Hi Relssek,
I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling with finding someone who is as honest as you need them to be about their interactions. I can understand why you are upset about what happened.
I noticed that a similar situation happened in one of your earlier threads - from May last year? You dated a 26 year old who had been talking to someone else behind your back?
In both cases, I noticed that you said you saw or heard of a message from someone, which you then called your former-partners out on? I'll be the first to admit that I have made huge errors in the past in terms of violating my partners' privacy. In all cases, I found things that I didn't want to find. It's a shame that, at times, the only way to discover that someone is betraying you is to have one eye on their phone/email/IMs, etc.
I understand that you are extremely frustrated at not being able to find someone who is 100% honest with you. I struggle with this too. I don't think I've had a single partner who has been as upstanding and honest about absolutely everything. I don't think I've had a partner who is as open with me as I am with them. That is a very difficult situation to be in, I know.
However, for me personally, it has raised a few questions over the years.
I've asked myself the following questions, which I want to share with you for reflection:
- Am I choosing the right partners?
- Am I ignoring early warning signs of dishonesty?
- Am I guilty of being too controlling, possessive, paranoid, jealous, smothering, etc. and contributing to a self-fulfilling prophecy of them hiding things from me due to my own actions?
- Am I expecting too much?
- Am I putting up with a lack of honesty in the beginning, and allowing partners to walk all over me?
- Am I guilty of telling my partner how our relationship will go, rather than entering discourse on what they want out of our relationship?
- Have I asked my partner where they stand on white lies, privacy, sharing everything, etc., and determined whether we have the same ideals?
I'm not saying that this is your fault. Your former partner made a decision to get to know someone else over an extended period of time, and made a decision not to share this information with you. I understand your need for closure, and your need for answers.
I see that you can now understand that your sarcasm, whilst driven by understandable hurt, was not productive. In the future, if someone hurts you and you want to understand (rather than push them away or end the relationship), it is better to give the information time to sink in and then communicate clearly. Clear communication would be "I'm very hurt by this. I'd really like to understand why this happened. We may not have a future now, but I really would like to know the reasons for this."
I'm also curious about one thing. Why was it a mutual agreement that you and Mollie would only be friends when she found someone she could settle down with? Was this her wish? Was she mono before meeting you?
One thing that concerns me is how you have contacted Mollie since what happened. Would you say that you've been aggressive? Relentless, perhaps? You contacted her to tell her that you needed someone to talk to. This was the only time she replied. However, when she did reply, you lashed out. You essentially manipulated her by tugging on her need to be compassionate towards you, then smacked her in the face. That's very curious behaviour, and I'm trying to get you to understand what you hoped to achieve with this, so that you can behave more productively with your future partners.
If you want to contact Mollie one last time (and it really should be the last), I would approach this entirely differently. Regardless of what she did, you are responsible for your own actions and reactions. You get to decide how you treat people, and it's down to you to be the best person you can be. I'd start by apologising for your previous attempts. Be real with her - tell her that you are still hurt by what happened, and that you'd really like to find closure. Tell her that if you were not a good partner to her, you'd really like to hear why. You'd like to hear what pushed her away from you, so that you can learn from it. Respect her wishes and her time - don't grovel, but be respectful. Simply say that you would really appreciate ending things on a peaceful note, and ask her if she's willing to do that. If she's not, or she never replies, let it go. Reflect on your own actions, and find your own closure. You won't find this by blaming her - you have to look at how you may have contributed to the situation.
In terms of the future - you could explain to your next partner that you've been burned in the past by people that have looked for other partners without telling you. You could explain that absolute transparency is very important to you. You could make a specific agreement about what is and isn't ok in your relationship. However, this means listening to your future partner, too. It's not about saying "never lie to me". It's about saying "If you become involved with anyone, I'd really like to hear about that. Not because I want to control you, but because I'm genuinely interested in what's going on in your life. If I'm not aware of a huge chunk of it, we have no intimacy. What are your opinions on this?"
Finally, one book I'd strongly recommend if you are interested in connecting with partners more effectively and communicating well is
Nonviolent Communication by Marshall Rosenberg. This
YouTube video is a brilliant introduction, and certainly opened my eyes when I first watched it.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this, and I hope this helps.