96

Thank you all, honestly, so far the unity and strength from you all in this thread has sort of given me some strength too.

I'll just leave him to it and won't contact him again (not that can now he's blocked me on everything!) but I just feel so empty right now, I feel like all that time and emotional investment was just wasted.

Hes blocked you so you cannot see his new life with the other woman. Honestly? I can't get past a man who 'foams at the mouth ' in anger.

I persued my ex when he dumped me. We eventually got back together and married but he always had the upper hand. He left me and two children for another woman so I just prolonged the agony

DoWhatYouWantTo · 03/03/2021 07:56

@Newbie96

Itstimetoquit thank you! it really does hurt like hell. I've been holding in tears all day at work, so I know as soon as I get home to my empty flat later it will all hit me like a tone of bricks. I just cant grasp how i can be so easy to leave! it really feels shiity. Sorry for my moment of weakness, im just feeling pretty low today.
You sound like a great girl with lots going for you. You have a job and somewhere to live and friends. Once lockdown is over, you will meet someone out there who is just as eager as you to meet someone too.

Good luck and heres to a happy escape!!

ThisTooShallBeFantastic · 03/03/2021 08:59

How are you today OP? I hope you managed to get a good sleep in 💐

Newbie96 · 03/03/2021 09:33

Good morning All Flowers , I hope you are all are feeling good or at least better than I am right now lol.

I did manage to get some sleep but was awake from 5am, I actually ended up just shutting my phone off last night in an attempt to try distract myself.

I'm thankful that I have work to be honest, as hard as it has been to drag myself out of bed, it keeps me somewhat distracted and of course with the help of all of you lovely ladies.

At the moment I feel okay but I go through stages in the day, I'm actually dreading this weekend, obviously, we are always usually together so the idea of being alone is really getting to me.

MMfanalltheway , it's crazy because yes that is indeed how I feel (it almost makes me feel silly to feel this way) my world obviously isn't ending but I sure feel like it is!

How are all of you today Flowers

OP posts:
Icancelledthecheque · 03/03/2021 09:45

Any other issues aside... if you (well, he!) can’t communicate issues respectfully, and he’s already gaslighting you and trying to weaken you, he’s not ever going to be a good partner. You did everything you could to communicate and deescalate the situation and he just reacted more angrily.

I’ve had two LTRs end due to a lack of proper communication. I’ve learned now to run if I see any sign of that whatsoever.

And he uses/used drugs? He’s not exactly a catch, is he.

It’ll get easier. You’ve honestly had a lucky escape. Being wanted by “someone” isn’t enough, you need to be wanted by someone that deserves you!

Newbie96 · 03/03/2021 10:07

Icancelledthecheque - Thank you so much. No matter how it came off my intention really was to communicate and then put the situation to bed.

He always told me he hates "confrontation" but I don't think I confronted him and as I've said I have never seen him act like that before and usually we are able to communicate well.

OP posts:
stampsurprise · 03/03/2021 10:11

I can recommend these sites to you OP. I have found them helpful in the past after too many relationships with assclowns:

heartless-bitches.com

www.chumplady.com

www.baggagereclaim.co.uk

Newbie96 · 03/03/2021 10:17

stampsurprise , Thank you for the recommendations! I will take a look at these.

Weirdly, with other breakups, I've been relatively fine and once I know it's done, I'm able to shut off and move on. With him, its different and just feels so much worse.

OP posts:
stampsurprise · 03/03/2021 10:25

@Newbie96

stampsurprise , Thank you for the recommendations! I will take a look at these.

Weirdly, with other breakups, I've been relatively fine and once I know it's done, I'm able to shut off and move on. With him, its different and just feels so much worse.

Some assclowns get under your skin more than others.

In my 20s I was HEARTBROKEN over a guy who I wouldn’t give the time of day to now.

Now you can see the red flags from the early days of your relationship. If you had paid attention thin to these you’d have got rid earlier. I have been there, believe me!

Do the Freedom Programme. Take a course on assertiveness. Use therapy to build up your self-esteem and find out why you accepted poor treatment.

Next time you meet someone run anything g dubious past the Mumsnetters. We’ve got your back here!

Guard your heart. It’s far too precious to waste. The right man would never have you sobbing your heart out. Flowers

Newbie96 · 03/03/2021 10:45

stampsurprise - That's definitely true lol.

I'm looking into the freedom programme and the courses you recommended as we speak.

I can't thank you enough honestly.

I just need to remember to breathe, without crying that is.

OP posts:
Ogham · 03/03/2021 12:02

What’s the bets he’ll be in touch by the weekend having decided to ‘forgive’ you and you’ll be forever grateful. He may even call in person so steel yourself for this and be ready. You’re a smart woman, of course you’re still grieving and hurt that he has turned out like this. Give yourself time to grieve heal but don’t let him back in your life.

GreenlandTheMovie · 03/03/2021 12:13

The thing is, he's not just dumped you out of the blue, but he has behaved dreadfully including afterwards, after he had time to calm down. All those hateful messages and blocking you so quickly and wandering about the streets in a dressing gown, foaming at the mouth.

I don't think for your own safety its a good idea to be anywhere near him again.

I feel sorry for the tiny number of handmaidens on here who are stuck in relationships where they describe being treated regularly like this and have been conditioned to think its normal. Its not, and literally no-one envies you.

Just think how many normal healthy boundaries you would have to ignore to let this happen more than once.

GabsAlot · 03/03/2021 12:25

what a knob but of course youre feeling wors than other relationships because you were friends or thought you were friends

if he'd ended it in an adult way maybe you could have still been in contact but no hes ruined everything

stay strong it will get easier

Newbie96 · 03/03/2021 12:34

Thanks, everyone, I keep re-reading over the thread because your words of wisdom are giving me some strength.

Today is the worst I have felt, to be honest. I know I just have to keep on but I genuinely can't stop crying, it's ridiculous.

OP posts:
GreenlandTheMovie · 03/03/2021 12:44

Just take it a week at a time. Each week that passes is a week of improvement because you are away from him. One morning you will wake up and suddenly wonder what you ever saw in him.

I agree its worse because you've known each other for so long. How he behaved isn't normal. I honestly thought you were going to go on to say in your OP that he had had a manic episode and been committed to hospital. Grey rock is the best way - I thought very much with my ex that he was getting a kick out of my being upset so I didn't give him that reaction and stopped contact. I actually went through a phase of having nightmares about my ex for a few weeks until I started having more pleasant dreams about other men! I was actually so keen to get him out of my life after a few months that I took back control by sending him a message that I was blocking him because of his awful behaviour and then I realised I couldn't work out how to block him on that phone. So I actually threw the phone away and got a new phone and number and everything. And it was like actually throwing away a milestone around my neck when I did that!

Newbie96 · 03/03/2021 12:54

GreenlandTheMovie wow that's such a big move! well done you, did you feel relief after throwing your phone away?

Funnily enough last night I had a very realistic dream that my phone started ringing which woke me up (in my dream) and it was him calling, I was just sat there blankly watching it ring. It really was all a dream but crazy how even our subconscious is affected.

I do really miss him, I feel like my right arm is missing but you are all so right, i couldn't take him back now even if he begged me.

OP posts:
GreenlandTheMovie · 03/03/2021 13:02

Yes, I had actually lost my phone so had a cheapo one from Tesco, and I sent the text telling him I was blocking him, went to block him and realised I couldn't do it on that phone! So I didn't want it to ring or message beep from him as I was holding it, so I carried it like an unexploded bomb, wrapped it in a carrier bag and knotted it at the top, and threw it in the communal bins! What a relief!

Its so much better from a control perspective to block someone from contacting you, because if they have blocked you, you have no control over when they unblock you again. I have a new phone and number and he has no way of contacting me on it.

I also knew my ex for years and ignored red flags that I would have spotted in anyone else because of it.

stampsurprise · 03/03/2021 13:04

@Newbie96

Thanks, everyone, I keep re-reading over the thread because your words of wisdom are giving me some strength.

Today is the worst I have felt, to be honest. I know I just have to keep on but I genuinely can't stop crying, it's ridiculous.

Keep crying if you need to. Don't bottle it up!

I remember leaving a shitty, sometimes violent, relationship. I wanted out but still feel bereft and lost afterwards. I'd given up too much of my life to be in the shitty relationship, you see.

One night I'd planned to go out with friends. But when I got in from work I just burst into tears while getting ready. I had a good sob and was about to call them to cancel, when I thought. "Fuck it, I'm not going to let that arsehole take any more from me than he already has." I washed my face, had a nice back, redid my make-up, went out and actually enjoyed myself. I think I was empty of tears later that night!!

Of course, I had tearful days on and off after that, but they lessened and sometimes I'd have a few days in a row where I hardly thought about Dickhead. Now I am free and wonder what all the fuss was about.

All this to say, you WILL reach that point too. I knw lockdown makes all this so much harder, but please schedule whatever pleasures you can. Meeting friends, Zooming, buy yourself something nice, overhaul your wardrobe if you think it needs it, think about a hobby you've always wanted to try (research it, buy equipment, make plans) and so on and so on.

Choose a course or website and work through it. Don't waste another minute of your youth on arseholes. They are everywhere but so are the good guys. You just need to learn how to spot the different early on and get rid.

We're all here for you! Flowers

Pebbledashery · 03/03/2021 13:24

Hi Op, been looking at your thread and I am so glad this horrible and vile excuse of a man is away from you.
You were on your way to be a fully fledged victim of domestic violence, the signs and red flags were all in your post.
I was in a horrifically abusive relationship, it started off as emotional and mental abuse, but then it became a push, a shove, a slap.. then culminated in a punch in the face in front of our DD whose only a toddler. The day I left him, I had a social worker call me and told me to get out of there as I was in danger. I left with 3 black bin bags of stuff.
I've never looked back and the day I left him, although I was terrified, I felt a weight off my shoulders and looked forward to a life not feeling worthless anymore.
I cannot TELL YOU how lucky you are to be away from this. Although I'm proud of myself, I didn't pave my way in life to become a survivor of domestic abuse.
You will look back at this thread and think "thank god" he's done me a favour.
Save your efforts for someone who DESERVES YOU.

stuckinatrap · 03/03/2021 13:31

Hi OP. I'm glad you're still here and we're strong enough to turn off your phone last night.

I think you need to realise that the reason this is getting under your skin to this extent is because he mirrored and love-bombed you so effectively. When someone is feeding back the same energy you are feeding them it can feel euphoric and just so right.

However, none of what he said and did can have had any real depth if he was able to pull the plug like this without even a conversation, can it?

It's not so much that he was lying. He could have meant every word of the lovely things he said to you (when he said them) but those feelings had no substance. If they did, he wouldn't have been able to flip a switch and turn it all off.

This is a fault within him, not with you.

You, on the other hand, loved wholeheartedly - and that is to your credit. To trust and be vulnerable and open yourself to another person takes strength. Please don't let this dent any of that or make you unwilling to do those things again.

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