How do you handle going through multiple breakups at once?

KayleeFrye

New member
Im not gonna go into a lot of detail (if you want details you can check out my last thread I guess), but currently I just got dumped by a couple I was dating and my husband isn't sure he wants to stay together anymore either. I feel like I have no one left and I'm devastated. The couple said they want to stay friends with me, but it hurts so much I don't know how to handle being around them or talking to them. With my husband, he won't decide what he wants and I feel stuck in limbo. Anyone else been through multiple breakups at once? Have any advice for handling it?
 
My ex-wife and lover ended things with me within a month of each other. I wish I had something useful to add but it just straight up sucked. Time does help but there is no rushing that.

I find the 40 day rule of no contact at all with an former partner to be immensely helpful in 'resetting' things and allowing a friendship to continue. That won't help with your wishy-washy husband though.
 
My ex-wife and lover ended things with me within a month of each other. I wish I had something useful to add but it just straight up sucked. Time does help but there is no rushing that.

I find the 40 day rule of no contact at all with an former partner to be immensely helpful in 'resetting' things and allowing a friendship to continue. That won't help with your wishy-washy husband though.

Well I appreciate the empathy and knowing someone else has been through this before. No contact for 40 days isn't feasible because we regularly hang out with the same group of friends. (I'm not open about being poly, or else I could just explain it to the rest of our friends so they could understand why I was avoiding the couple.) But maybe I could just not text them for 40 days or something. It is really important to me that we all stay friends and considering how bad I am at handling breakups, that might be hard if I don't cut myself off to some extent. It's something to think about anyway.
 
....considering how bad I am at handling breakups.....

Repeating this mantra is going to keep you in the same loop. Why not take this time to become much better at breakups? I mean, seriously, you've got a golden opportunity to make this a priority in your life: not to just get over a break up but come to a new and better place from your experience. Life doesn't happen to you, it happens for you. Two (actually, three) breakups at once says that life is telling you it's time to learn something here, not just weather the storm.
 
Repeating this mantra is going to keep you in the same loop. Why not take this time to become much better at breakups? I mean, seriously, you've got a golden opportunity to make this a priority in your life: not to just get over a break up but come to a new and better place from your experience. Life doesn't happen to you, it happens for you. Two (actually, three) breakups at once says that life is telling you it's time to learn something here, not just weather the storm.

Okay, you may have a point there. So how do you suggest I go about getting better at dealing with breakups?
 
For one thing, as you said in a previous post... cut yourself off from them. If staying in contact with them immediately after a breakup makes it difficult for you to sort through your feelings and heal from the ending of the relationship, you need to be out of contact with them.

In some ways, I would compare a breakup with major surgery. You've just had a huge piece of your life (and possibly your heart and even soul) removed. Just as you wouldn't expect to recover from, say, a heart transplant instantly, but would give yourself several weeks to rest and for the incision to heal, you could give yourself several weeks for the emotional "incision" of the breakup to heal before you start trying to form a friendship.

If you're the one standing in the way of you taking a break from contact with them, you're the only one who can change it. The 40-day thing, I think, is reasonable. If you don't think you can handle 40 days, try at least 30; anything less, and I think you might still be stuck in the swirling emotions of still loving them, still hurting from the breakup, etc. And it might not be *easy*, but it is feasible: for those 30 or 40 days, don't hang out with the group of friends they're also friends with. Or check with someone else before each get-together to see whether the couple will be there, and if they will, stay home. It isn't a choice you *want* to make, but it is a choice.

But in addition to deciding "how to get better at breakups", I think one thing Angelina meant, and one thing that definitely stands out to me... stop saying you're bad at them! You're the one thinking "I'm really bad at breakups so this is going to be hard." Shift your thinking. Instead of "I"m bad at breakups," try "Breakups have been hard for me in the past, but I've learned a lot since last time, so I'm going to try to handle this one more effectively and in a way that's healthier for me."

If you identify yourself as "bad at breakups," you're closing the door to finding a better way to deal with them, because you're essentially surrendering control over your own behavior and ability to change it. You're saying "this is how it always has been, is now, and always will be." You have the power to change how you deal with things. Throwing up your hands and saying "I'm bad at them," or asking us to tell you how to get better at them instead of looking for solutions within yourself, isn't going to help you.

As for the thing with your husband, you say he has you in limbo. (That's a seriously suckish emotional place to be... been there, hated it.) I would set a firm deadline with him. While you obviously don't want your marriage to end, you and he are both in a yucky place right now, so I would say, "I know you're trying to make a decision, but until you do, we're both stuck. By (end of October; three weeks from now; whatever time you think is reasonable), I want us to sit down and make a final decision about where our marriage is."

And by the way... just as with my situation, your husband isn't keeping you in limbo. YOU are keeping you in limbo by choosing to stay and not ask for a definite answer from him. Take control of your life; it isn't easy, but it's a hell of a lot better than sitting back and waiting to see what other people do.
 
Okay, you may have a point there. So how do you suggest I go about getting better at dealing with breakups?

I have a lot to say about what I have found to be expansive and liberating in my concept of relationships in general, but what I have found isn't necessarily what will speak to you. It's a big shift going from railing at what life dishes out to committing to the perspective that life is always calling you forward to the benefit of everyone. We all fit together perfectly and our conflicts are perfectly aligned to bring us to better places if we allow it. I encourage you for now to focus on a general perspective shift rather than on "fixing" with the aim of making your unpleasant feelings go away. A perspective shift is much more enduring than assuaging bad feelings and your feelings will naturally shift as your perspective changes anyway. I encourage you to seek out sources that speak to you regarding life and relationships in general. Your experiences really have little to do with what other people may or may not be doing, but on how you're perceiving everything. The less dependent you are on displays of pleasing behavior and the more connection you can develop with yourself, the better all of your relationships will be.
 
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If you identify yourself as "bad at breakups," you're closing the door to finding a better way to deal with them, because you're essentially surrendering control over your own behavior and ability to change it. You're saying "this is how it always has been, is now, and always will be." You have the power to change how you deal with things. Throwing up your hands and saying "I'm bad at them," or asking us to tell you how to get better at them instead of looking for solutions within yourself, isn't going to help you.

Sing it, sister!
 
Exactly... and easier to see what needs to be done when you aren't emotionally invested in it. Though having had the experiences I've had because of *not* following this type of advice also gives me the knowledge to give relevant advice to others.
 
Throwing up your hands and saying "I'm bad at them," or asking us to tell you how to get better at them instead of looking for solutions within yourself, isn't going to help you.

I already agreed with the previous commenter who said I shouldn't say "I'm bad at breakups." I'm not "throwing up my hands," though, and I don't see what the problem with asking advice is. Isn't that what this forum is for? If I had "solutions within myself," this wouldn't even be an issue. Because this doesn't come naturally to me, I thought I would ask for ideas on what to try so I could do things differently this time. Even if your experiences are very different from mine and what works for you wouldn't necessarily work for me, it would at least give me something to think about and maybe try. Instead, I feel like I'm getting chewed out and lectured for feeling the way I do. Which is not exactly the most helpful thing at the moment.
 
I encourage you for now to focus on a general perspective shift rather than on "fixing" with the aim of making your unpleasant feelings go away.

I'm not trying to make my unpleasant feelings go away. I know that takes time. In the meantime, I just want to be able to function in my daily life and not do/say anything that will push the ones I love further away from me. That's all I'm asking. That's what I'm struggling with and wanted advice overcoming because I don't know what to do.
 
The thing about a forum like this is that just as you can express your feelings and ask for advice, others can give their advice and opinions. And you might not like what you read.

However, since my previous post was obviously not useful to you, I won't post further in this thread. Good luck.
 
I can't imagine getting through a break up without the support and understanding of the people around me. I think the fact that you are not out to your close friends about the fact that you were in a relationship with these people is going to be a really hard thing moving forward, and in your shoes, that's where I would consider changing things. Is there anyone within that circle that you could confide in? In an ideal world, if they understood why you were taking some time out from the group, not only would they not worry about your absence, but they also might be able to rally around you and cheer you up in a way that doesn't involve the other couple. I'm not saying that they would ostracise them, but that when you know someone is going through a big break up it's not uncommon to make yourself more available time wise, for one-on-one chats as well as group activities, to help your friend through it. If they don't even know you're grieving, it will just appear like you are isolating yourself from them for no reason.

If you are uncomfortable outing your exes as well, I wonder if you can't actually just explain to a few of your shared circle about the issues with your husband and your potential break-up there, and say that you are not feeling up to lots of group social time right now because you are processing a possible break up, but that you would appreciate company in smaller groups for a while until you regain your mojo? It might not be quite as good as being able to share everything with them, but I think it's better than just trying to take everything on on your own.
 
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I'm not trying to make my unpleasant feelings go away. I know that takes time. In the meantime, I just want to be able to function in my daily life and not do/say anything that will push the ones I love further away from me. That's all I'm asking. That's what I'm struggling with and wanted advice overcoming because I don't know what to do.

Kaylee, if I were in your shoes and looking to take counsel to heart, I would join in the forum community and slowly start learning how other people manage and create fulfilling poly lives. I have given out my own personal formula for relationship enrichment, through which break ups have become really a non issue for me as I'm seeing more and more that pairings and partings are part of the flow of life and not successes or failures. But my formula isn't your formula or anyone else's formula. What works for everyone, though, is to open up to new ways of seeing things, doing things, and that takes a commitment of time and thought. The most enriching way to experience this forum is not to get advice from one's personal thread and apply it (or not) but to spend time in this community and become part of the ongoing conversation. Really, that's where the treasure lies for you and for everyone else who comes here searching for a new and better way to have relationships.
 
If I had "solutions within myself," this wouldn't even be an issue. Because this doesn't come naturally to me, I thought I would ask for ideas on what to try so I could do things differently this time.

Looking within doesn't depend on knowing all the answers beforehand. It's recognizing that "within" contains a vast universe of solutions that "without" can't even begin to offer. There are many, many resources for seeking infinite and constant guidance from within. In my experience, positive change in relationships happens because I have sought help finding my inner guidance, not because I've taken this or that action in this or that situation. And when you put an active inner life together with a stable community, that's when life really soars.
 
I have given out my own personal formula for relationship enrichment, through which break ups have become really a non issue for me as I'm seeing more and more that pairings and partings are part of the flow of life and not successes or failures. But my formula isn't your formula or anyone else's formula. What works for everyone, though, is to open up to new ways of seeing things, doing things, and that takes a commitment of time and thought.

This is great advice.... and how I'm trying to conduct my relationships now, too. Some people are only meant to be in our lives for a short amount of time...just enough to experience what the universe wants to show us :) My loving (or not) someone is not contingent upon me having the relationship shape with them that I'd ideally like.

Also, on the 'looking within'.... the older I get, the more I realize that I really don't know very much, lol. And that's ok! What I do know is that the main constant in life is change. I can fight against the change or I can flow with it. I choose to flow with it.
 
Kaylee, if I were in your shoes and looking to take counsel to heart, I would join in the forum community and slowly start learning how other people manage and create fulfilling poly lives. I have given out my own personal formula for relationship enrichment, through which break ups have become really a non issue for me as I'm seeing more and more that pairings and partings are part of the flow of life and not successes or failures. But my formula isn't your formula or anyone else's formula. What works for everyone, though, is to open up to new ways of seeing things, doing things, and that takes a commitment of time and thought. The most enriching way to experience this forum is not to get advice from one's personal thread and apply it (or not) but to spend time in this community and become part of the ongoing conversation. Really, that's where the treasure lies for you and for everyone else who comes here searching for a new and better way to have relationships.

I've only been poly for about a month. I joined the forum when we started talking about dating. I have been looking through the forums and learning what I can, and I intend to continue doing so. But it doesn't make sense to me that you seem to be advising me against asking questions in my own thread. If everyone took that advice, there wouldn't be any threads, so...?
 
Hi KayleeFrye,

I can't think of any stellar advice for you, but I'll share the two things I can think of right now. One is to get a counselor if you can. The other is to study writings on Zen Buddhism. This may help you move from a place of suffering to a place of acceptance.

I'm sorry you're getting hit by so much stress from so many directions. :(
Sincerely,
Kevin T.
 
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