Jealous Feelings

Anabella

New member
I’ve recently entered an ENM relationship with my longtime partner after moving out of our shared house, and while I agreed to it, I’m really struggling with jealousy and resentment. When we lived together, I was always the one planning special dates and buying thoughtful gifts. If he did something for me, it was typically bringing home flowers or cooking a meal, and those occasions were rare. But now, after we’ve transitioned into this ENM setup, I’ve noticed him going out of his way to do all these special things for other women—things he rarely did for me.

I’ve tried to explain to him how this makes me feel. How the imbalance between what he does for me versus his other partners brings up jealousy and resentment, but he just doesn’t seem to grasp it. I love him, and I don’t want to lose him, but I also can’t keep feeling this way.

Has anyone else gone through something similar? How did you manage these feelings or communicate them effectively? I want to move past this jealousy, but right now, it’s just hard. Any suggestions for how I can work through this and improve our relationship?
 
Hello Anabella,

It sounds like your partner has a case of the NRE's -- multiple cases, as he seems to be dating multiple other women. You are feeling jealous because he isn't treating you decently. He's doing things for the other women that he wouldn't do for you. What needs to happen here is that he needs to start acting better. He needs to start planning special dates with you. He needs to start buying you thoughtful gifts. These are things he should have been doing the whole time. I suggest shifting your focus from what he does for the other women, to what he does (and should do) for you. That's where the root of the problem lies. You have every right to feel jealous when he's doing wrong by you.

It sounds like you have already approached your partner about how he treats you -- and he just plain doesn't get it. Or does he get it, but just doesn't care? Is he even trying to get it? You may find yourself in a situation where, whatever his reasons, he just isn't going to treat you right, no matter what. If you at some point find yourself in that situation, will you take any action on your end? What action will you take? You can't choose his actions for him, you can only choose your own actions. I know you don't want to leave him, I'm guessing that he's perfect for you in every way except for this one little thing, but I wonder if it's really so little. You could be looking at spending the rest of your life with this man who won't treat you right no matter how you try to spell it out to him. I hope it doesn't come to that.

Sincerely,
Kevin T.
 
It sounds like your partner has a case of the NRE's -- multiple cases, as he seems to be dating multiple other women. You are feeling jealous because he isn't treating you decently. He's doing things for the other women that he wouldn't do for you. What needs to happen here is that he needs to start acting better. He needs to start planning special dates with you. He needs to start buying you thoughtful gifts. These are things he should have been doing the whole time.
Do you do things for your long-term partner, like planning special dates and buying thoughtful gifts? Did you do that earlier in your relationship? Do you do it as much now, or less?

Some men never really do much as far as planning "special" dates, cooking, even buying flowers. Or, maybe they'll do it for a brief period at the beginning of a relationship. That's called courting or wooing, to use old-fashioned terms. Once the woman is hooked, those kinds of things become her job. The man just shows up.

We can't force our partner to change. If the guy here never, or only briefly, did those things, we can guarantee he'll only briefly do those things for the newer dating partners, too. At least there's that.

Generally I seek partners who are not "romantic" just during NRE, but continue to be thoughtful, and give an occasional gift ("just because," as well as on birthdays and xmas), are invested in cooking, cleaning, household chores, deep cleaning, yard work. If they aren't good at planning special dates or getaways, when I suggest ideas, at least they need to be enthusiastic about helping me plan them and do them!

If they aren't this kind of person, I break up with them, or at least downscale my expectations. I go on to seek others who suit me more. I am patient and I don't "settle" for less than I need and deserve.

Reading up on the Five Love Languages can help. You can't expect to feel satisfied if your lover ignores your love languages.

However, I agree this is a "case of the NRE's." Also, for some reason, this couple was living together, but have now moved apart. Maybe the guy feels more like a bachelor again. He probably shouldn't be telling OP that he's cooking, buying gifts, and planning special dates for others. That's TMI.

If OP wants to plan special dates, she can. If she'd like more gifts, she can say so. If she wants him to cook for her, she can request it. However, he can refuse to do these things. And if that's a dealbreaker, if she feels taken for granted. she can break up with him.

Generally it is highly recommended in polyamory to NOT neglect your long-term partner when you're in the throes of NRE with another. Polyamory means many loves. It doesn't mean replace the old love with the new love. But if you fall out of love with someone when you catch feels for someone else, you are either not poly, or you are just no longer compatible with the prior partner.

In any relationship, mono or poly, time passes, and there's a real danger of taking our longer-term partner(s) for granted. It's a newbie poly mistake to devote all your energy and excitement to the new and shiny untried partner. Working hard to get them in bed can feel very compelling. But no one should thereby neglect the prior partners, or spend dates with the longer-term partner(s) just gushing about how excited we are with the new person, what we do with them, how often we bang, or the anxieties we have about them. (Anxiety about the new partner is part of NRE, "Does she like me too? Will she text me back soon enough? Did I act like a fool the last time I saw her?" etc.)

I suggest shifting your focus from what he does for the other women, to what he does (and should do) for you. That's where the root of the problem lies. You have every right to feel jealous when he's doing wrong by you.

It sounds like you have already approached your partner about how he treats you -- and he just plain doesn't get it. Or does he get it, but just doesn't care? Is he even trying to get it? You may find yourself in a situation where, whatever his reasons, he just isn't going to treat you right, no matter what. If you at some point find yourself in that situation, will you take any action on your end? What action will you take? You can't choose his actions for him, you can only choose your own actions.
 
Why did you agree to an ENM relationship with your longterm partner after moving out of your shared home? Were you hoping to avoid the pain of a breakup? Is he hoping to avoid any "drama," but he's not really interested in your r'ship anymore? Or did you both fully, joyfully embrace becoming autonomous polyamorists?

Either way, perhaps you'd be happier if you split up all the way, & found a partner who did thoughtful things for you. I'm sure your partner "understands" exactly why you're upset. You've explained, I'm guessing, more than once. He just doesn't see why he should have to do thoughtful things for you, especially if he never had to before. Or his energy is invested elsewhere, trying to get new women to sleep with him.

If you're not being treated great, if he's acting just kinda meh about you, his long-term partner, why stay?
 
It's kind of how human motivation works, unless we're very actively fighting to counteract it. We're just much more motivated to show our best, afraid to lose the new fragile thing. Maybe he did something special for you the first few months you were dating, too.

However, it doesn't sound like a happy situation.
 
I'm trying to understand your situation, so I have some questions.

I’ve recently entered an ENM relationship with my longtime partner after moving out of our shared house, and while I agreed to it, I’m really struggling with jealousy and resentment.

How did no longer living together and entering ENM come about? Did you stop living together due to a work transfer or something? Why did you agree to ENM? Was was it before, monogamy? Is this something you'd want for yourself even if he weren't in the picture?

I’ve tried to explain to him how this makes me feel. How the imbalance between what he does for me versus his other partners brings up jealousy and resentment, but he just doesn’t seem to grasp it. I love him, and I don’t want to lose him, but I also can’t keep feeling this way.

Is that why you agreed to ENM? You didn't want to break up after moving out?

Could it be you are more into him than he is into you? Or maybe he thinks he's got you "established," and sees no reason to court you any more, so he's going to court new people to "secure" them, because they are not established? Even though this is ENM, are you experiencing a version of poly hell?


Has anyone else gone through something similar? How did you manage these feelings or communicate them effectively? I want to move past this jealousy, but right now, it’s just hard. Any suggestions for how I can work through this and improve our relationship?

I'm not sure you alone can fix it. You aren't asking for unreasonable things-- for him to do his fair share of the date planning between you.

If you need certain things to feel happy participating in this relationship, such as time, affection, energy, quality of dates, etc., and he falls short of the mark, you just aren't going to be happy. If he doesn't change his efforts toward you, you may have to decide whether or not you want to keep going with him and if this is worthwhile anymore.

Your consent to participate in things or not belongs to YOU. You get to decide what you will and will not put up with in the relationship. If he's now taking you for granted or phoning it in, you don't have to be there anymore.

I don't know if these would help you discern:



I'm sorry, though. This sounds painful. :(

Galagirl
 
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