Here to understand and learn.
Thank you for bringing up this perspective. I read the OP and I agree that living with BPD is a sort of superpower. But since I opened my eyes some years ago to what effects my behaviour can have on others, I'm very aware that this superpower - if completely uncontrolled - comes with some serious Read more… drawbacks for ourselves and the people around you. If one wrong word can make you take out the machete and go ape-shit then the hyper-sensitivity that in other circumstances was such a wonderful gift, suddenly turns into a weapon of mass destruction. No one gets out unharmed, neither the person in front of us, nor we. And once we stop being caught up in our own p@in and realise what our moment of madness might have caused in the other one, it becomes obvious that it's not all that pretty. Thank you for specifying that you refer to "untreated borderline". I for one believe that it must be possible to learn to engage with the chosen one in a healthy and less rollercoastery way. But you are right, the willingness to make that happen through a seriously honest look at yourself needs to develop in the BPD-person. Only that will make us stop to aim straight at the toxic predators that have put up their traps for us and can perhaps even help us learn to embrace it when goodwill is offered instead of dependency.
First of all, I am a bit shocked that what is being discussed a lot here is your personal perception of the men around you and I'm sorry you have to read all of these opinions on you. It is your perception. Full stop. As you said yourself, there are reasons for it being like this. End off. Read more… Similarly to you, I was in a mad urge after divorcing my former best friend instead of lover some years ago. It was a wild-goose chase and like you I kept running into smug men, ice-cold men, dumb men, but yeah, mainly immature men without a lot of intuition. (And to placate the rage-baiters: read the words "I kept running into" again, please.. ). I then went through phases where I simply couldn't be asked to even think about sex. And instead, I found amazing friendships! As in amazing! With both men and women. Most of those male friends are themselves on the "smug <----> immature" scale, but listening to it while not being the woman who is on the receiving end of being lied to, cheated on, treated as a commodity etc. is a nice change. And once we're done with this topic, we have actually brilliant conversations. Once women aren't the focus, men are just ridiculously entertaining, fun to be around. So here come my tips: sing in a rock band (best guys for good jokes and to drink with), find a male friend on a yoga retreat (best guy to talk about personal development), find a friend to smoke with (best let's talk for hours about politics, society, life guy), stay in touch with uni friends (best guys to help out when you need a new car or move)... you get the gist. Simply create a male friend network, so you still have male energy in your life without the shit. If that's what you want. Or go for women circles, let the most beautiful energy develop with other women as you embrace your femininity and create the most inspiring bond you will ever experience! So that's my two cents. Wish you all the best, and f... the haters! https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LMsBHDoC51c&list=RDAMPLOLAK5uy_lU9H3nLReY49IaePdb_A3-NWXrH6OGGoY
:1747390852,815863,most of that start off by telling me either what they want to do to me (spoiler - giving me an orgasm never features) or what they think so can do for them (spoiler alert - still no orgasm for me)
This made me laugh and laugh and laugh! So very true!!
:1747392277,4703241,Be decent in the face of it all. ... Let’s not become what this world makes people see in each other. Naive? Idealistic? Sure, why not. Better than being part of the problem.
I found this to be very true. Came to online dating relatively late in life and didn't Read more… know the 'superficiality only-rule' that seems to be the norm. So I went all in straight away and if the other person wasn't able to engage in an equal way, conversations stalled and that was that. But when they responded with openness, that's when it developed into some kind of deep connection with very important life lessons, be it through a few months or years spent together. So while I can subscribe to the OP's assessment, it might be possible to simply 'do different to get different'.
@Windwolf Again you're getting right to the heart of it. The 'rookie mistake' as you call it was made on both sides though. Yes, the person in control needs to stay just that - in control. But carelessly giving control to whoever is willing to take it, is an easy but mainly a pretty reckless thing Read more… to do. The texts help me to understand what happened but if they help someone else not make the same mistakes, that would of course be amazing. Whether someone, who is still in such need for intimacy that they take it in whatever form it's offered, will find this text and actually understand it, is - to put it mildly - doubtful.
Of the things you've listed, I believe emotional intelligence would be what made me really, deeply and healthily let go with people in the past. In one case there even was a specific moment that became a kind of ritual. Every time I entered his house, I was tense and jumpy as I'm a bit Read more… overchallenged during the first months of meeting someone new. He would let me take off my coat and shoes and then just stand there with open arms and look at me, making me come to him so he could embrace me. We'd stand there for a long time, him holding me tight and me stiff as wooden board hating every second of it, sometimes ten minutes, until something in me switched, I sighed the deepest sigh and snuggled into his embrace.
I'll never forget that he allowed for this to happen every time and this made me completely submit to him.
What a fun thread! For me 1000% Goliath from Gargoyles!