- Date posted
- 4y
- Date posted
- 4y
If you’ve brought this up repeatedly and nothing has changed, it’s likely not going to. She doesn’t want to do the things you want her to (for whatever reason), even if it would mean a lot to you. First and foremost you have to accept that to move forward. Second is that it sounds like you are very much a “words of affirmation” love language style. Perhaps she has a different style. Maybe she even wishes you used her language more as well. Does she exhibit other styles like acts of service? Perhaps you just aren’t hearing her love language the way she feels comfortable expressing it. Third I do see a bit of a boundary issue here. She doesn’t want to talk to someone via text all day and you feel you NEED to. If you have an anxious attachment style and she has an avoidant one, you could be simply overwhelming her with affection and constant contact, when she actually wants and needs more independence and space. If she never has a chance to miss you or feel separate from you, she likely won’t feel or express that sense of appreciation you so crave.
- Date posted
- 4y
I’ve been in this position many times before. My partner is not very affectionate and used to have a hard time with what I asked as well. What I did in turn was that I became 100% honest with him, and told him that if he does not meet my needs, we will have to take a break or end our relationship. It’s terrifying and not fun, but I was tired of asking so often. The issue was that I never gave him the time and space to grow and show me the love I wanted to be shown, and that he didn’t understand how serious it was to me to feel appreciated. In the end he took it seriously and worked on it slowly, it was bumpy because he wasn’t used to it. The key to fixing problems is time and patience, and the communication of urgency about the issue. I know you can do this and I know you guys will be fine, and hey, if you end up taking a break that is perfectly okay and normal. My boyfriend and I have been on two breaks and have been dating just a bit longer than you :). It’s normal and doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong, relationships can just be a lot of work and sometimes we need to make time for our own self love and individuality. And maybe a break isn’t what you need either! Maybe it’s just some space while she learns to fix these issues that you have presented. Needless to say I hope it goes well and if you need to chat about this, please feel free to reach out:)
- Date posted
- 4y
Talk to her and tell her how you feel and ask her what's going on
- Date posted
- 4y
That’s the thing I have brought all this up at least 10 times. Each time she says she’s sorry but doesn’t change.
- Date posted
- 4y
@takingdownocd that’s not fair to you at all:( you deserve all the love in the world. it’s out there.
- Date posted
- 4y
If she's not willing to make changes then maybe it's not worth your effort either
- Date posted
- 4y
^^^ this is very important too. I was very much so like the poster in terms of needing to talk all the time while my boyfriend is more avoidant. In turn I didn’t allow him to miss me or want me as much as he wanted to because I was always anxiously loving him. It took me a couple months to realize this and move around it, because realistically loving through anxiety is a cope for the inside. It really benefited my relationship to take a step back from wanting to always be around him, always want to text etc. and allowed me to learn a healthy attachment style that helped my relationship flourish.
Related posts
- Date posted
- 24w
Hello. I am on my first relationship, (and I want it to be my only!) I've been at it for nearly 2 years, and it first starting happening a few months in. When the relationship started, it felt perfect to me. We are both extremely different people, we have different taste, different humor (but we both made each other laugh!) and just a different way of talking about things, (I tend to be more analytical, while she isn't as much). But I considered these differences to be fine, I never felt like it was an issue because our core values are very similar and I consider her a very intelligent girl. We just enjoyed time together, and each other, I thought she was cute as hell, and even if she didn't talk in depth about a lot of stuff, that didn't matter, I enjoyed the quiet times with her just as much as the talkative times. When the OCD kicked in, that's when I started to question everything, I questioned if I even loved her in the first place, if our relationship was just a sham, if I even found her attractive in the first place, her intelligence, her point of view, even dumb petty stuff like "oh she likes THAT movie???". After my first major breakdown, I confessed a lot to her. At this point, I didn't even know what was going on until I started to look into it. And that's where I found ROCD. On one hand, it was satisfying to see something I could point to as "the problem", on the other hand, I think it gave me bad motivation, it reassured me that this was something that I could just try and ignore. After I cooled down from this, I once again had a long period of bliss. I had a good schedule with her. >Go to work >Hang out with her (spend the night at her place sometimes) >go home and hang out with friends I enjoyed my time with her, taking part in her interests, and her taking part in mine. She wasn't always 100% into the things that I was, and that was always a bit disappointing to me, but in the same way you'd be disappointed if your friend didn't like the thing you liked. (now I over analyze these moments and question if I did always care more about this or not) This moment of bliss would end after another huge trigger. A part of the OCD I have yet to mention is my tendency to be worried that "getting along with other people that I find attractive" is the equivalent of either cheating on my partner, or backstabbing them. There was someone at work that I found attractive and I had a moment where it felt like I may have developed a thing for them, I still don't know if it's true because I generally found them to be annoying at times. I made a joke during work, that felt like I was propping myself up to them, I still don't know my motivation behind this joke, because it feels like it could have been something that I would have joked about to anyone, but I'm still not even sure about it. Either way I basically had a panic attack and later confessed to my partner. I don't know if I should have done it, or not, because I'm to this day confused about my emotions during that situation. Regardless. She was hurt, but she forgave me. It felt like I couldn't look her in the eye and feel like a sincere person to her. After this major moment, I felt like I never recovered. I started to avoid talking to this person at work, or really many women at work at all because of the fear that I'd fall for them. When an attractive women shows up I try and end the conversation quickly, this has only created a fear for taking to people, and it's extremely stressful. I got by though. And I would continue to love my partner. Until another major breakdown. This one created a new type of numbness to my partner, that felt completely different, and it's way more convincing. I mentioned in the past that my partner and I are very different, and that we even have different ways of talking about interests. My partner very much enjoys things for what they are, there's not much analysis, and that's fine. Me (and my friends) are very analytical. Last month I was showing her a game I like, and I started to question if she was even tracking what was going on, or even understood it, I was obsessing over the idea that she didn't even care about it (even tho I know she has always taken interest in what I like). This way of thought broke my brain and it made me feel completely incompatible with her. I question my behavior when I was showing her stuff in the past, I remember moments in which I questioned if she was actually paying attention even during moments when the OCD was low. I question if she has the ability to even watch something and understand what's going on. All terrible thoughts, and all thoughts that I never want to have. I'm scared to talk to my friends half the time because the thoughts of them being more "intelligent and analytical" pulsate through my brain. My friends and I are extremely cynical, about things like the film industry and sometimes if I'm going in on something it feels like I'm shitting on her by proxy just because she doesn't care about it as much as I do. I've isolated myself from friends and I think that did worsen my condition, because when it's just only me and my partner hanging out, I feel like it started attacking her more. This is the part where it just doesn't feel like ROCD anymore. I used to not give a single shit about these things, I was able to make blanket statements like "I think TikTok sucks and it's users are annoying" knowing full well my partner uses TikTok every day. There was a separation between me making broad statements and then not necessarily being indictive of my partner SPECIFICALLY. Now it doesn't feel like I have much anxiety anymore, because it just feels like I've accepted that my partner is who she is and I "don't know if I love her" when in the past, I've accepted my partner for who she is, and I loved her anyway. I feel like I'm just not as connected to her as I once was. I used to enjoy everything with her, now my brain overanalyzes everything she does and says. I can't just relax. I feel like I've lost any amount of structure and this turned into a ramble. But I guess that's where I'm at now. I've been attempting getting proper health insurance so I can talk to someone and not break the bank. I think about the times when none of these ridiculous nitpicks didn't matter to me, and I cry about the idea of leaving her. Thank you for reading.
- Date posted
- 16w
Hi I don’t know but I’ve being having so much stress in my relationship with my boyfriend and I feel like I’m upset at him with small things and taking it out on him like when he looks at other girls or when he repost things with girls it upsets me and changes my mood and people tell me to talk about it with him but I don’t know how to talk to him about it because I don’t necessarily know how I feel I feel mad and upset and I feel like crying but I also just can’t express how I feel and I don’t know what to even say to him to communicate how I feel I found this app by googling”how to feel more stable in my relationship” I feel like I’m not in a relationship sometimes and I just want everything to work out with him but I don’t know what to do I wanna feel like all those relationships you see and feel loved and want to have a future but I don’t know how to get there
- Date posted
- 15w
Hi everyone. I’m having a really hard time today in my relationship. I am just feeling so frustrated by my back-and-forth feelings about my relationship. One day I’ll feel so good, and then the next I don’t at all. I think my biggest trigger in the house is the chores that the two of us have to do in the house. I’m much more of a clean person than my boyfriend is. I’m also thinking that he has ADHD and struggles to remember when to do specific chores and I have to remind him pretty often, but he will usually do it when I ask. Today, I’m on a huge spiral of telling myself that he is never gonna be able to learn to do things on his own, he’s not gonna be able to take care of our kids in the future If we do get married, he’s not gonna be able to help take care of our house when we do have one one day, And I am just exhausted. It’s so hard fighting these thoughts all day and then I feel like I have to sit down and talk to him about chores and obviously that doesn’t go well when I’m not feeling good. Definitely a compulsion… It feels so much better when I can just relax and just let him figure things out on his own, and I can just take care of myself. I also come from a household where I was constantly criticized and controlled in certain ways, so I have that to carry too…I’ve gotten much better at doing that most of the time but today is pretty bad. It always feels a little bit worse as well when I’m on my period and feeling very hormonal as well… Can anyone please shed some light on if they’ve experienced this before and any support they might be able to offer in relation to this? Anything would be helpful and please be kind!
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