Friday, April 11, 2014

Five Ways On How To Leave Insecure and Angry Partners

If you've ever been in a situation where you wanted to break it off with someone who is angry and insecure, then you know how hard it can be. You might be in that situation right now. Many people often wonder how they found themselves in a relationship with someone like that in the first place: They impressed your friends and family, made you feel like you were on top of the world, treated you like a prince or princess...and it all changed one day. They became a stranger, and you saw their insecurities, anger, frustration and lack of patience, and soon you realized they had a darker side than you could've ever imagined. They may have even battled with addictions. What do you do then? How do you break up without worrying if they're going to get revenge on you?

This is one of the most difficult situations that a couple can face. Breaking up with someone that has lost all common sense can be tough or even terrifying. There is an old saying my Pop would come up with, “if you find your hand stuck in a lion’s mouth, don’t yank it out – you ease it out.” Whoever shared that knowledge with him either witnessed the bloody aftermath or saw the success of someone pulling his hand back to safety that there was no question which option you should choose. Weaning them off of you is the only way to handle situations like this. If you notice that your partner starts displaying abusive tendencies, then it is time to do something but acting fast is not the way to go. So, here are some tips to wean off a potentially dangerous partner:
  1. Don’t allow yourself to get into an argument with them: They will blow up, and then calm down and apologize – pretending that everything is normal (even though you know there is trouble ahead). 
  2. Don’t answer every call: Weaning someone off can be difficult especially if they continue to disrupt you by calling repeatedly. 
  3. Make other people that you both know aware of their erratic behavior:  People will be less likely to act out on their anger if they know that other people are watching them closely. 
  4. Be consistent with your words: This is probably the most important rule! Don’t tell your partner that you don’t want to deal with them, then let them back in your life because you are lonely. This is the biggest mistake that most couples make dealing with an abuse partner.  They won’t believe that you are serious about not wanting to be with them anymore if you keep playing games. 
  5. Don’t put a restraining order on them right away:  This may have the same effect of yanking the hand out of the lion’s mouth, causing him to snap even faster.  A restraining order is best if all else has failed.
If you are trying to break up with a man or woman who is not mentally stable, you must take the necessary precautions to keep yourself safe. You don’t know what they will do next, so it is important to anticipate their next move. Protecting yourself is first and foremost, be consistent in your words and your actions, and if that fails, contact authorities and their family. They may be able to talk them down from their anger, and will be less likely to react if they know that family is involved. Everyone has to deal with a difficult breakup at least once in life. However, how you handle your breakup with someone who shows signs of mental instability is what will keep you from starring on the next episode of “Snapped.”

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Wednesday, April 9, 2014

The Lesson Of Marrying Too Soon

It’s a realization some couples come to after they’ve been married a while. It’s painful to even acknowledge this. At least for me, it was one of the most difficult lessons I had to learn after divorcing my first wife and marrying again. How divorcees arrive at this point varies: perhaps the honeymoon stage wore off quicker than either of us expected. It could be that there are conversations that should’ve been had before the we said “I do”, but we didn’t realize it until after. Maybe I “woke up” one day to realize that I don’t know my spouse at all. Whatever the case, couples are left with three options when facing this realization. I can admit that I experienced all of these realizations and more. As much as I believe in marriage, I also believe in the very real divorce rate. If you're in this situationship like I was, you can either:
  • A)  Ignore it, and continue on as if this knowledge never surfaced,
  • B)  Analyze why they came to this realization and work through it, or
  • C)  take the knowledge and rectify the mistake by ending the marriage.
Ignore
Ignoring the fact that you moved too fast is a way for many other issues to fester. The marriage will not grow because neither of you are willing to look at what could possibly rock the foundations of the marriage. The two won’t know how to deal with each others quirks that may not have been evident before. There will be no intimacy within the union, and without that key ingredient, the 800 pound gorilla will continue to be in the room. The spouses can hope that nothing else will upset their marriage, but the reality is, if you don’t deal with the “we rushed” fact, ANYTHING will be a challenge for you. The best course of action is to analyze what made you realize that you did in fact, rush.

Analyze
This is tough. Both spouses have to be open, honest, and transparent when discussing why they feel like they moved too fast. If either person is not going to do the required “soul-baring” that is needed for this to work, then the marriage will likely be headed for a split anyway. But if they both are committed to the marriage, regardless of how it started, then this option can be the binding that strengthens the bond. Each has to be willing to listen to the other, and not be quick to judge how the other feels. Nor can they dismiss the others thoughts. Increasing their devotion to each other is goal. Perhaps they’ll need marital counseling to work through the feelings, but the goal is to stay married. Both spouses made a vow before God to stay, through thick and thin. That vow doesn’t change just because two people married too fast. If they think it does, then they’ve reached…

The End
This is where I eventually landed in my process. It was real, and I was tired of holding water in my cupped hands while trying not to have any of it spill out. Some couples just don’t see the point in continuing a marriage where one, or both of them feel like the fact that they got together too fast can be overcome. They’re both willing to, in a sense, cut their losses and go. The split can be affable, or acrimonious, but it will happen regardless, especially if no children are involved. If kids are, then the situation can get…interesting. Nevertheless, the spouses made a decision to end their union. They’ll both take it as a learning experience, and ideally, won’t make the same choices again.

Have you ever felt like you got married to fast?  Which option did you and your spouse choose?  Have things gotten better, stayed the same, or gotten worse?  If you did end up divorcing, what would you tell others who got married too fast?