Discussed how companionship improved
Financial backgrounds differences impact life outlooks
Ethnic backgrounds effect on how we handle money
Differences in priorities.
Wife’s priorities
Career…will look for new in Feb
School
Financial stability.. appropriate salary…pto
CC debt free by end of 2019
My priorities
Fitness
Clear CC debt
Save for roof, driveway
Maintain career
For the most part things have been stable and predictable. At least for me. My wife has been having a tough time with her job. Oh and the lawyer stuff I’m preparing to deal with. She also finished up this semester and will be taking a couple months off from school.
I guess I haven’t been able to think about much else lately. I’ve been focused on the health stuff, which still hasn’t been going the way I want. I was barely able to hit 188 Friday.. then one bad day, bam 193 post Monday workout. Ugh. I imagine winter is having an influence. I’m working out harder than I did in the summer…and the weight was flying off back then. My pushups are better though. Gotta keep grinding.
I’ve gone a whole week with the 5:30 workouts, with Saturday being the rest day and Sunday pt. Weight still being stubborn. My lunches have been good. I think Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening eating out (and drinking some on Saturday too) didn’t help. I need a better approach on how I handle eating out when it is unavoidable. I hate the feeling of paying a lot for a little food… but I suppose I should look at restraunt menu items as more of an experience than money to calorie ratios.
At least I’m sore as all hell. Every bump of this metro reminds me that there are quite a few muscles in my core.
This morning’s workout:
When I look back, man that is a lot of stuff…
I’m switching back to early morning workouts. Even with trying to stay up later, social stuff isn’t happening. I’m also annoyed that I’m having trouble getting back under 190. I will get back to where I was before Ren faire and getting sick. I don’t have anything better to do now other than continue to work, and exercise. My fitness is my focus now. I’ll look at the social stuff when I’m in the low 170s. I feel alone in this.
This morning’s circuit:
Warmup run
2nd warm-up with 10 squats between each exercise: arm rotations, leg extensions, hip thrust, squat to pushup(1 min), squat jacks
10 min circuit, start 5, increment by 5 until 25, then downwards
Pushup
Situp
Squat
2nd circuit 12 min:
Sprint x5
Kb swing green 10
Trx row 10
10 combat rope slam
High knees through floor ladder, tire
Jumping jacks through ladder
Tire thrust 10
Sledgehammer 20
3rd circuit
Repeat, change tire thrust to tire tapsx30…3 burpees after each session
Final, sprints approx every 30 seconds
Stretches
Nifty phrase
We can’t avoid pain but we don’t have to suffer.
We talked about my ability to reframe a negative experience into a net positive one. Useful skill.
Example, my “failed” poly relationship led to me writing down what I consider positive and negative traits to look for in potential friends and partners.
This morning I felt some anger. Partially at myself for forgetting to take off the dog’s diaper before he went outside. I put on a new one when he got back in, fed him, and shortly thereafter he peed in it again while in the house. That was the last one we had so now I an going to worry until we get the reusable ones.
I also had less sleep because my wife set her alarm extra early, even though she went to bed later than me. I was starting to consistently get 7 hours of sleep until today. She’s been having issues going to bed on time, in part due to staying up playing games. Either destiny 2 or overwatch. I don’t blame the games, let’s be clear. If it wasn’t those games, it would be a phone game. If that wasn’t an option, it would be social media.
There will always be something. These are all avoidance tactics. She doesn’t want to face the uncomfortable things like all the school work she has put off, or working out, or any number of things that take more work and have a perceived risk of failure. I get it. Sometimes at work I’ll hit a tough issue or just feel tired, and find myself ducking out to scroll through FB or Reddit. I’m getting better at catching myself. Ultimately I’m better at disciplining myself. I’m not always successful, but that doesn’t mean I quit trying.
Depression sucks. I’ll face it now and then. The vast majority of the time it happens, it is because something is going wrong in my life. The last episode was because of the drama my sis in law brought to my home, making it not safe.
My wife is blaming it on the iud she had installed. It is possible that can contribute, but I don’t think that means she should just throw up her hands and give in. That demon needs to be fought. I know it well.
I’m helping for now by working to take away her distractions. This requires me to “be hard” as my father once viewed as a positive trait in my sister’s ex. I’m starting with helping her fix her sleep schedule by restrictioning internet access on her desktop computer after 10. I can’t rely on that sort of tactic forever though. She needs to build her discipline. I won’t always be there.
So I finally broke things off. Didn’t go the way I expected but that rarely happens anyway. Shortly after my therapist appointment she goes into a meltdown on my wife and I. My wife didn’t handle it All too well. Not too sure I did either, but it did seem any attempt to descalate the situation was met with more attacks. Apparently she blew up on her husband too, so this may have been unavoidable.
Things settled down a bit later after she had a doc appointment that put her on anesthesia. My wife cleaned up their house after getting her sewing stuff.
By Saturday there was 1 more altercation. I was cleaning up the yard of fallen plants at the time. She sort of apologized, then brought up the Spectre of breaking up. I thought on it a bit, then followed through on it.
It was not a happy relationship. Whatever good stuff was there was gone. I feel a little bad about it…but also relieved? Even towards the start the start there were drama moments. I was already in it at the time, but I should really been more wary about the J drama. Even if they weren’t involved at the time, the behavior is a red flag.
There are always at least 2 sides to a story. She painted him as this guy with major emotional regulation issues, but how much of it did she contribute to? Towards the end with us, she used every opportunity to point out something wrong with either of us.
When that is the majority of the relationship, there is no point to it.
So in the future when it comes to starting new relationships, whether poly or not, pay careful attention to how one speaks of their friends, enemies, and lovers. Also be aware if they had a traumatic childhood.
Talked about the Amber thing at length
Take away is I need to take care of myself. Focus on what I like about myself. I define my positive qualities. I have only get one me.
I can state consequences of actions without trying to control anyone. I.e if a person is going to move away, I wouldn’t be able to sustain a relationship. Doing so does not mean I disapprove of their action. If they view it that way, that is them creating their own meaning.
I’m normally a very modest person. In fact, I can be crippling shy and withdrawn at times. Despite this, whenever I allow myself to be open…I seem to have a powerful effect on people. Whether it is social or physical, it seems to be a thing that is happening. I can’t afford to allow myself to be weighed down by my own self doubts. In this short foray into deepening my connections with people on multiple levels, I’m seeing quickly that people will attach themselves to me hard when given the option. This is a responsibility I need to be careful with.
I need to keep writing down my thoughts, and moreover, things I need to talk with people about. I suppose my main challenge now, especially around chatty people, is that it can be hard for me to get words in sometimes. When I do, it is often just a surface response or quip to whatever was recently said. I need to do more to do cut to the heart of important matters.
lionwolfbird 