The OcUK Relationship Counselling and Hugs Thread

Associate
Joined
29 May 2003
Posts
2,038
Location
Cambridge
It's a horrible feeling, just feels numb all the time- still not really come to terms with the fact that the future we had planned together won't happen anymore. I try to keep busy at all times because whenever I stop I just get our memories playing back in my head. Have a camping/hiking trip planned at the end of the week with mates, hopefully that will keep my mind occupied enough.

Thanks for your advice, I know it will get better eventually. I'm sorry for what happened with your ex-wife, but it's good to know you're in a better place now.
Been there, fella - I know exactly how you're feeling. My breakup with my partner of 25/26 years (married for 17 of them) is documented in this very thread. She pretty much did to me what yours did to you - said she still fancied me, but didn't love me in the way a wife should love her husband. It almost destroyed me and messed me up more than any other life event before or since.

I'd just like to echo what @bigmike20vt said because it is the way out of how you're feeling now. My family, friends and workmates have all, at various times, been the glue that's put me back together. You'll go through days where it will feel like a bereavement, but it's torture because you know full well that your GF isn't dead. When something happens that makes you happy, the person you'd normally have been the first to share it with is no longer there. It's brutal, it really is.

Cry if you want or need to - there is no shame in it, particularly if she was someone you loved or cared deeply for ... it's perfectly natural and perfectly human. Doesn't make you less of a man. Point is, find some way of venting the emotions you feel - bottling it up isn't healthy.

I know it's a cliche, but time really is a healer - there will be highs and lows as you recover. Initially the lows will outnumber the highs, but it does switch round over time and eventually the lows virtually disappear. How long that all takes depends on the individual - in my case it was 6-9 months. Just to make things even more awkward, that also included a spell where my missus and I were living like two strangers in our marital home, with me being made to feel that I should be elsewhere so she could have her boyfriend (acquired a mere two months after we separated - aren't women classy?) in the house.

Find a regular focus that will keep your mind occupied - in my case, I threw myself into weight-training for the first time in over 20 years, which benefitted both mind and body, but that might not suit everybody.

Keep posting here - this thread is full of blokes who've had relationship/marriage break-ups and it's fantastic support. At times like this it's very easy to think you're the only person in the world that this is or has happened to.

I'm happily single at the moment - being solely in charge of my own destiny and doing what I want when I want is so refreshing. I never thought I'd hear myself say it, being a complete and utter romantic, but I don't know if I COULD nor WANT to go back to a full-on relationship at this particular point in time. Technically I am still married - we hit the two-year separation deadline at the end of this coming August, which will make the matter of divorce that much easier. As for her, on the rare occasions I come face-to-face with her now, I can look her in the eye and feel nothing - not love, not lust, not hatred, just complete and utter indifference. That's when you know you're healed.
 
Associate
Joined
29 May 2003
Posts
2,038
Location
Cambridge
@Adnams Drinker Has it been that long already?

I'm glad to hear you're doing well though pal!
Cheers fella. How's your injury doing?

Yeah, I struggle to comprehend how fast it's gone sometimes. Horrendous as it was at the time, the whole thing has been a massive positive for me - I'm more open-minded, dressing better, eating better, got my stubbornness and stupid sense of humour back ... one of my bosses frequently says he's amazed at how much I've changed in the last couple of years. He said recently that I don't so much walk into the room anymore, but kind of 'strut' like I own the place - not sure about that, certainly not a conscious thing, so it must be in my body language!
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2008
Posts
6,330
Location
Liverpool
I'm still having no end to problems with my leg, have a possibility there's something up with the metal work so may have to go back in for surgery. Just waiting for an appointment at the hospital to come through.

It's truly amazing how subtle the changes are to you when you have a good diet and exercise, yet how noticeable they become to everyone else. I can suddenly remember getting a lot more female attention which sucked at the time cause I was with the ex and didn't act on it. My body hadn't changed much but people didn't comment I seemed much more confident etc. Once I'm sorted it's one of many changes I want to make to my lifestyle for the better. I never ever want to go down the depression rabbit hole ever again!
 
Associate
Joined
29 May 2003
Posts
2,038
Location
Cambridge
I'm still having no end to problems with my leg, have a possibility there's something up with the metal work so may have to go back in for surgery. Just waiting for an appointment at the hospital to come through.
Eeek - nasty. Must be driving you nuts - I know how bloody ratty I get if I overdo it in the gym and then have to miss a session through injury ... with this sudden lease of life I've got, I need to remember that I'm actually 50 later this year!
It's truly amazing how subtle the changes are to you when you have a good diet and exercise, yet how noticeable they become to everyone else. I can suddenly remember getting a lot more female attention which sucked at the time cause I was with the ex and didn't act on it. My body hadn't changed much but people didn't comment I seemed much more confident etc. Once I'm sorted it's one of many changes I want to make to my lifestyle for the better. I never ever want to go down the depression rabbit hole ever again!
Exactly how it's been - I haven't noticed any dramatic transformation personally, but workmates and family members have commented on the change in my demeanour. None of it is conscious, it must all be in the hidden stuff like body language, the way you interact with people and the air you give off.

Not sure about any difference in female attention, but then I haven't gone looking for it. That said, I actually got a message on Facebook over the weekend from a woman (total stranger, didn't know her from Adam ... or Eve in this case) saying "There's no way you're 50 - where are your wrinkles? I'm 30 and I've got more than you have!" - does wonders for your self-confidence when things like that happen.
 
Soldato
Joined
18 Dec 2008
Posts
6,330
Location
Liverpool
Eeek - nasty. Must be driving you nuts - I know how bloody ratty I get if I overdo it in the gym and then have to miss a session through injury ... with this sudden lease of life I've got, I need to remember that I'm actually 50 later this year!

Exactly how it's been - I haven't noticed any dramatic transformation personally, but workmates and family members have commented on the change in my demeanour. None of it is conscious, it must all be in the hidden stuff like body language, the way you interact with people and the air you give off.

Not sure about any difference in female attention, but then I haven't gone looking for it. That said, I actually got a message on Facebook over the weekend from a woman (total stranger, didn't know her from Adam ... or Eve in this case) saying "There's no way you're 50 - where are your wrinkles? I'm 30 and I've got more than you have!" - does wonders for your self-confidence when things like that happen.


Don't I'm 36 in June and feel like I may as well be 90 atm I'll get there though it's just a matter of time and patience!


Yeah stuff like that does wonders for your self esteem, I won't repeat some of the stuff that got said to me back then as it made me blush haha but it gave me a vastly different view of myself for a while.
 
Associate
Joined
1 Dec 2004
Posts
634
Only spotted this thread by chance (I don't really use these forums much) but its refreshing to see such level headed responses and obvious progression/resolution for people.

Personally, I've been going through the ****show that is the end of my relationship with my wife (after 10 years together, both early thirties), and its extremely difficult to drag yourself out of that giant void that appears once it happens - in my case she walked out of the blue for some quite questionable reasons (save that mess for another post...), but outside of my relationship with her (my family, friends etc) I'd let everything atrophy over the years to the point where I was literally sat on my own most weekends feeling sorry for myself, which just compounds the problem. Rebuilding friendships in your thirties back up from almost nothing is very challenging (at least for me), and I've found it goes hand in hand with trying to re-find your identity. I'm still miles off being happy with either, and still find myself with a lot of 'empty' time, but it at least gives some perspective for future relationships (If I ever decide to go down that route).

Post timing is coincidentally relevant - the bank holidays is traditionally a time where 'we' would have gone away for the weekend, like most of the country, but with everything going on I've spectacularly failed to get anything organised, so I'm trawling the internet for ideas for something to occupy myself :D
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Soldato
Joined
10 May 2012
Posts
10,058
Location
Leeds
You have to rebuild your social circle, you need to message people, get in touch with old friends, say yes to any invites you get even if you normally wouldn't (work nights out etc). If you're completely SOL with people to go out with then you'll need to get some hobbies and join some clubs to get meeting people, be the guy who arranges social events. I'm in a similar position except I'm fortunate that where I work is pretty social and I have a few mates who will at least go to the local, and because I used to work at a pub in town I know a lot of people out and about anyway.
 
Associate
Joined
1 Dec 2004
Posts
634
You have to rebuild your social circle, you need to message people, get in touch with old friends, say yes to any invites you get even if you normally wouldn't (work nights out etc). If you're completely SOL with people to go out with then you'll need to get some hobbies and join some clubs to get meeting people, be the guy who arranges social events. I'm in a similar position except I'm fortunate that where I work is pretty social and I have a few mates who will at least go to the local, and because I used to work at a pub in town I know a lot of people out and about anyway.

Yeah it's not terminal to be fair, I have a decent amount of midweek social stuff via work and the tues/weds night pub trip to watch whatever trash sport is on with the lads, its the weekends that are a bit odd - thats always been mostly 'us' time, even if in reality what we were doing often wasn't all that different to what I'm doing now (**** all for the most part). I used to be in a band and had a season ticket before we met way back, so I'll probably just get back into that (in fact it sounds significantly better than most of my weekends for the last year or so...)

It's only been 4 months and after more or less complete radio silence (which I was comfortable with to make it easier to move on) I'm already seeing the initial groundwork for a 'the grass hasn't quite been as greener as I thought it would be' about turn. I have no idea why anyone would think that would be an ok or viable move after destroying a 10 year relationship on a whim but who knows.
 
Associate
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
2,149
Location
Cambridge
Try something like Meetup or a mutual interest group to expand your social circle; I did it during a very empty period of my life and it helped to meet new people, both male and female, and do stuff with them in and out of your comfort zone
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Jul 2015
Posts
2,850
Location
UK
Just to mirror the comments of others; following the break down of a relationship and the subsequent emotional and social fallout that inevitably comes with it, getting "out there" and meeting new people in whatever capacity you choose, is a great way to not only take your mind off things, but also open doors to new and potentially fruitful social opportunities. Not that I necessarily condone following my example, but I found Tinder to be a *great* way of getting over things....;)
 
Caporegime
Joined
13 Jan 2010
Posts
32,549
Location
Llaneirwg
Try something like Meetup or a mutual interest group to expand your social circle; I did it during a very empty period of my life and it helped to meet new people, both male and female, and do stuff with them in and out of your comfort zone

Real life experience. Meetup was a life saver. Only way I found to meet new people.

It resulted in all the friends I have now
A dnd/board game group (not on meet up)
Current gf.

That and the gym were the two biggest 'help your self' mechanisms for me.

Get in to the mindset of... 'if I don't try it I'll never know if I don't like it I wasn't going to do anything anyway so all good'
 
Soldato
Joined
27 Jun 2006
Posts
12,365
Location
Not here
So why would a girl not want to label a relationship even though practically we are in a relationship?
She says she dont want to put labels on things?

Maybe she is keeping her options open or has her eye on someone else. So if she becomes distant her excuse will be "we wasn't in a relationship anyway"
 
Back
Top Bottom