Afraid of losing love of my life

morgenblatter

New member
Hello everyone,

This is quite the long story, its complicated and all in all, confusing and overwhelming.
I met my first real love when I was 17 years old. We instantly connected, although I was dating someone at the time, but my love for him was so strong that I decided to leave my current boyfriend and start something new with him. For the purposes of this text my first real love will be called Charlie.
Charlie and I did long distance for a year, we then moved to the same city and a year later moved in together. After two years of living together we started having some trouble, we fought a lot, i had a very low self esteem and although i could see that he loved me, and that i loved him, we started to resent each other and mistreat each other.
Its important to mention that I had always been a flirty girl, I enjoy the attention I get from most men and I do not have trouble getting that attention.
During my four years with him I had been loyal and faithful, but I was unhappy and I never knew why. In January of 2015 I left on a student exchange of six months to Vienna. When I left things were doing badly, but we decided to stay together because we knew there was still love there but we just needed space and a bit of independence. When I moved to Vienna I started changing, I became very independent, I was open and extroverted and I just wanted to have fun with friends and go to parties. Charlie and I started talking less and less, and we became distant as the first few weeks passed. After two months, 3 days after my birthday he broke up with me; it was the end of my world. After 3 weeks of being a complete zombie, i decided that i couldnt ruin my time abroad so i started going out again although i still hurt a lot and all i did at night was think of him.
One day at a party, I met a guy. He was the most arrogant asshole Ive ever met. He was beautiful though; he was Swedish, spoke 5 languages, had an bachelor in electric engineering and was on his way of completing his MBA. But he was an asshole. In spite of our first encounter in which all we did was argue and give each other dirty looks, he added me on facebook the morning after. I was quite amused since i never thought he would want to add a girl who was so annoyed by him and so honest about it. We ended up bonding a lot and eventually, we ended up becoming inseparable. We traveled through Europe together, we slept together every night, ate together, we had the same group of friends, and he was quick to admit he was falling in love with me. I was conflicted since my ex was still on my mind constantly but I was so happy in my little fairytale that I convinced myself i loved him too.
It came time for me to come back to Canada, it was a horrible goodbye, i was afraid to come back here since I didnt have a home anymore and was forced to live at my sisters place. When I got here I was still very euphoric about my trip, so although i was hurt and i was sad about my break up, i had the courage to move in with my sister and go back to work and feel somewhat normal.
After a month of beng back, as i was coming back from a party in which i had one too many drinks, i hopped on my bike and i went all the way to Charlie's house. The backdoor was open and i went into his bedroom, he was sleeping and i sled into his bed. At first he freaked out but when he realized it was me he, held me and started crying saying he had done the worst mistake of his life and that he loved me and that he couldnt believe i was back.
The issue here was that I was still in constant contact with Swedish guy. We tlked every day, we were holding what seemed like a long distance relationship.
This is when my whole ordeal starts. Ever since that night and up until this very moment, I have been feeing caught between two people. I love two people. I want to be with these two people, but neither of them is comfortable with "sharing" me. specially not swedish boy. I was honest and told him my ex had come back to the picture, he freaked out but still wanted to be in my life. In October he came all the way from Sweden to be with me, and Charlie was well aware than within those two weeks I was gonna be intimate and share a bed with Swedish boy. During those two weeks I realized that although swedish boy meant a lot to me, we werent as compatible outside of Vienna, and when he left we said goodbye and it was very painful. I told myself it was time to give my ex another real chance and start something fresh...
5 weeks later I found out I was pregnant, with Swedish boy's baby.
When I told Swedish guy i was pregnant, he reacted well, and said he would encourage me in any decisins i chose to make. Although I would have loved to have a child, the moment was not right and I decided to terminate my pregnancy. 3 days before it happened I had asked Swedish boy if he was sure this was the thing to do, and he violently answered that i was my choice and that he wasnt gonna fly me to sweden to take care of me and my baby. It broke me; i realized i wanted him to want this baby and for him to want me in Sweden.
I still got the abortion since i couldnt provide for my child or raise a baby while ine law school, and the day of my abortion Charlie came to see me at my house. He took care of me all night, fed me, put me to sleep, hugged me until i stopped crying the next morning.
Swedish boy became very distant, very rude; he would humiliate me and make me feel bad about waht happened but then he would become very emotional and he would create scenarios where we actually had the baby and how happy we would have been togethr the three of us. I started to feel very depressed and insecure but Charlie stood by me the whole time, without a complaint.
For some reason, my twisted mind kept longing for Swedish boy. I wanted to talk to him every day, i started missing the baby and i started missing being pregnant and all i wanted was another baby and to move to Sweden to have a baby with him; this is apparently called post-traumatic stress disorder after an abortion, and i was feeling it.
Charlie and I became serious again, although Swedish boy and I talked a lot. Charlie always told me he was not at all upset that i talked to Swedish boy, after all he knew we had a lot to talk about.
I moved in back with my parents, became a bit more distant with Swedish boy but i missed him every day. I started crying and wanting to be with him. I cried in front of Charlie because Swedish boy wouldnt talk to me and I stared feeling gross and selfish because Charlie never complained he just listened and loved me and took care of me every day.
We are now in April, And i am going to a summer abroad in Spain. Swedish boy contacted me and asked me if i wanted to go to Sweden to see him.
Today he purchased a ticket for me to go see him in August.
I told Charlie, and Charlie looked extremely hurt. I thought this was it, and I was so afraid he would leave me but the need of seeing Swedish boy is so strong i couldnt say no to his offer.
Charlie ended up saying that all he wanted was my happiness and that if seeing swedish boy made me happy, he was okay with it.
For the pas 7 months i feel like ive had two boyfriends. I love them both, but clearly Charlie has a bigger place in my heart since he was with me through the hardest time of my short existence.
I want to know if I am polyamoros or if im just confused. I feel like I need both of them in order to be happy, and ive never lied and have always been honest with both.
There are also others guys who have tried to appraoch me through all this and I cant say that i dont feel attracted to any of them, I am just not in love with any of them.
My biggest concern here is that I am hurting people; If I am polyamorous, I shouldnt force it onto others if they feel like monogamy is the way to go. Right now everything is in the open, we are all aware of whats happening but i cant help to feel bad, feel guilty and selfish. I am also so afraid of losing any of them. I am very anxious and overwhelmed, I wanna know how to be okay with all of this myself and not feel guilty
Has anyone encoutnered feelings of guilt while maintaining a polyamourus relationship with two people who dont identify as polyamorous?
Should I feel guilty?
Am I doing something wrong?

I would really appreciate some insight into this.
I thank everyone in advance.
 
Wow! That's a lot in a short time. I'm sorry for your struggles. :(

I hope you are ready to take personal responsibility, make changes, and are able to take feedback constructively. This may not be what you want to hear. I mean it kindly, ok? :eek:

TLTR

I think you are best off ending things with Swedish Guy. And maybe ending it with Charlie. Slow all this down, finish healing from PTSD feelings, and re-evalaute your dating practices and re-evaluate how you handle sadness. I think those are areas where your skills could improve.

You seem to have this wonky dating pattern. You break up. 1 month after the break up or so? You go looking for the warm body person because you are sad and don't like being sad by yourself.

  • You broke up with Charlie in March and found Swedish Guy in April.
  • You broke up with Swedish Guy in June and you found Charlie in July.
  • You break up with Swedish Guy in October, and you want to start new with Charlie. But oops... pregnant!
    • (Pause to deal with pregnancy/abortion.)
  • Now back to.... what?

This "ping pong" way of dating is not healthy for you if you end up all stressed out. You could learn to break up with people more cleanly.

LONG VERSION

Here's the highlights as I see it. I might have gotten some things wrong so correct me ok? Blue comments mine.

  • Jan 2015.You leave to Vienna for study abroad. Though you and Charlie are having problems, you are still together. You do not break up.

  • March 2015 ish (?) Charlie breaks up with you.

  • April 2015 (ish) (?) You meet "arrogant asshole" Swedish Guy. Your mind is still on Charlie, but you take up with Swedish Guy for the rest of your Vienna trip telling yourself you are in love with him in your "fairy tale." (Are you basically saying you wanted companionship and a warm body to take mind off feeling sad/lonely from the Charlie break up?)

  • June 2015. You and Swedish Guy had a horrible break up. You are sad. You go home to Canada and live with your sister.

  • July 2015. You get drunk. Then break and enter into Charlie's home and get into bed with him while he's asleep. (You do realize this is creepy stalker behavior, right?)

    Instead of pressing charges, he forgives you for breaking and entering, and you two start dating again. (Is this the same as before? You don't like being sad after a break up so you go find a warm body to comfort yourself with?)

  • July - October 2015 You continue to date both guys concurrently. Neither wants to "share" you as a permanent thing.

  • October 2015 -- Swedish Guy comes to visit. Charlie knows you are going to share sex with him. You realize on this visit that you and Swedish Guy are not actually compatible outside Vienna. You break up with him, presumably for good. You decide to focus on Charlie and a new start.


(Pause to deal with pregnancy/abortion.)

  • Nov or Dec 2015 ish -- You discover you are pregnant with Swedish Guy's baby.
  • Swedish Guy was ok so long as you were on the abortion track. But when you had second thoughts a few days before the procedure rather than comfort you he told you in a mean way that he wasn't going to fly you to Sweden to take care of you/baby.

  • Nov or Dec 2015 ish You keep appointment and terminate pregnancy. THEN Swedish guy alternates between being horrible to you (push away) and sharing baby fantasies now that there's no actual baby (pull you back in).
  • (Which sound like mind games to me. Arrogant asshole, still arrogant asshole? What's the attraction? I think you were right in breaking up before. Pregnancy didn't make him suddenly great or suddenly compatible.)

  • Dec 2015 ish to present. You move back with the parents post abortion. You experience some weird feelings due to PTSD post abortion. You know your mind is "twisted" right now but you keep on talking with Swedish Guy. (Fueling the weird feelings rather than fueling actual healing?)

  • April 2016. You are leaving for study abroad in Spain in summer. Swedish guy wants you to visit in August and sent a ticket. (Without obtaining you consent first? He just arrogantly assumes you will go?)

    You want to visit him even though Swedish guy behaved like a jerk and messed with your head during the whole pregnancy/abortion thing. (What are you going to visit incompatible guy for? When you already know he's not compatible?)

  • Charlie stood by you the whole time, without a complaint during the pregnancy/abortion thing. You say you value him more than Swedish Guy. You were afraid he would dump you when you said you wanted to visit Swedish guy with the ticket he sent you. (And he would be well within his rights to decide to end it because he wants no more of Swedish Guy drama in his life)

  • Charlie ended up saying that all he wanted was your happiness and that if seeing Swedish Guy made you happy, he was okay with it.
    (He places your happiness above his own well being? That's not healthy. Maybe he's hoping that you will pick him in the end if he's selfless? White Knight syndrome? You seem to realize that he's just currently putting up with it to get to be with you. )

I want to know if I am polyamoros or if im just confused

I don't know if you are poly or not. Doesn't really matter here. You weren't doing polyamory with them.

What you were doing was dating two guys concurrently. Then in October you realized you and Swedish Guy were NOT compatible so you broke up with him.

I don't think that's changed any just because there was a pregnancy/abortion issue to to solve. Now that that has been solved and you are healing? You didn't suddenly become magically compatible with Swedish Guy. Stay broken up. Return the ticket and stop talking to him so your feelings for him can finally die down.

I think you are SAD and OVERWHELMED. You don't do well with single load sadness like breaking up with people. Now you have triple load sadness to process.

  • You broke up with Sweden Guy in October. Sad about being broken up but didn't finish process that at the time because ...
    • You found your were pregnant and terminated a pregnancy. Even if it was the right choice in your situation, that's still another load of sadness to process.
  • Back out to pick up where left off... processing being sad about October break up with Sweden Guy.
  • You may have also realized that you aren't wanting to do a new thing with Charlie after all. That's another load of sadness to process.

In October your intention was to start a new thing with Charlie. I wonder if now in April --- this experience has made you realize that you don't want to start something new with Charlie like you first thought?

I wonder if you are grateful for his support during the pregnancy/abortion thing, but you found that don't really love him like that.

I wonder if maybe you are feeling bad that you are you don't want to date Charlie any more? If so... You don't "owe" him a romance just because he supported you through the pregnancy/abortion. You could thank him for the support. Then date him only if you really wan to date him. Don't tangle the two.

I wonder if you want the "fresh start" for just you and you want to be free of both of these guys?

I feel like I need both of them in order to be happy, and ive never lied and have always been honest with both.

You may have never lied to either, but how honest are you being with YOURSELF? :confused:

You can be happy without ether of them. Happiness comes from inside you. If you are not breaking up clean with people because you are afraid to be alone or don't like processing sadness alone? You could choose to deliberately be alone and be sad alone to learn that actually you CAN cope. Don't love it, but CAN handle it. Then you can get over that fear. So in future if sadness comes your way for whatever reason, you aren't getting all tangled like this.

I see you feel bad right now. I'm sorry you feel bad. :( And I think rather than put energy into stopping the smoke alarm from beeping (stop experiencing feelings)? I think you could put energy into putting out the fire. I encourage you to do some thinking and make the choices you need to make so there's less tumult/drama/crazy in your life.
You seem to want more stability and more healing. Set about creating that if that's what you want.

One way to go could be

  • Change your studies so you do not go abroad so soon after abortion procedure. Reduce school stress. Stay home and seek counseling/support groups to really heal well first. THEN schedule another study abroad at a later time.
  • In the present time? Stop talking to Sweden, your EX. Reduce that stress.
  • So you can fully heal from abortion PTSD and confusing feelings for Sweden. Reduce that stress.
  • So you can decide if you really want to be with Charlie or not from a clear mind.

I hope things get better for you. And I'm sorry for your loss. Though it sounds like it was the best choice to make in the situation, the loss of a pregnancy is still a loss and there's a lot of feelings to process after something like that. Please take good care of you as you recover fully.

GL!
Galagirl
 
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Hello morgenblatter,

I must say, the guy from Sweden sounds charming but flaky. Charlie sounds more reliable. Now in theory, you could retain both boyfriends, but it would have to be with both of their consent. Unless/until you have their consent, you should probably break up with one or both of them. Even though it's possible they won't want to get back together with you later on.

I know you are in a tough spot right now. If you'll keep us posted here, maybe I can think of more ideas for you.

Sincerely,
Kevin T.
 
GalaGirl wrote a pretty awesome definitive answer for you, and I agree.

I think Sweden boy has got to go. That sucks, and I'm sorry, and I know it's hard to even think about. He's pretty and successful and has that "arrogant asshole" (probably Dominant-ish) personality that makes you just give in to him. I get it. But he is not healthy for you. The number one red flag for me out of what you said was that he talked to you about baby fantasies, feeding you images of you and him and a family right after you had an abortion. I'm sorry, but in my mind that is twisted and cruel. He pissed on a sacred space, a woman dealing with something like that...and I'd be concerned about the harm he could do, a lack of sensitivity ("asshole") taken too far treads into realms of sociopathy that could do you serious harm if you continue to keep him in your life. Then there is that ticket for August, as Gala asked you, did you actually consent to that, or did he just do it? Did you accept that obligation or let him force it on you?

As for Charlie, you have him at the opposite end of the spectrum. He's doing that compromising cuckold / White Knight thing that tends to kill a woman's respect. This could lead to you becoming someone you don't want to be. You've already said that you waltzed right across his boundaries, more than once, and he just took it. That is an unhealthy relationship dynamic.

It is my opinion that Charlie's weak boundaries make Sweden look good because he's so "Dominant"....and Sweden makes Charlie look good because Sweden is a jerk and Charlie is nice. But both of them in their relationship with you are too far at either end of the spectrum. You need to find someone who is on a more sane even keel...neither a pushover, nor a jerk...to have something healthy. And to do that, you probably need to build your own emotional strength some.

Good luck!
 
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