Quote:
Originally Posted by lapka
I believe that people, also MLYLT, can learn. I believe that all that **** was painful enough, that she has learned from it and won't repeat another cycle.
At least I want to believe it.
Really, seriously. Come on MLYLT.
Gosh! I am so torn on that. But I mean, MLYLT has an engineering degree. At some point brain must switch on. I so want that she has reached this point.
As someone who has had a long term relationship with someone with BPD and an engineering degree, being intelligent in certain ways doesn't automatically translate itself to every aspect of their life. She was one of the smartest people I've ever known in some ways, and the most emotionally stunted person I've ever known in other ways (like interpersonal relationships with everyone in their life). Their emotions that swell up are very real chemical things that are happening in their brain and they can't just rationalize their feelings away. It takes time for it all to physically calm down.
I don't know if it's because of a total lack of self awareness, or if it's just denying what they already know, it seems like it's really hard for someone like this to admit that they're not wired the way they wish they could be and that sometimes they are very irrational. I'd imagine that if they could just freely admit these things, they wouldn't be like that in the first place. I never researched how to handle BPD stuff because I didn't really know about the actual diagnosis until after the relationship was long over.
You guys think "this has to be a level" but what I see is a very real thing and I think the most frustrating part is that for most people with this problem, the people around them that truly care and try to help are the ones that end up getting hurt the most. All their efforts feel wasted when the person lapses back into this downward spiral of behavior, and there is very seldom a time where help is actually acknowledged and any gratitude is shown. Tomorrow after she cools down, she can be back to telling everyone how she's ready to move on and that she's done with the whole thing, and it's GENUINE to her. It's truth. She's not lying. She's not trying to convince everyone (and herself) that it's the truth. It's just the current state of things for her. The problem though is that the next day, something triggers a thought and WHAM, we're back into defcon 1 and the whole world is ending. It's kinda scary to watch if you know what you're really watching.
MLYLT,
there are people here that are genuinely trying to help. I know you know that's true and that you're not posting all of this just for the attention. Of course there's a couple trolls just here for the entertainment, and of course there are people that don't understand what it's like and have given up after the countless times you've flipflopped on this stuff. You can't really blame them either. They have no vested interest other than just being decent people trying to help and once they feel like their efforts are pointless, it'd be silly for them to continue.
Obviously you need to keep making steps forward. Your destination is FAR from where you are right now. Every step forward brings you closer to being able to truly distance yourself from this mess...but as much as you can and should be celebrating each step you take, you have to understand that you're not at your destination yet and that you have a long way to go. In fact, I wouldn't even worry about where the final step is. I know it's easy to say "YES!, I worked so hard and it finally paid off!" every time you take one of those steps, but you can't stop trying every time you make any visible progress. There is always going to be a step after the one you just took. It's great to feel that sense of accomplishment, but you can't rest on it. You need to keep moving forward. You need to take the next step.
Distance yourself from this situation as soon as you can and stop looking for the apology or validation or whatever it is you're looking for from this code3 guy. It's not going to help. What he thinks doesn't affect you. Let him think he did nothing wrong. It doesn't matter. I don't know if he did or he didn't. Honestly, it's some mix of both. If you can admit that, you can grow and be better for the next time. Think about your daughter. Do what's right for her.
It's time to move on.