Buoyed by piggybacking on
@Hiraeth's success, I'm going to me-rail a bit, but it's still relevant to the thread.
Last summer my husband and partner of 20 years shagged his best mates wife and fucked off without warning or any conversation. To be honest, it was not the first time he'd cheated (but will be the last time he'll ever cheat on me, that's for sure!). His family actually defended his behaviour and even blamed me for it. Mind blown! Contact has now been cut with all of them and I grey rock my ex while I navigate the divorce (that I filed for, which he hated. HA!) Thankfully, there are no children involved.
I came to the realisation that I’d been living with a covert narcissist all this time. Coming to terms with the emotional/psychological and verbal abuse has been a journey, especially acknowledging the damage he’s caused me. Initially, I was angry. Very angry. And devastated. Was I reactive? Yes, in the beginning I’m ashamed to say, but he did something particularly heinous early on that completely broke the trauma bond for me. This helped me gain much needed perspective and I pulled my head out of my ass, moved to a new home (because I had to) and started to re-build myself and my new life. I very quickly realised how liberating it was not having to walk on eggshells or be with someone who couldn’t have cared less for me.
I have very recently met someone new who couldn’t be more opposite to my ex. Taking it slow but having fun. He’s very funny and made me realise that I’d been miserable for a VERY long time.
I keep comparing my situation to Alice’s and just cannot understand how someone can remain so ‘stuck’. I couldn’t imagine still being where I was 8/9 months ago, it would be such a waste of my life. It’s baffling to me how anyone can behave the way she has for so long. Of course, I know my story is much more aligned to Ioan’s than Alice's.
You turds have gotten me through some pretty dark times, and you didn’t even know. Love you all.
![Red heart :heart: ❤](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/joypixels/emoji-assets@5.0/png/64/2764.png)