I met someone new, now what?

Iloveherandhim

New member
So I'm still very new to the poly life. My wife and I both share a boyfriend who is long distance. My wife and I have been together for more than a decade and me and the bf were together for 2 years. The 3 of us have been poly together for about a year now. The bf is long is long distance.

So the wrinkle is I've met a new friend. And I say friend because that is all we are right now. However I am definitely interested in developing something more. He knows my current situation is cool with everything. I've read post about NRE and I definitely know I'm in it so I'm not trying to rush into anything. I just want to see where it goes I guess.

Am I being greedy? The three of us have never spoken about dating others outside the triad. Except for us knowing the bf will eventually look for a wife himself. I want to bring this up with the wife and bf but I'm nervous about how they will react. Advice please.
 
Hi Iloveherandhim,

Inyourendo is right, keep it short and simple. If they have questions you can of course answer. If they're very upset, you could take a timeout and resume later.

In my opinion you aren't greedy, people fall in love all the time, it happens. You just have to find out how your wife and boyfriend feel about the situation.

Regards,
Kevin T.
 
So I took the advice. I simply said "Hey have you ever thought about dating other people?" And that got the convo going. So far a very positive conversation. Cheers!
 
Glad to hear that the conversation has gone well so well! Props to you and your courage in talking about this with your partners! :)
 
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Update: Well things went well with the wifey. The bf however flipped out. He went into what I've seen people here discuss about "why am I not enough?" and then proceeded to say I won't be happy until I catch some disease.
 
The bf however flipped out. He . . . then proceeded to say I won't be happy until I catch some disease.

Well, that wasn't very nice of him! Just because you want to go out with someone on a date or a few dates doesn't even mean it will wind up being sexual, and if it does -- doesn't he trust you to take precautions? I would not let someone get away with such a judgmental, harsh statement without challenging it and asking him why he would think so little of me and my choice of person I'd like to spend time with, to say such a mean thing.
 
The bf however flipped out. He went into what I've seen people here discuss about "why am I not enough?" and then proceeded to say I won't be happy until I catch some disease.

Haha.... :rolleyes: Oh dear... Charming!

I'm sorry (for you) that it went down that way with your bf. One thing I could say is that, from personal experience of being the 'new person' coming into a long-term marriage, your proposition may be more difficult for your boyfriend to cope with than it is for your wife.

For instance, your wife has already gone through the process of watching you get involved with someone else now. Granted, she's also involved with him... But your boyfriend hasn't yet seen you involved with anyone new, right? The fears of replacement may be stronger for him because he's used to being the one you are directing your NRE towards, and now his time 'in the sun' may be over. He becomes old news. It's just something to think about.

It's also worth considering how you treated your wife when you were first falling for your boyfriend. Did everything go smoothly? I know that in my case, my GF (who had been married for 13 years) really became wrapped up in me and revealed many of her marital problems to me. Whilst I felt extremely special and adored at the time, when it came time for GF to introduce someone new to our mix, I instantly recalled those times and suddenly feared that she would be telling her new lover how bored she was of *me*. Another thing to think about!

Of course, it could also be that your boyfriend stands firm in his wish to be a polyfidelitous triad... or to have what he considers an 'equal' triad, where he has someone else just like you and your wife have each other. It's not difficult to empathise with that position - it surely is less emotionally taxing for him to consider finding someone else than consider you with someone new.

If his harsh comment was relatively out of character, try to think about why he was so scathing. He's threatened. He's lashing out. Perhaps he felt betrayed and shocked that you do not share his core values about poly. Perhaps he has made a judgement - why might he think you are an unstoppable greedy fiend? What has led him to this opinion?

My advice is to talk to him again, with compassion, and try to find out exactly what it is that is scaring him. I hope it goes better the second time around.

Finally, as for whether or not you are being greedy - well, yes and no! :) In either case, it doesn't matter. What I would say is that it's never a good idea, and rarely ethical, to add additional people when existing relationships have cracks. By this, I don't mean jealousy or insecurity, but the workings of a relationship - sex, intimacy, dates, fun, friendship, commitment, etc. If all of that is going well, it's a better time to explore others than if something is missing. Adding someone else almost always highlights the cracks.


EDIT -

I just read your other thread and now understand that you had an affair with your boyfriend for a few years before telling your wife and becoming poly. I'd hazard a guess that this has something to do with your boyfriend's reaction. Could it be that he thought he was something special to you - so special that you would cheat - and now feels used, less special or tossed aside? Could it also be that your boyfriend, deep down, judges your decision to cheat and feels that you have no self-control? These are things to find out!
 
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Sorry to hear how your boyfriend reacted. :(
 
So the bf and I have had more than a few conversations since our first talk. He apologized for his first reaction and I felt that it was genuine. The problem is since then it has been a constant cycle of "Why do you want to do this?" For which my best answer has been because I want to.

I explained to him that I had these feeling when I first got involved with him and that a more than one occasion I brought it up, only to be dismissed, so I left it alone. He's constantly bringing up that this isn't the future we talked about and what does he need to do the fix it.

Which I explained there is nothing for him to fix. That my relationship with my wife didn't go away when he got involved, why does he feel ours would change if someone else came along. He never answered directly what it is he's afraid of, only that he doesn't want me to be involved with other guys. Interestingly enough, he has no problem with me starting new relationship with women. Red flag? I feel like it is.

I really do care for him. I just think he can't be poly right now. It's not in his nature, as I have come to learn it is in mine. Sadly we are broken up. It's has been extremely draining to get him to see my side, I don't think he ever did.
 
Sorry you guys are broken up. Maybe it's for the best?

Re:
"He never answered directly what it is he's afraid of, only that he doesn't want me to be involved with other guys. Interestingly enough, he has no problem with me starting new relationships with women. Red flag? I feel like it is."

It certainly constitutes a problem.
 
Sorry to hear about the tough times. I do think you are being true to you, even if it resulted in a break-up. :(

I wonder if your BF and your wife broke up too (not that they need to, just knowing how some triads are). If so, I hope she is getting support too.
 
Sorry things have gone roughly for you. Break ups suck. I don't know if my input would be helpful here but I thought I'd share a perspective.
It can be very scary for us non live in partners when even the possibility of a new outside partner is introduced. I know when real was even casually considering dating I freaked out for a bit. I was very afraid of being replaced of losing my bond with him. I needed tons of reassurances because I knew that I had no family or legal ties to hold us together while I worked through my emotions. I had to trust a lot. But even then the panic made me want to run away. You and your wife have a socially acceptable not easily broken relationship. It can be difficult to not have those assurances and then see/feel your relationship threatened bya newcomer. It could be that he was dealing with fears along those lines and had to let go due to anxieties or maybe he prefers a more closed relationship.

I know it must be painful time for all of you.
 
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