The Fallout

The Fallout

I want you to imagine a little girl. A girl that is no older than 4 years old.

At this age her Dad walks away from her Mum, her two sisters and her. He walks away like it’s the easiest thing in the world; like they had no impact on his life.

As she grows older, this little girl doesn’t trust many people.

At 8 years old a boy tells her he loves her but she pushes him away because she doesn’t trust him. She pushes friends away in whatever way she can because she believes it’s easier than people hurting her.

At 12 years old she writes a letter to her Dad. His reply? It includes the simple sentence “You should put me in your past as I have done with you”. Imagine how that feels for a 12 year old girl. As she grows even older she decides to seek help in the form of counselling. She wants to learn how to trust people and better herself.

At 16 she learns that the only male who ever said he loved her has died in a terrible accident. When she’s 18 this girl decides to try to trust men and starts dating. At 20 she is sexually assaulted by a complete stranger. A man who thinks it’s his right to take what he wants from her even when she said no more than once and tried to fight back.

From the ages of 21 to 26 this girl is lied to by various men who lead her on with whatever lies until they get bored and walk away from her using excuses, like it’s the easiest thing in the world for them. Like she meant nothing to them and like she had no impact on their lives.

At 26, this girl fell in love.

Truly fell in love with a man she thought was different. In the end he turned out to be the same and walked away from her like she meant nothing. Like it was the easiest thing in the world to walk away. Like she had no impact on his life whatsoever. Do you see how important this girl’s story is now? Do you understand why this girl feels so broken now?

In case you haven’t realised, that girl is me. She grew up to be cynical and bitter. Can you blame her? How can I blame each man individually though? Each one probably didn’t think much of their lies or poor excuses. They didn’t think it would have such an effect on me but when you look at the bigger picture, the effect is huge. One lie from one man means almost nothing. But every lie from every man turns it into something continuous that tells the girl she’s worthless, means nothing to them and has no impact on their lives.

Let’s look back at some of the big ones who could have been something great…

Andy* ghosted completely so not even a reason for walking away was given. Ok, I can get over that. Brian* who ended up giving me the excuses that he could do better than me and that he couldn’t commit to me. He committed. The girl after me; he committed to her. Richard* who fed me the lies that he would never settle down because he was an unsettled soul who just wanted to travel; he settled for a girl after me, in England of all places!

Jamie* who lead me on and on until I admitted I liked him and then suddenly turned around and said he ‘wasn’t in the same place’ as me. He fed me some bullshit that made me think it was my fault but then a week later had a new girlfriend. Jack* (who was horrific in bed anyway) fed me the excuse that he didn’t have time to date but a week later went on a date with another girl to the pub I work in! They’re now in a relationship.

It’s important to recap each of these stories because, just like my Father did, each of these men walked away like it was the easiest thing in the world. As if I meant nothing to them. Like I had no impact on their lives at all. Like I wasn’t good enough for them.

Then there is Chris*; the man I fell in love with.

The man who ended things with me recently. This man is not a villain. He is good. Although he could never say he loved me, I think he wanted to and even tried to love me. But 4 weeks away from turning 28, I still don’t have experience of someone being in love with me.

As you can tell I’m taking the breakup really well haha. I want to believe him when he says that there isn’t anyone else but how can I believe that? Every man before him has fed me various different lies because another girl ended up being there. I wasn’t good enough. How do I believe that this isn’t the case here? Chris lied to me in the end when he promised that everything would be ok; this wasn’t the beginning of the end. As we all know now, it was the beginning of the end. How can I trust that anything was real when he lied at the end? Just like every man before him had lied.

I get that he never meant to lie to me.

He really thought it would be ok. He’d be mortified if he knew I was questioning everything now but what else can I do? I invested everything into our relationship because he promised me a future and I believed him. Then he walked away from me, like it was the easiest thing in the world. Like I meant nothing to him. Like I had no impact on his life whatsoever.

I lost his family that I loved as well as his friends and workmates. I guess they walked away from me too. They all forgot about me like I never existed. At least that’s how it feels. I know that he would never say it was easy for him to walk away. I know he would hate for me to think that but how do I separate this from previous experiences?

How do I get past this?

All this has proven to me is that I’m nothing more to anyone than ordinary. When I was younger I believed I would grow up to be something special. I thought I was destined to be amazing. Now, I realise that I am nothing more than average. Every man in my life has shown me with their actions in treating me the way they did, that I am nothing more than bottom of the pile. When I walk into a room, nobody looks up; I’m as good as invisible. I was never something special to anyone, even the man I recently fell in love with.

He couldn’t see me as anything more than average. Someone easy to walk away from. He gets to move on easily. His family and friends get to move on easily because I’m easily replaceable. I spent time being angry. I went through and impulsively deleted photos of us together on my instagram but he never had to do that because I was never on his. Like I was easy to walk away from. Like I never meant anything to him.

Almost like, despite everything I did for him, I never had any impact on his life at all.

You see the pattern here?

I was dumped recently and no matter how much people try to tell me that time is a healer do you now understand why this means more than that? Every man in my life has walked away from me like I mean nothing. I’m nothing but average. I’m not special because I make no impact on anyone’s life, no matter how hard I try.

The fallout of being dumped has been something I haven’t dealt with well. It’s brought up a lot for me from my past. It’s knocked my self esteem.

I have tried to find different distractions.

I’ve been going to the gym a lot and wearing more make up. People are telling me how amazing I look considering everything.

I’ve lost nearly a stone in weight, desperately trying to make myself appear good enough for any man who screwed me over. I’m releasing anger in kick boxing classes. I’ve been eating less and drinking more in a desperate attempt to temporarily forget things. I’m ignoring my friend’s messages about buying houses and getting engaged because although I want to be happy for them, I can’t.

I’m struggling to be happy for them because Chris wanted to buy a house with me before he suddenly ended things. I had that life, that future that my friends now have but it was pulled out from underneath me. I wasn’t good enough to have it. Now I’m supposed to smile and pretend I’m happy for everyone else who gets to have the future I had stolen from me. I suppose my useless Drama degree needs to come into play at some point.

So the fallout of the breakup?

As you can tell, I’m angry. I’m moving forward but I’m still so angry. I am in a place where I’m constantly questioning everything. I am cynical and bitter and struggling to understand why things ended. The reasons I was given aren’t good enough. I am unable to trust that another woman isn’t involved and my past will explain why I don’t trust it.

Also, his lies at the end mean I’m struggling to trust anything he ever said or did. I’m terrified to turn up to any of our places in case I see him with someone else. The pub we had our first date in, the cafe we had breakfast in all the time. The studio we went to a spin class at. They’re all in my village but he gets custody of them and I have to avoid them all. His life doesn’t change but mine does; because chances are, I meant nothing. I had no impact on his life. I was easy to walk away from.

As you can tell, I’m still in an incredibly negative place.

Sorry about that. I don’t want to keep writing so negatively so I’ve enlisted the help of a fellow blogger for my next post. The beautiful Gemma from www.howtomakefriends.co.uk has agreed to write a guest post for me to transition to something more positive for you all to read. I look forward to posting her post!

In terms of the future for me. I’m struggling to see anything but negativity but to the unlucky guy who ends up with me, I ask you to please be honest with me. Tell me the truth about everything. When you are having a bad day, tell me. If there is someone else, tell me. If you don’t think I’m good enough, tell me. Please don’t lie to me. I am worth more than that.

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