I have a confession to make..... as much as I subscribe to the school of thought that you just have to let stuff go, I still harbor a lot of anger, hostility and pissedoffedness toward The Ex. Like, I get really, REALLY angry to the point where I'd like to commit trespass to his chattels (something along the lines of this) or some other act resulting in grievous bodily harm (but only in my mind, loved ones..... only in my mind). I'm usually a pretty laid back person who doesn't get worked up over much, especially when there's nothing I can do about it. But dealing with The Ex frustrates me to NO END, and I'm just tired of it.
Take this weekend, for example. The arrangement is that whoever has the kids for the weekend picks up said child (as we already each have one of them) at 6pm on Friday and returns them at 6pm on Sunday. Pretty standard arrangement. In the spirit of cooperation, we've been somewhat flexible on this schedule so that nobody is up in arms if we can't get there til 7pm or want the kids to stay over a little later on Sunday for dinner. However, this also leaves great room for abuse. Daughter and I had graduation for our martial arts class on Saturday morning, which The Ex claimed he could not get Daughter to so she would have to stay with me Friday and he'd come get her afterward on Saturday. Wasn't really too happy about this, because in my opinion if it's his weekend, it's HIS responsibility to get her where she needs to go and figuring out the logistics is his problem, not mine. But as usual, I said okay because I had Daughter's interests at heart and knew this was important to her.*
(*Daughter fell off a scooter and broke her wrist a week ago, 3 days before she was supposed to test to become a green belt. The day after she had surgery to reset the bone and have a pin inserted, she went ahead and took, and passed, her green belt test WITH her cast and scratched up face and knuckles.... she was uber determined. So yea, to miss the graduation would have been no bueno.)
Then The Ex changes things on me AGAIN and insists that I bring her to him. Uh no, that's not the deal... it's pick ups, not drop offs. That doesn't matter to him though. So all Friday evening and Saturday morning through afternoon we are battling via text because basically he was refusing to honor the arrangement, AND the secondary arrangement that HE came up with, and come pick her up. It even devolved to the point of him calling me a "stupid hoe".... wholly unnecessary. So FINALLY he says he's on his way to come pick her up around 1pm. I shower, get dressed, and wait.... and wait.... and wait..... because I had to be at a bar association event that afternoon. About an hour and a half later I get a text saying "I'll be there in an hour." It took all I had not to scream obscenities about him in front of his child. Although my calm outer facade said "Fine, I'll just take her with me to my function" my insides were screaming with rage. It took Daughter calling him for him to finally agree to at least meet me en route to my function, to which I reluctantly agreed because the event, while not kid un-friendly, wasn't all that kid-friendly either. I show up to the designated spot.... my travel distance being much further than his.... and he isn't there. More waiting. More rage, which I'm trying desperately to conceal in front of Daughter, but knowing me I didn't do a very good job..... even when I'm quiet, I tend to seethe. He finally shows up and Daughter is on her merry way (to the most hoodtastic and craptastic park festival that The Ex was supposedly too busy "organizing" to come pick her up, but from the looks of it, it didn't look like much "organizing" happened to put that mess together).
I just get so angry at the complete and utter lack of consideration and his constant need to try and punk me..... just a bully mentality. Never mind the blatant disrespect and insults, which really piss me off too, but which unfortunately I am somewhat used to from our days of being in wedded bliss (if you can't detect the custard thick sarcasm there, please stop reading my blogs). I'm a pretty cooperative person, but the more he tries to push me and punk me, the less inclined I am to show kindness. It's kind of a Golden Rule thing, a lesson which was apparently wasted on him. Had he 1) explained why he needed my assistance and cooperation instead of just saying "I can't/won't do it" and 2) Stuck to his word after I agreed to help him out, it would have been an entirely different scenario. And I told him that..... you receive what you give out, and so I wasn't giving out much in the way of compassion and consideration.
This troubles me, however. I don't want to be a bitter, vengeful person. I don't go as far as to be the nightmare baby momma from hell and just do things to fuck with him for the sake of fucking with him, but I'm just not inclined to be very nice. And I'll admit..... my brand of mean is quite surgical and designed to jab right where it hurts. He boxes, I fence. Regardless, though, it wastes A LOT of emotional energy, and, like a real physical fight, even when you've "won" you still come out a little beat up and sore. I'm troubled because it seems like instead of relations between us improving over time, it seems to be getting worse and worse.
Right now I'm at the point where I'm no longer sure how to be the "better person" without being a doormat that gets shat upon constantly. When you are dealing with a person who has no sense of why it's important to honor his word and thinks of nobody but himself, yet insists on what a "good person" he is, it's very, VERY hard to be the bigger person and ignore his antics, insults, and lack of consideration. Does the Golden Rule mean that if someone gives you bad treatment that you are then justified in giving it back? Or is the Golden Rule an absolute mandate that must be followed no matter how you are treated? I know that constant tit for tat gets you nowhere, but there has to be some point at which you should be able to stand up and fight back.
All I know is that I'm tired of the anger, the insults, the conflict, the drama...... I just want to move on with my life peacefully. And not have the constant urge to fight.
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4 comments:
Sorry to post as anon. I'm Mia. The wine has me too lazy to log in first. I usually lurk any how.
This one, however, really hit home. I can sooo relate. The Golden Rule? Well, it ain't so easy to remember how golden it is when it comes to ish like this IMO. Yes, you can and should stand up and fight back. It's ok to point out (calmly and rationally) that the offense demo's a lack of respect and consideration for one's time. In my experience, however, sometimes the fight means no fight at all. At least not in the 'muthaf*cka what?!' sense. Aren't I still being a bigger person when I express the reality of how I feel so as long as I do so maturely and rationally?
When I reach that boiling point with the ex, and trust there are still times when he can take me there in my head, I remind myself that he wouldn't want to cause me such frustration if he weren't either A) unhappy or B) immature/selfish than a mug or hell C) a combo of each(folks are complex ya know? lol). Either way, there's not much point in wasting the energy to fight in the more traditional (not necessarily physical sense) of the word. I found that the fuckery greatly decreased the more I simply did not react so that's the way I choose to fight back. Calmly, plainly state that I don't appreciate certain behaviors and keep it movin. Somtimes it requires a script, uh I mean patience but hey, I'm human. I still have the urge at times but consistency is where it's at. The cost benefit analysis says it just ain't worth my time or energy despite the short term payoff of unloadin' on his ignant arse. Not to mention, mini me will remember who cut the fug up and who didn't and that's priceless.
Without reaction, most (children lol) will cease throwing tantrums. There's just no payoff. Then the reality hits that acting like a petty arsehole has netted nothing and worse left one appearing immature and simple as hell. Who wants to be THAT person?
Oh, I forgot to add that I'm one of those people who thinks that most ppl, despite whether or not they admit it to others, know when they are being foul, spiteful, shady etc. I think many people, even when they don't appear to, know the importance of honoring their word. But for one reason or another they encounter real difficulty in doing so. As far as I see it, that's the heavier burden. *stumbles off soapbox*
Note to self - no commenting on blogs after wine.
"Right now I'm at the point where I'm no longer sure how to be the "better person" without being a doormat that gets shat upon constantly."
That is exactly where I'm at right now, except with my brother, not an Ex. This post really hit home for me. When you figure out how to be that better person without being a doormat, I'd preciate it if you let me know, k? thanks. lol
@Mia: I post post-wine all the time, so post-wine comments are welcome and appreciated. :) If honoring his word troubles him, he sure is good at not showing that. I really think the man is delusional, which is the reason we are divorced.
When I "fight back" I don't go off screaming and ranting with name calling. But it certainly isn't very nice (I tend to exploit weaknesses and insecurities). I (usually) don't try and escalate the situation, but I find myself backing off less and less. He's even asked me when I got "so hard".... when I got tired of putting up with and tolerating childish, bitchassed behavior, that's when.
My grandma used to always say "Jesus said to turn the other cheek... but I only have 4 cheeks." Well, I've run out of cheeks.
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