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I Am a Rock #ChronicPain #Disability #Depression

Those of you Mightys who are seniors like me (I'm 70), may remember back in 1966 when Simon and Garfunkel recorded 'I Am a Rock' on their Sounds of Silence LP.
Recently, I heard it and it made me wonder about my fellow Mightys. How many of us live as a rock, in solitude.

Here are some of the lyrics.

🎶A winter's day in deep and dark December. I am alone. Gazing from my window to the streets below, on a freshly fallen shroud of snow. I am a rock. I am an island.
I've built walls, a fortress deep & mighty, that none may penetrate. I have no need of friendship. Friendship causes pain. It's laughter and loving I distain.
Don't talk of love. I've heard the word before. It's sleeping in my memories. I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died. If I never loved, I never would have cried.
I have my books and poetry to protect me. I am shielded by my armour. Hiding in my room, safe within my womb, I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock. I am an island.
And a rock feels no pain.
And an island never cries.🎶

Solitude will never mean living a life without pain. Paul Simon's effective use of an extended metaphor compared a human to a rock. And that life with the characteristics of a rock could prevent the pain caused by the human aspect of living. He's lonely and alone, yet still avoids friendships and other types of relationships.
Being an island means "I'm strong. I don't need anyone. I can get thru things by myself."
(Isolation and emotional detachment)
However, in 1664, John Dunne penned that "no man is an island. He explores the idea of the connectiveness of people. That people are not isolated islands. That we are all part of a larger thing, and if one person dies, everyone is affected. It's actually been psychologically proven that people do depend on each other.
Rocks don't have feelings.
We're not rocks.
We do have emotions.

Maybe it's something to ponder. What do you think?

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Playing around with Meta AI

I told it I was in a long distance polyamorous relationship and I'm looking for ways to bond with my girlfriend. I wasn't expecting much. This is what I got:

I understand. Long-distance relationships can be challenging, especially when combined with the complexities of polyamory. It's wonderful that you're seeking ways to deepen your connection with Jess despite the physical distance. Here are some ideas to help you bond with her:

1. *Regular communication*: Schedule regular video calls, voice notes, or text messages to stay connected and share your daily experiences.

2. *Shared online activities*: Watch movies, TV shows, or play online games together to spend quality time together.

3. *Virtual dates*: Plan virtual dates, like cooking a meal together or going on a virtual walk.

4. *Care packages*: Send each other care packages with small gifts or personal items to feel more connected.

5. *Journaling*: Keep a shared online journal to share thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

6. *Support each other's interests*: Show interest in each other's hobbies and passions, even if you're not physically present.

7. *Celebrate milestones together*: Celebrate each other's birthdays, anniversaries, or achievements with virtual celebrations.

8. *Create a shared online space*: Make a shared digital space, like a private Facebook group or a shared Pinterest board, to share thoughts, ideas, and inspiration.

9. *Schedule regular check-ins*: Regularly discuss your feelings, needs, and desires to maintain open communication.

10. *Show affection*: Send surprise gifts, flowers, or sweet messages to remind each other of your love and appreciation.

Remember, communication and creativity are key to nurturing your bond despite the distance. I hope these ideas help you feel closer to Jess!"

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I think this picture exemplifies how Christ did EVERYTHING for US.

See the mud sticking to his kingly clothes but He doesn't care. His focus is on the person.

As a kid my mom would Always quote "people are more important than things".

I would roll my eyes like any proud trouble-maker but at a young age I stuck to that phrase. Every person mattered to me and that is why I had everyone in my grade as a friend. It was more when it came to my siblings that I struggled lol

My mom is a Speech-Language Pathologist. She helps new parents learn to properly feed their newborns and toddlers, helps kids learn to speak the correct way, helps with all behavior problems, teaches families to communicate with their learning disabled kids and gives a voice to anyone and everyone.

We always butted heads when I was younger. Her and are are much more alike that we sometimes want. Since having my body going way down hill and worse in confusing ways with constant severe pain, she has stepped up and I have worked HARD to bridge our divides. Our relationship is better than ever though we once in a while have disagreements still.

I know our relationship is complicated but I can't help seeing Christ in how she lives her life.

Grudges are her biggest struggle though forgiveness comes incredibly easy to me as understanding everyone has always been something I have wanted most of all. It is why I am pretty good at writing because I want everyone to understand everything I do and the life I live.

Christ knows each of our struggles and strengths. He went through everything we have and will go through as He suffered in Gethsemane and bled from every pore from the pain of it all.

He is our elder brother and our best friend who just Gets it.

In a world when no one else has exactly our struggles, I can see how vital it was that Christ bridge that divide so that each problem we have had, He has all the answers.

We are all the single most important thing to Him and to God. Each of us!
What a gift!

His love is unconditional and perfect. Who better to be our Savior than Christ?
What a priceless gift just for us.

He doesn't care if we are dirty, dressed in the least fancy clothes. He doesn't care if our hair is not clean or wild. He doesn't even care if our house is not perfectly clean or organized.

He loves us for who we Are and who we can become. Riches are not important to Him.

The lowliest soul in the room is the one he would check on first.

And even one who is a God among men.

Nothing makes me find calm, peace, and feeling loved more than when I ponder on Jesus Christ 👑

#CheckInWithMe #MightyTogether

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Caring About People with Myasthenia Gravis

I face #Loneliness and #Isolation as a person with a questionable immune system because of my #Cll (Chronic Lymphocytic Lymphoma) and because of the scapegoating and blame I receive from my two adult children who can't seem to be bothered to understand the #ComplexPTSD (#CPTSD ) I suffer as a result of horrible childhood trauma. I consider myself fortunate to have known two people who, unfortunately, suffer from Myasthenia Gravis. My loneliness and isolation both cause Complex PTSD triggering and are caused by it. When I find someone for whom I have some affection, I can become overly reliant on them for the connection I so desperately need. I experience(d) affection for both of these people, one deeply so and currently. Knowing that stress can trigger an MG Crisis, and that she is sometimes laid low for days and days by her treatments, I have had to learn to manage my triggers, which I'm not doing so well with right now. I'm doing better at keeping them to myself instead of aiming my desperation at her. Because of my affection for her, she is my teacher. In past relationships, which this currently is not, although the affection is mutual, I let my "CPTSD flag fly," and ended up inadvertently hurting people. I can't do that with her. If I do, no matter the form of her feelings for me, I will stress her out which could have negative impacts on her health. So, I'm hoping people with MG will find this and, by reading your posts, I will learn more about how difficult it is to maintain relationships of any kind when MG is involved. From others who care about someone with MG, I hope to listen and learn from your experience and, together, find ways to be good friends, lovers, partners, whatever. For those who care for people with MG, I hope to learn what I need to know to be helpful. I've done a lot of research into MG. It's exceedingly complex, with such varied and far-reaching implications on one's life. I want to be a good friend to this person I care so deeply for and starting a group here seems like a good way connect with others to keep myself in check. She has needs of her own and I want to be a help, not a hindrance, and in so doing, I will be healing myself of my CPTSD woundedness. Welcome. Introduce yourself. Say what you bring and how you'd like to benefit from being here.

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Introducing myself #fibromyalgiawarrior #Grief #Diabetes

Happy Earth Day everyone. I have been here just a few weeks now. My name is Dany (she/her/they), 58, married lesbian. I have insulin dependent type 2 diabetes (although in todays new understanding, I should have been type 1.5). Diabetes affects everything and is affected by everything, hmm sounds familiar since Fibromyalgia is the same. So I have lots of fun with that. So, I was 24-26 when I got the diagnosis for Diabetes. I only got the fibromyalgia diagnosis in January 2020, after having knee replacement surgery in January 2018. I had no idea that I had Fibromyalgia until the surgery turned it up full blast! Both my full blood sisters have it. But it wasn’t something we spoke about. I’m the oldest and went to live with dad, they stayed with mom. It was only in adulthood that I got to know them. And we lost one in 2009.

I would like to talk about Fibromyalgia and grief. 2020 was a bad yr for most of us, but I lost my dad, my best friend, the son I helped raise (previous relationship), then my mom in 2022. Plus I move 500 miles last June. I’m from Central Virginia and now I live 11 miles from Lake Ontario. Grief itself is a flair trigger and grief comes in waves, unexpected. Tracking my flairs becomes hard because it’s not always a traditional trigger. My blood sugar affects and it is affected by my pain. I have now tinnitus, which I have been able to correlate with my pain levels, the higher and intensity of my ear ringing, the higher my pain levels are.

So that’s a lot to unpack 😁
the photo was three days ago

(edited)
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A very different life

Feeling very nostalgic today.
I've been going through a lot of old photos.
And it hit me:
My life has turned out so very different than what I imagined.
And it's so different form others my age.
I could feel myself getting wrapped up in harsh judgment of myself and my life.
But I don't wish to do that.
I wish to show myself understanding and grace.
I haven't done anything wrong.
It's not my fault.
My childhood, circumstances, life, toxic relationships and biological inheritance have created my mental health issues.
Along the way, I've tried to do my best - somedays simply to survive.
And this Monday I wanted to remind you of all your effort too.
We have done our best.
And we continue to do our best.
However it may look on any given day.
#MightyTogether
#Support
#MentalHealth
#BorderlinePersonalityDisorder
#AvoidantPersonalityDisorder
#Depression
#Anxiety
#Burnout
#HighlysensitivePerson
(Picture from Pinterest)

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Hey. I’m new here.
I have a lot to say, and no one to talk too it feels like.
I’m used to having a best friend to vent too or a boyfriend.
It seems like, I’m just all alone now.

Just going to kind of give you a run down of what’s going on and what’s happened.
I’m 29 years old. I have never been diagnosed with anything. And, I’m not trying to diagnose myself with anxiety, depression, etc.

7th graduate-12th grade I lived with my great grandparents. My mom quit a very good job, got addicted to crack, my stepdad(at the time) beat on her and did some unspeakable things to me and my brother. My bio dad, was never in the picture.. although I also knew he was also in active addiction.

Three months after me graduating high school, I found out I was pregnant.
Before my daughter(my first born) had even turned 1, I found out I was pregnant with my son.

Same year my son was born, I married their father.
Couple months after being married, I realized I was super lonely. 😔 Didn’t have a lot of friends, I had my great grandparents. I went to see them daily. Other than that, no family. I let my mom start coming around.. first time ever. Since before I had kids.
She encouraged divorce. I was about 22-23 years old. I left. Left my marriage.. took my kids and set out for a better life(that didn’t happen🤦‍♀️) Not long after separating, I learned my husband was an addict.. I was alone all the time because he was out chasing a high. Total shocker to me.
I ended up, moving in with my mom and her new husband. Ended up started dating someone(worst mistake) MYSELF NOW WOULD BE SCREAMING TO MYSELF THEN, GO HOME GO FIX YOUR MARRIAGE. Anyways, lived with that dude at my mom’s for a year.
Ended up breaking up with him and moving out of there(there was a lot of drinking, fighting, and probably I’m assuming drugs involved) I didn’t want that life or to be apart of that, I moved back to my great grandparents.

After that, I started dating someone 12 years older than me. Really thought it was going to be great. He seemed so sweet and nice and honest.
NEWS FLASH! I was wrong! Why would I think that?

We stayed together, 5 1/2 years.
And, it was HELL. There was more downs then ups.
I dealt with abuse.. PHYSICAL, MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, FINANCIAL.
Complete narcissist.
I was completely codependent on him.
For so long I was scared to leave and not know what would happen if I did.
He has been in and out of jail.
His family is absolutely horrible to me.
Here’s an example, this is so awful you wouldn’t even think someone would do something like this… but this is how his family was. The first time I met his mom, before I could even speak my name, she walked up and uppercuts me in the nose. Total shock. Because I’m not a fighter, I’m not an aggressive person. So, I just got in the car(with blood all over my shirt) and left. This was before he started abusing me.
He started using drugs and drinking.( I thought we was so in love) I tried to get him to go to rehab, counseling, whatever it took. Nope. He never went. Things just got worse. So I would break up with him, put him out of my house. Because, I paid all the bills, I paid for the food, I had the car. Him being 12 years older than me, never once had a car longer than a month in our relationship. I actually bought him a car a year and a half ago, he got pulled over for reckless driving, the car I bought got impounded. I let it go. Through me breaking up with him, several times and putting him out. I would TRY to move on, and I would look for someone else to date or talk to. Even though, I broke up with him, he still considered that “cheating “. I’m not saying how I handled things was right, but idk. It was a lot of back and forth. So much hurt from me and him. Every day it was a fight. So many stories and I could go on and on.

Anyways, fast forward till now. I have not seen the man I was with for 5 1/2 years in over a month. The last time I seen him, he broke two of my fingers and busted a mirror in my car. So, I told him I would not see him another day in my life until he went and got help. I’ve “heard” he is at a hospital and he has fluid on his legs and feet. I do worry about him. Like I said, I’ve been codependent on him. I’m used to talking to him daily, even if it’s arguing. It’s odd to me, that I haven’t heard from him. Like, does this mean we are really done? And, I’m completely okay with that. Yes it will hurt, but we have been very toxic. Because I did say, if he didn’t get help or didn’t want help.. we just needed to cut ties because I couldn’t risk my life. He has 3 kids, his kids mother has popped back up in the picture, she hasn’t been around or anything for the last 13 years. So I’m wondering, if that’s why he’s just kinda disappeared, like maybe they are getting back together.

My kids dad and his girlfriend are having a baby.. next week she’s due. He is clean now. Which, every day I kick myself, because I wish I would have tried harder for our marriage and for him to get clean. I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve been through a lot.

Thing is, what I’m struggling with.
Yes, I’ve made mistakes.
I don’t want to continue making the same mistakes, the people I’ve chose to date, weren’t right for me.
I’m not trying to date, or sleep around. I am genuinely trying to heal.
I do get lonely, don’t have anyone to talk too or go places with. It’s difficult. It’s difficult to accept, no one cares to know how your day went.
I just want advice, on how to let go of being so codependent. How to accept being alone. I feel like I have no family or friends now. How to redirect my thoughts, when I start feeling sad or lonely. Or when I want to go try a new restaurant, but I feel silly going alone.

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My girlfriend has gotten me many gifts over the past 2 months. I told her she doesn't have to do that. She said "I know but you deserve nice things." And I have learned over the last 14 years not to argue with gorgeous women.

#Relationships

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