Hello,
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. My upbringing was not the best. My childhood consist of homelessness, molestation and verbal abuse. I fought very hard in my childhood, as well as my teenage years to become successful. I kept telling myself, if I worked hard one day I would have a family of my own. Deep down, I knew that I had depression and anxiety. I thought that I would have time to address these concerns at a later date.
I managed to make my way through college. Still living in isolated life and fearful of relationships with others.
Over this last year, I had a mental breakdown. My mental breakdown is still partially unclear to me, one thing I know for certain is that I compartmentalize to my life. Whether it was intentional or not that is the fact. As a result, I am alone and going through a divorce.
The one thing I kept telling myself growing up, I will have a family of my own one day. I would create the family that I never had growing up. A family where, we loved one another, we were loyal and stable.
The reality, based upon my previous history has shown that I am not good at relationships. I compartmentalize my life as a defense mechanism. I isolate. These characteristics, are not consistent with my dreams.
I am tired. I’m tired of hurting people, even though that was never my intent. I’m tired of not feeling good enough. I’m tired of the daily excruciating pain I feel. I keep tricking myself saying, do this one activity and then you can kill yourself. I don’t know what will happen to me, my hope is that others will find inner peace as I have not been successful.
6 comments
I do not wish divorce on anyone. It is one of the worst things when you are going through it, but after the dust settles, you will be surprised how much better off you are. If you think about it, divorce is the result of two people who are not right for each other. The issues were always there, they just surfaced and became unworkable after time.
When someone dies, there is a lot of support. When there is divorce, you find out who your real friends are. Nobody comes over and brings you a lasagna, like after a wake. I think divorce is worse than experiencing a death of friends/family. But, you do go through the stages of grief. No doubt about that. A lot of people get stuck in the depression stage. You will get to a point where you will decide to either be a divorce burnout, stuck in one of the stages, or become the phoenix rising from the ashes.
You are not alone in how you feel. It is devastating. Half of America has been there. It is a chance for you to shed the weight of the past. Having realizations, deciding what you want out of life and in a partner, and doing things to make these a reality makes you better off in the game. I am not good at relationships either, and I have decided only to spend time with people who want, and do not need, to be with me. I hope this helps.
Dear cr-123456,
What were some areas that you and your spouse had troubles in? We you both able to communicate ? Were you able to discuss your past and fears associated with it? Was there a turning with your breakdown or did the relationship start to break down before?
Yes, this last year I have been in and out of the hospital. My main concern, is the dream of a family has been lost for me. Not necessarily due to the divorce, but more so due to my previous history with relationships with others.
What do you find to be your areas that need to be addressed in order to be an active part of a loving family?
I think one issue to consider is that you were basing your potential happiness off of another person (your spouse). That is a sure fire way to be disappointed. You may have an unrealistic expectation of relationships, and wind up isolating yourself at the slightest hint of problems. When your partner isolates you, you get scared of the potential failure at the relationship and wind up ‘stepping’ back from it.
I don’t believe relationships with other people will ‘fix’ a problem with yourself. Learn to live with yourself (pro’s and cons) and you will be better off for it.
Thank you for everyone who has responded to my story and the advise offered.