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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

Do some men never get over an ex

62 replies

XJellytotx · 03/01/2022 13:28

My boyfriend is well and truly done with his ex. As in he doesn't want her back. It's been 2 years and exactly 10 months they separated. He's explained their relationship and it all adds up to why they didn't work and couldn't work. They were a bad match in terms of what they wanted from life. But trust seems to have been a massive issue for them both from the start.

He had some therapy at the beginning of the split. Because mentally he was in a mess. But I've realised lately he's still processing the relationship. Not in a way to go back. But he keeps spitting memories out at me. Mostly negative. Most days. In the tiniest ways. We've been a couple for a year and the first 6 months were getting to know one another.

I have spoken to friends about his constant mentioning and they have said that it's like he's over her and doesn't want the relationship but can't let go of the hurt around the way they treated eachother.

Yesterday we were talking and when said you should never take one another for granted. He explained with examples of his ex where they took one another for granted. Then he said he believes everyone deserves a chance. We all make mistakes. He then said he couldn't sit there and say that if one of us cheated on the other we'd never go back together. I sat and thought about the comment. Then he picked up on my quietness. I explained to him that the conversation we'd just had felt strange. I told him I didn't like it. I then said we are not those sorts of people are we? He said no not at all. You don't think I'd cheat Do you? I said I hoped he'd leave me if he found himself getting to know someone else.

Anyway him and his ex had alot of suspicion around eachothers phones and in the last year they were both guilty of texting other people. All very childish.

I love him so much. I'm trying to be patient as I know he was very unwell in the year before I met him. But I feel like I don't know if or when this will stop. Other than steering him off subject and continuing to show him support and love so eventually he sees I'm not going to hurt him. But his words and random thoughts are making me up and down with not knowing if he's ever going to settle and also how much of his thoughts are about me and not about the feelings surrounding his ex.

I understand people will say dump. Run. But is there any experiences of this. He is an overall nice person he just needs to shift his thoughts away from the past and he's clearly struggling with this. Any one have any experience?

OP posts:
Lightningseed · 03/01/2022 13:33

How long were they together?

Theunamedcat · 03/01/2022 13:35

My ex husband never got over his first wife they divorced in 2007 he still talks about her now although I rather suspect his girlfriend is also regaled with tales about me as his last girlfriend was she told me he spent ages telling her I was trying sooo hard to get him to come inside my house to have sex with him....despite the fact that my boyfriend was there and the children obviously this didnt make sense but she was an extremely jealous person and believed him 🙄 he uses it to make his current partner jealous ie behave or else I've got someone else to go to I stopped him when we were married by telling him to go back to her then 🤣 he didn't

XJellytotx · 03/01/2022 13:44

They were together 8 and a half years I think roughly.
It'd strange it's like I was on about taking all day to clean a car and he suddenly had a memory about his ex spraying screen wash on the windows the minute he cleaned it. It's the most pointless little memories but it's always negative. But if I say anything he's very defensive about her and says they are just mates now because she's a nice girl.

The worst comment this week was he hates her for what she did to him but likes her because she helped him when he was suicidal.

OP posts:
Lightningseed · 03/01/2022 13:46

If he hates her, then he's not over her.

Being over someone means indifference.

He obviously remembers the screen wash incident fondly?

You will need the patience of a saint.

XJellytotx · 03/01/2022 13:49

Yeah I don't know what he's not over though. She has text him many times and if he wanted to he could be with her again. Its like he's got alot of Hurt still but he's in denial about it.

OP posts:
Lightningseed · 03/01/2022 13:51

Could it be the difference between head and heart? Logically he knows that it's not healthy to be with her but his heart maybe still asks what if?

It sounds like he's being sensible about it though, which is a good sign?

XJellytotx · 03/01/2022 13:56

Yeah I think he's carrying guilt and resentment almost. Like he feels guilty because he got so depressed in the end and wasn't dealing with how unhappy they were. He was emotionally a mess in the last year and her way of dealing with it (rightly or wrongly) was I'm going out. I'm meeting my friends. She told her family he was always drinking and moody and they all told him to just sort himself out. He caught her with secret phones etc and he was anxious and felt like crap.

I think he wanted her to put her social media stuff down and focus on him. Make plans with him. But she was addicted and he was pushing her further away because he'd be sat drinking and so she shot off out with friends.

They were in this viscious circle for the last 4 years and he said it got worse and worse. Then they were really angry and bitter and sending nasty messages when he moved out. Then one day they both just said I wanna be your friend not fight. Then he's ended up angry and not dealing with the hurt. But he sorter has this little hi how are you going on with her. He's very confused. But I 100% believe he doesn't want any of that with her again.

OP posts:
AtrociousCircumstance · 03/01/2022 14:03

This sounds intolerable. You’ve been together a year.

It’s incredibly self indulgent of him. And he sounds perfectly entitled to bore and annoy you with these memories.

Interrobanger · 03/01/2022 14:06

Sounds like he’s treating you as his therapist so he can work out all his issues with his ex. It must be deeply unsexy for you. Why are you putting up with it? How much more are you prepared to put up with it?

Carolcole · 03/01/2022 14:08

Being with you should be enough for him to shift his thoughts away from a relationship that broke up nearly 3 years ago. I've had two friends go through this, one the man who was still processing and one the new woman in the hurting man's life. In both cases, once the new gfs helped him heal and process the gfs got dumped and the men started afresh without the baggage. Of course no one can say that's your future, but it's a risk and unless you are having a lovely time and enjoying what should be the honeymoon stage of a relationship, it's questionable that it's a risk worth taking. Sounds like he needs more therapy.

SunflowerTed · 03/01/2022 14:14

I think I’d sit him down and have a frank conversation. I’d also say they you are trying to be patient but you’d appreciate it if he tries to draw a line under the past. If you are a looking forward person and he is living in the past then this relationship isn’t going to work

Didimum · 03/01/2022 14:22

Honestly, I think you’re making excuses for him. And I think deep down you know that. It’s OK for him to not be over her, but it’s not OK for him to entangle you in a relationship while he’s still healing. I wish you luck, but I would let him go.

Pugroll · 03/01/2022 14:23

@Didimum

Honestly, I think you’re making excuses for him. And I think deep down you know that. It’s OK for him to not be over her, but it’s not OK for him to entangle you in a relationship while he’s still healing. I wish you luck, but I would let him go.
Yep agree with this!
MollysDolly · 03/01/2022 14:26

He sounds really self absorbed and not over her. And doesn't care that he's taking you along for the ride.

Agree with PP that you will be the "learning curve" and he will then start a new relationship without the baggage. Sorry OP I know that's not what you want to hear.

LethargicActress · 03/01/2022 14:28

If he 100% doesn’t want anything with her, then why is he still in touch with her?

Bowwowwowoh · 03/01/2022 14:31

@LethargicActress

If he 100% doesn’t want anything with her, then why is he still in touch with her?
Because she helped him when he was suicidal.
gannett · 03/01/2022 14:44

Is he still in therapy? Because he really needs to be, if not.

He can't help his feelings and the time it takes him to process them, and they're not uncommon post-breakup feelings for men and women. I think you've correctly assessed them and you understand them.

However it's really, really unfair on you to make you his unpaid and unqualified therapist. There's a big gap between the emotional support you offer to your partner as a natural part of life, and having to be an emotional sponge for them, constantly soaking up all these emotions with no end in sight. I also don't think one's current partner is ever really a great emotional support for one's feelings about an ex.

And I know I said he can't help the timeframe but nearly three years after a breakup? If this was one of my mates I'd stop making soothing noises, and I'd be sitting him or her down to say that this has been too long and you need to pull yourself together.

He needs to get himself back into therapy. He needs to realise that he's behaved badly towards you, and dragged you down into his misery. He needs to acknowledge that and try to offer you better partnership.

If he doesn't or can't, you need to protect yourself and walk away.

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 03/01/2022 14:49

The poster who said he's being incredibly self indulgent is spot on!

Wtf did he tell you the screenwash story? Random mundane incidents can trigger random snapshot memories for all of us, but most adults have the verbal continence not to spew unfiltered memories of exes (or indeed of anyone the person we're talking to doesn't know or care about) at our partners or whoever is nearby!

He needs to work on his filter and stop navel gazing put loud! If he still has things to work through he can pay a therapist or talk to his mates, but as long as he's indulging himself wallowing in the past of course he's not going to make much of a partner for anyone, no matter what he wants (to be the centre of attention by the sounds of it - why on earth does he expect you to listen to stories about his ex! The arrogance and inability to read the room is positively prepubescent!)

LondonWolf · 03/01/2022 14:56

I have read all your post and I have to say that I wonder where’s there’s room in all this for you and your relationship? It’s all about him and her isn’t it?

Crimeismymiddlename · 03/01/2022 15:00

Some men do and some men don’t. You are with the latter. It must be very dull for you. I dated a man years ago who was still going on about the ex he was with as a 22 yo, we were early thirties at this point, he was very bitter that she dumped him and went on to be happily married. I suspect he is still bitter about it now. It was rubbish being compared to this random women, as well as all the boring story’s that put her in a bad light/pointless.

HairyFanjoBanjo · 03/01/2022 15:01

Whether you like it or not OP, he still has feelings for his ex.

Regardless of whether he intends to rekindle things with her or not, you appear to be a rebound relationship for him. One where he proves to himself that he ‘can’ have a ‘healthy’ relationship, compared to XYZ with his ex.

I think you need to wake up to the reality here and be prepared to walk away. YOU deserve better than to be his rebound / therapist / comparison relationship.

DayzeeDaresYou · 03/01/2022 15:04

DH’s friend has been with his partner for nine years but still loves his exw who had an affair and ended the marriage.

girlmom21 · 03/01/2022 15:04

There's still some attachment to his ex

Do you want to spend the next 5 years listening to what he could've done better in their relationship without considering how those conversations are impacting yours? He's thinking about her constantly. Even if they're negative thoughts, you shouldn't be with a man who's hung up on somebody else?

DillonPanthersTexas · 03/01/2022 15:05

Being over someone means indifference.

Very much this. Although my previous relationships (good and bad) helped shape my boundaries, general maturity in dealing with disagreements and understanding what is healthy or not I don't obsess over them or wish misfortune on any of them (even the twats).

XJellytotx · 03/01/2022 15:09

We've had talks about it recently and I end up looking insecure or like I'm accusing him of still wanting her. It's so difficult. Because I know if he could just drop the ex and stop grieving the mess they ended up in he could detach and have a fresh start. It's impossible for me to write so much down on a post to explain why I believe it's processing rather than wanting her back.

I think I believe that there's still some hope that we could be very happy. I kind of hoped that eventually it would just stop.

He still lives in the house he was suicidal in. So she's been around. He is moving eventually and I believe that in itself might be a positive step. Because she will not in any shape or form be linked to the new house and maybe that will free him more.

I spoke to a friend who told me to listen and then change the subject by doing something nice for him rather than getting into a conversation about it. Offer him a cuppa or a massage or whatever and try and replace those moments with warmth and love from me.

He will often say to me that I've been there for him through all of it. I guess without knowing I ended up listening and becoming a support to him.

I don't think there's anyone else around him he can really express these feelings too. He gets very in denial about their relationship problems and keeps it very private within his family (cousins etc) I think I know alot more than others.

I'm very confused at the moment about this relationship and if im getting the happiness I'm looking for deep down. I am happy when we are together we just have a lovely time. But the minute I go back to my house and we are apart I start thinking and thinking. It's like I can't get to the bottom of what I need to do or if I need to just give it time and we will get what we want..

OP posts:
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