Metamour Conflict/Drama

but my anxiety is one that since becoming poly, if I don't have that quick check in, like a goodnight, I will actually worry and loose sleep.
I used to be this way. Certain little communications kept me sane. Without them I was a basket case. This is all connected to the story you tell yourself when you don’t get it. The anxiety is actually caused by your own thoughts and not inaction (lack of texts) on your partners side. You CAN work on this and overcome it! I did! I started listening to a podcast called “unfuck your brain” . I couldn’t afford therapy and this helped a ton. I listened to several episodes per day (15-30 minutes each) for several months until I was pretty much “reprogrammed”😂 for lack of a better word. I was able to recognize when my thoughts would take over in situations and now I can stop or change the story to something positive so I’m not stressing and perseverating over things. I’ve also stopped catastrophizing things. I used to do that if my partner was more than 15 minutes late without a phone call or text. My life is so different now. Peaceful, calm and wonderful. That training helped me in so many areas of my life, particularly polyamory, and I initially just wanted to be able to go without texts.
I don't know how or if it's fixable
it is! 😃
 
I used to be this way. Certain little communications kept me sane. Without them I was a basket case. This is all connected to the story you tell yourself when you don’t get it. The anxiety is actually caused by your own thoughts and not inaction (lack of texts) on your partners side. You CAN work on this and overcome it! I did! I started listening to a podcast called “unfuck your brain” . I couldn’t afford therapy and this helped a ton. I listened to several episodes per day (15-30 minutes each) for several months until I was pretty much “reprogrammed”😂 for lack of a better word. I was able to recognize when my thoughts would take over in situations and now I can stop or change the story to something positive so I’m not stressing and perseverating over things. I’ve also stopped catastrophizing things. I used to do that if my partner was more than 15 minutes late without a phone call or text. My life is so different now. Peaceful, calm and wonderful. That training helped me in so many areas of my life, particularly polyamory, and I initially just wanted to be able to go without texts.

it is! 😃
Ooh! Thank you! I'll look that up - I would love to not have it dominate my life that way!
 
Hi WestCoastRedhead,

Based on your first post in this thread, it seems to me like it would be wise to put some distance between you and Blue. I even think it would make sense to put some distance between you and Pisces -- in a sense leave him and Blue to work things out with each other, before they have anything to do with you. But I realize that would probably seem like too extreme of a course of action. I do stand by my advice to distance yourself from Blue.

As far as FetLife goes, I would probably suggest blocking Blue -- not so much as a courtesy to her, as for your own sanity. Anything that puts more distance between you and her is probably a good thing. I'm assuming that blocking her would also stop her from contacting/messaging you on FetLife, and I think it would be a good thing if you could be sure she wouldn't contact/message you. She is going psycho on you. Pisces should be the one to deal with that himself, if he is going to choose to keep seeing her.

Anyway this is all just an afterthought -- as you are already doing these things. Just thought I would add my reasoning to the thread -- for validation if nothing else. Obviously some of my advice you would just want to discard -- some of it you'd want to keep. I am totally okay with that. I hope things keep improving between you and Pisces -- and I hope Blue settles down although that's not your problem anymore. Carry on.

Sincerely,
Kevin T.
 
Fair. :)

I get that, but that's too bad. He and I have agreed on certain things, and so she will need to accept that's how things are between he and I. If he asks me to change things, that's something we can negotiate, but her discomfort is not currently my problem. She has been unhappy about a bunch of things about our relationship, but I'm not going to let her make the rules for me. I extend courtesy and kindness unless it's not shown to me.

He would have told me if there had been changes to things made while they were away, especially if it affected our relationship. What sorts of changes do you suspect were made, according to his behavior? I'm confused...
Well, I think he was grumpy with your radio silence because he thinks you should understand that you have to squeeze into what he has going on with her. I feel like he thinks that you knew that he had this huge relationship with her, and your inability to slide into the gaps left, without overshadowing his relationship with her, is something he kind of sees as your flaw.

Then, as you said yourself, despite knowing that you would be depending on contact that night, he stayed with his partner, didn't give you what you needed from him, and that led to you contacting her. To me, that really looks like him trying to show both of you that your relationship with him shouldn't and/or won't have that level of expectation. Even if you have that expectation, he will only meet it if it's convenient for his other relationship(s).

It reminds me a bit of guy who I was once casually seeing, but I suspected wanted more than I could offer. He asked me to call him when I got in from being out with friends or whatever, and I didn't say that I wouldn't. But I didn't do it. I wanted to show him that we weren't heading towards the kind of entanglement he desired. He shouldn't be up worrying about whether I got home safely, because he was not that type of partner.
so she will need to accept that's how things are between him and me.
The thing is, already, he leans towards her comfort when things are tough. He's accepted her behaviour and he largely supports it, hence, why you didn't get a call that night, but she still had him in her bed. Her behaviour about you is only because he's allowed it. If she thought being this type of "poly-unfriendly" would lead to her losing him, as he wants to be poly more than he wants her, she wouldn't kick up this type of fuss. She would be far more subtle about it because she would know he could pick you, and the polyamory, he wants over her.

She obviously doesn't have that fear, and he repeatedly has erred towards her comfort over yours. You're even worried that he will be annoyed that you blocked her, despite her actions. So you do know that he seems to think her feelings are justified, given what they have and what they are to each other. He condones them.

So yeah, that's the information I'm taking from what you've given that leads me to have that hunch.

A guy that wanted poly more than he wanted a highly-entangled relationship with a married woman, that impacted his ability to have his own long-term partnerships aside from her, would protect his liberty. He would have clearer boundaries with her.
 
It does sort of sound* like Blue resents Pisces having another partner, like the level of discomfort being described (and being dumped on WestCoastRedhead, ugh :rolleyes:) reads like a lot of "poly under duress" posts I've seen.

*And I could be totally wrong, after all I don't know any of these people!
 
It does sort of sound* like Blue resents Pisces having another partner, like the level of discomfort being described (and being dumped on WestCoastRedhead, ugh :rolleyes:) reads like a lot of "poly under duress" posts I've seen.

*And I could be totally wrong, after all I don't know any of these people!
The thing is, she's a married woman. But, I have to say, I've seen that before, a married person trying to monopolise the time and energy of all their partners, essentially preventing them from developing life partnerships with anyone else.
 
It does sort of sound* like Blue resents Pisces having another partner, like the level of discomfort being described (and being dumped on WestCoastRedhead, ugh :rolleyes:) reads like a lot of "poly under duress" posts I've seen.

*And I could be totally wrong, after all I don't know any of these people!
I've wondered that too. Both Blue and Pisces have been poly for a long time, but yeah, it's possible. Pisces had told me that last year, after his (now ex) wife ended their long marriage, that Blue LOVED having Pisces "all to herself" for the six months before I dropped into his life. He told her that he was going to start looking for partners/play partners again, and that the single thing was likely temporary. He also told her there would be no couples' privilege or hierarchy.
 
The thing is, she's a married woman. But, I have to say, I've seen that before, a married person trying to monopolise the time and energy of all their partners, essentially preventing them from developing life partnerships with anyone else.
From what I understand, Blue's marriage has pretty much become a situation of friends and co-parenting with her husband. The romance/sex seems to be gone, and he is more focussed on his relationship with his GF, who often lives with them. So Blue could be feeling that she is losing both him and Pisces to other women. (Which can happen. It did to me.) She also had an "almost" relationship go sideways too, so may have been feeling very alone/abandoned by the three men in her life. I'm trying to have sympathy, as I have gone through those sorts of fears & losses myself.
 
Hmm. I'm going to suggest extending Blue some grace.

You texted her at night after she landed from a trip because your partner was deliberately refusing to message you (due to his own pettiness). She saw the message in the morning and gave a polite response. You asked a follow-up question...about what?...even though you would have gotten Pisces' reply that he sent at 4:30 AM by then???...and she got annoyed, both at you and Pisces. I would probably also storm into the bedroom angrily at that point if I had a metamour texting me follow-up questions early in the morning because my partner had been a jerk to her.

I am in a similar situation except I'm in Blue's position...I got mad at my partner because of something my metamour did that seemed controlling to me...and his response was to complain to my metamour about my reaction. My reaction was actually pretty mild and something he and I resolved quickly, but because he told my metamour about it, she now thinks I had a meltdown and am crazy.

When Blue saw your FetLife event RSVP, did she actually get mad at you? Or did she get mad/upset at Pisces because she thought she and him would attend that event without you being there, and she was surprised to see it? Did she just quietly unfriend you on the site, or actually communicate with you about the RSVP? Do you only know about her reaction because Pisces told you about it?

In your other posts, you mentioned that Pisces' wife had put a lot of restrictions on his dating life, including on his long-term relationship with Blue. So Blue weathered having had a restricted relationship with him for years, presumably supported Pisces emotionally while his marriage ended, and then was apparently enjoying the 6 months of finally getting to spend more time with Pisces as his main partner (he moved near her city, too, no?), especially while her own marriage had become unsatisfying or difficult.

She may not have expected him to get into another serious relationship so soon. Especially not one that has a lot of demands and emotional confusion as well. Your feelings about Pisces and Blue's international travel, your request for radio silence on that trip but immediate communication upon the return, Pisces' vindictive refusal to message you that night...those are all stuff between you and Pisces that probably impacted Blue.

It is certainly possible that Blue and Pisces had different expectations for what their relationship would be like after Pisces' marriage ended. Maybe Blue wanted to become Pisces' main partner (which doesn't in itself make her crazy--especially as it sounded like Pisces moved to be nearer to her and that his desire to have less restrictions with Blue was a reason his marriage ended). Maybe Pisces wanted more freedom to find other relationships instead of just focusing on Blue. Maybe their expectations didn't match up.

They have been together a very long time and are going through a transition. Maybe they'll break up. Maybe they'll work it out and come to a new agreement / new expectations for their relationship.

Give them some grace while they figure that out.

Even Blue's "burn it all down" reaction just sounds like a person trying to figure out if they need to break up with their long-term partner or not. She's upset that he's spending more time with you than her, isn't meeting her needs, etc...to decide to break up and start deleting online connections and returning his condo keys does not sound "extreme." It sounds like a break up, or an attempt at one. But it sounds like they reconciled and decided to stay together, at least for now.

I can understanding how frustrating it is if Blue thinking of breaking up with Pisces made Pisces upset during his time with you. And that he then had to make/take a lot of phone calls with Blue during those days.

But honestly, it is pretty hard to decide to break up with a partner of ten years. Especially if he's spending a significant amount of time with someone else so that even phone calls have to be carefully scheduled.

I'm not necessarily seeing crazy behavior or drama that's just caused by her. It sounds like she and Pisces are going through a rough time and figuring out their relationship in a new way.

I would not reach out to her or communicate with her in any way.

My metamour is definitely collecting evidence of any behavior I exhibit that seems crazy to her. My partner now knows not to complain to each of us about the other's reactions to things.

Similarly, I've been with my partner for 12 years and my metamour started seeing him less than 7 months ago. Similarly, he and I have a lot of external factors making our relationship be more transitional and uncertain right now.

It's pretty difficult to be in Blue's position.
 
Hmm. I'm going to suggest extending Blue some grace.
First off, I want to thank you for your thorough message here, sharing your thoughts that may give me more perspective on Blue's situation. I welcome hearing various points of view, which is why I post here. :)
You texted her at night after she landed from a trip because your partner was deliberately refusing to message you (due to his own pettiness). She saw the message in the morning and gave a polite response. You asked a follow-up question...about what?...even though you would have gotten Pisces' reply that he sent at 4:30 AM by then???...and she got annoyed, both at you and Pisces. I would probably also storm into the bedroom angrily at that point if I had a metamour texting me follow-up questions early in the morning because my partner had been a jerk to her.
Yes, I did. Upon reflection, I realized pretty quickly that I should have just left it at my "thank you". I asked where they were, and she responded "at his place." (Again, had he responded and told me this, I would have left it). So that was my mistake and I apologized for it. Pisces's message from 4:30 DID not contain the information about where they were and if they were together. That's why I asked. Had he, again, I wouldn't have felt the need to ask.
I am in a similar situation except I'm in Blue's position...I got mad at my partner because of something my metamour did that seemed controlling to me...and his response was to complain to my metamour about my reaction. My reaction was actually pretty mild and something he and I resolved quickly, but because he told my metamour about it, she now thinks I had a meltdown and am crazy.
Yes, Pisces is now realizing that it's not a good idea to speak much about one partner to another, unless it's really important.
When Blue saw your FetLife event RSVP, did she actually get mad at you? Or did she get mad/upset at Pisces because she thought she and him would attend that event without you being there, and she was surprised to see it? Did she just quietly unfriend you on the site, or actually communicate with you about the RSVP? Do you only know about her reaction because Pisces told you about it?
I only knew that part of why she blew up at Pisces was because she saw my "might be" attending that event (which she wanted to attend, but knew it wouldn't be with him).

The quick background on that is: Pisces moved back to their city (not to be nearer to her, by the way, that is merely coincidence) this past September. She was asking/expecting them to go to their first kink even together first. Then, if I wanted to go to one with him, I'd have to wait until they had attended an event first. I didn't agree with that, but it's not my situation to deal with. I think it's silly, but that's what she was thinking.

This event is on my birthday. I'd asked Pisces, since I'd be there with him that weekend, if we could go. He said Blue was likely to go with her other guy. I suggested perhaps we could all go for dinner and to the party together, as Pisces has been hoping that the three of us could get together in person to "normalize" our relationships of being around each other. This suggestion was made in September, before they left. I didn't know he hadn't mentioned it while they were away. So when I posted the "might go", it was under the impression that he had brought this idea to her already. But he hadn't, so she was blindsided by the thought that Pisces and I might be "crashing" her party.

As to the unfriending, I found out when I was on Fetlife and saw his profile looked weird, and as did hers, and then saw that I was no longer on her friends list. She didn't communicate at all to me about any of this. I saw the evidence online and Pisces told me the rest. It was part of her "burn it all down" activity.
In your other posts, you mentioned that Pisces' wife had put a lot of restrictions on his dating life, including on his long-term relationship with Blue. So Blue weathered having had a restricted relationship with him for years, presumably supported Pisces emotionally while his marriage ended, and then was apparently enjoying the 6 months of finally getting to spend more time with Pisces as his main partner (he moved near her city, too, no?), especially while her own marriage had become unsatisfying or difficult.
Yes, I suspect she had hoped for more. Hard to say. And no, he moved to that city because he and his ex wife ended up swapping properties this past September, as part of their separation settlement. It was definitely not to be nearer to her, that was a side bonus.
She may not have expected him to get into another serious relationship so soon. Especially not one that has a lot of demands and emotional confusion, as well. Your feelings about Pisces and Blue's international travel, your request for radio silence on that trip, but immediate communication upon the return, Pisces' vindictive refusal to message you that night...that is all stuff between you and Pisces that probably impacted Blue.
Maybe not, though he warned her it was likely. Blue did not know about my feelings over their international travel, and may not have known about my radio silence. But yes, I can see how some things there may have impacted her.
It is certainly possible that Blue and Pisces had different expectations for what their relationship would be like after Pisces' marriage ended. Maybe Blue wanted to become Pisces' main partner (which doesn't in itself make her crazy--especially as it sounded like Pisces moved to be nearer to her and that his desire to have less restrictions with Blue was a reason his marriage ended). Maybe Pisces wanted more freedom to find other relationships instead of just focusing on Blue. Maybe their expectations didn't match up.
Blue did actually think that once the ex-wife was gone, she *would* become the primary, which would indicate hierarchy. As Pisces had had to deal with that with his ex-wife, he very definitely said "NO!" to any hierarchy or couples' privilege. He wanted his full, committed romantic relationships to be as equal as possible. She didn't like that. I get that me being equal to her would be disappointing. Yes, I suspect their expectations didn't match up.
They have been together a very long time and are going through a transition. Maybe they'll break up. Maybe they'll work it out and come to a new agreement and new expectations for their relationship.

Give them some grace while they figure that out.

I agree.

Even Blue's "burn it all down" reaction just sounds like a person trying to figure out if they need to break up with their long-term partner or not. She's upset that he's spending more time with you than her, isn't meeting her needs, etc. Deciding to break up and start deleting online connections and returning his condo keys does not sound "extreme." It sounds like a break up, or an attempt at one. But it sounds like they reconciled and decided to stay together, at least for now.
Doesn't sound extreme? That may be subjective. I consider it extreme. Instead of talking, she acted based on fear, anger and lots of strong emotion. I get that. He was just baffled as to why she didn't come to him sooner, as she waited until it was beyond a mountain.
But apparently this is how she tends to do things.
I can understanding how frustrating it is if Blue thinking of breaking up with Pisces made Pisces upset during his time with you. And that he then had to make/take a lot of phone calls with Blue during those days.

Yes, it was frustrating, anger-inducing and stressful. It impacted us a lot, and was very intrusive.
But honestly, it is pretty hard to decide to break up with a partner of ten years. Especially if he's spending a significant amount of time with someone else, so that even phone calls have to be carefully scheduled.

I'm not necessarily seeing crazy behavior or drama that's just caused by her. It sounds like she and Pisces are going through a rough time and figuring out their relationship in a new way.

I would not reach out to her or communicate with her in any way.

I agree.
My metamour is definitely collecting evidence of any behavior I exhibit that seems crazy to her. My partner now knows not to complain to each of us about the other's reactions to things.

Similarly, I've been with my partner for 12 years and my metamour started seeing him less than 7 months ago. Similarly, he and I have a lot of external factors making our relationship be more transitional and uncertain right now.

It's pretty difficult to be in Blue's position.
Yeah, I get that. Hence why I'm really trying to be sympathetic.

Thanks again for your thoughts. :)
 
Pisces's message from 4:30 did not contain the information about where they were and if they were together. That's why I asked. Had he, again, I wouldn't have felt the need to ask.
Probably because he knew that it would cause some sort of issue.
not to be nearer to her
Did he say that to you? That he isn't doing it to be near her? I have to wonder how that conversation would have come up, if so. It's not natural to say I'm moving to my partner's city, but it's not to be closer to them.
think it silly, but that's what she was thinking,
I don't believe she came up with that thought herself.
And no, he moved to that city because he and his ex-wife ended up swapping properties this past September, as part of their separation settlement. It was definitely not to be nearer to her. That was a side bonus.
This sounds like another forced conversation where you asked him if being closer to her is an incentive and he assured you that absolutely no, it's just a mere coincidence.
Maybe not, though he warned her it was likely.
That's what he told you that he told her. You don't actually know what he said to her and if it matches with what's going on now. I think it's likely that she said that once you are free from your wife, "I expect some sort of making up for these years of hell," and he said yes. Now what she's getting isn't aligned with that "deal."
Blue did actually think that once the ex-wife was gone, she *would* become the primary, which would indicate hierarchy. As Pisces had had to deal with that with his ex-wife, he very definitely said "NO!" to any hierarchy or couples' privilege. He wanted his full, committed romantic relationships to be as equal as possible. She didn't like that. I get that me being equal to her would be disappointing. Yes, I suspect their expectations didn't match up.
Again, how do you know this? To me, his actions show that this doesn't ring true. If he said "no hierarchy" and was really clear about it, why have you had all these issues? If that was really the case, he would distance himself from anyone like his ex trying to tie him down to a hierarchical relationship. He's not doing that.
I get that me being equal to her would be disappointing.
Be honest with yourself. Are you equal to her? Look what you've written in these threads about how you're treated by him. It is fairly obvious that he prioritises the wellbeing of his relationship with her over the one he has with you. Hierarchy is happening!

I don't think this guy is a monster. I just think he's telling you what you want to hear so you'll stick around and play secondary to his primary relationship.
 
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