Writing this as an ERP exercise. Long post incoming!
I (24F) have been with my partner (26M) for 4.5 years. Up until pretty recently, everything felt perfectâ of course we dealt with disagreements and arguments from time to time, but never once did I question our relationship. I felt so in love with him and I remember frequently thinking, especially in the beginning, that I had found âthe one.â I still believe he is the one deep down, but lately my ROCD has been clouding my mind so much that I canât even discern what is real sometimes.
We moved in together in July of 2020 and rescued a cat that October, who we both love so so much. Iâve heard about couples facing challenges after moving in together, so I went into this expecting to learn some new things about him/having to adjusting our lifestyles to make it work. And honestly, itâs been working out great, up until about a month ago.
We have a lot of different interests, which has never been a concern for me until nowâ if anything Iâve felt that we balance each other out. He does have a higher sex drive than I do (partially due to a fear of intimacy on my end as a SA victim) but weâve been able to reach compromises there so weâre both satisfied. I learned early on that I am the only sexual partner heâs had (neither of us are religious, it just happened to work out this way). I only have 3 partners myself (including him) and never went through a âhookup phaseâ or anything.
Every day I relentlessly obsess over our relationshipâ is he really the one? What if there is someone out there that is a better match for me? What if he feels like heâs missed out because heâs only slept with me, and this causes him to cheat? What if I feel like I missed out because I never really had the âsingle experienceâ ? What if we do end up getting married, then get divorced down the line? Am I too young to even think about marriage? Am I falling out of love and settling because Iâm comfortable? Am I still attracted to him? I do have a history of anxiety/depression, so I feel that this is just another facet of that.
The entire experience is completely exhausting. He is so supportive (Iâve even presented these concerns to him & he has been nothing short of validating and comforting). He makes me feel beautiful. He makes me laugh more than anyone I know. He is an amazing cat dad (lol). He works really hard. We both have similar goals for the future (start a business, buy a house, start a family, etc.) So why am I suddenly questioning everything?!
We started talking about getting engaged a bit more seriously towards the end of last year, and I think this, coupled with some more superficial factors (ie weight gain for both of usâ again, hasnât been a problem until now) has triggered ROCD for me. It sucks because Iâve never dealt with this before, and it makes me feel like a terrible partner.
When I think about possibly ending the relationship, it makes me so upset that I canât even think straightâ not because I donât think I could live without him, but because I donât WANT to live without him. Deep down, I donât want to end the relationship and think this issue would likely come up regardless of who my partner was. I also feel that if I were truly unhappy I wouldâve left by now. All of the fundamentals are there, so I believe this is something we can work through. But WOW is this tough.
If you read all of this, THANK YOU!!! If you have had a similar experience, please share in the replies if you feel comfortableâ¤ď¸