It's strange. Now that things are opening up again, I'm not really sure that I want to bother with most meetups anymore. I think that last year's scuffle with the ex made me feel this way.
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The thing that 2020 taught me was that most people aren't worth knowing. WDJ only cared about me when there was a little bit of gossip that I could share with her. Once I had problems with the ex, she took the side of the ex - and that ended what friendship we had. Luckily, I was never that close to WDJ, nor did I consider her someone worth staying in contact with during the worst of the pandemic.
Unfortunately, my feelings about the pandemic, the ex and our overlapping circle of acquaintances discourages me from wanting to resume connections with these people. I simply don't feel I'd enjoy getting together with them anymore - I'm looking to build better friendships than I've been able to build with the folks from these groups. Sometimes, I ask - is it me? But I think it's something different - if one is a square peg, the round hole won't accept you.
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It's a little depressing to think that one can't go home again, but that's the way I feel. I lost way too much just before and during the pandemic to want to revisit people and places that once brought me happiness. Instead, I want to find people, places, and things which have much more meaning to me. For example, it'd be nice if I could build a new friendship with the ex. No, I don't want romance - that involves communication, negotiation, and compromise: three things we couldn't do with each other that well. Sadly for her, her inability to be assertive in seeing that her needs were met made it impossible for me to address her needs. I can still remember her asking: "Did you want for me to be bitchy?" What she didn't recognize was that there is a different between being abusive/aggressive and being assertive. I wanted her to tell me what she felt, what she needed, and suggest ways we could address those needs. I would have been there for her if she communicated her needs to me in ways that I could understand. But that's water under the bridge. I still like her, so I figure it worth the effort to see if we can be good friends instead of just chat buddies.
I won't rehash what the ex did to me right now, as I figure that I might have hurt her just as much in different ways. I hurt my former cruise partner (FCP) even worse without intending to do so. But when someone demands something of me without leaving me some wiggle room for my needs, I fight back. There are things I miss about her, and things I don't miss. Given how badly she probably feels about me now, I know I will never hear from her again. But then, she can be a vindictive person, so it's best to avoid someone who can be so destructive when set off.
In many ways, FCP and the ex are opposite sides of the same coin. I feel that neither knows how to communicate, negotiate, and compromise that well. Neither has had a "successful" marriage. And neither wants what we had in the past. Due to the pandemic, I don't miss that past that much, as I wasted much of my time in superficial relationships with people.
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The pandemic caused me to think a lot about the things I want from the rest of my life. And I want the emotional closeness that true friends can share. In regard to romance, it'd be nice to have someone who cares for me willing to share my space once in a while. But unless I can find someone who can deal with the two sides of my nature, I doubt I'll be successful in this area.
With the above being said, I was talking with Vicki tonight and she had her thoughts on the Ex and with FCP. She may be right. There are many good things that can be said about the Ex, but she was unable to deal with my TG nature. Vicki never let go of her anger towards the ex for treating me the way she did. Regarding FCP, she sees nothing good in this person, and admonished me to NEVER reconcile with her - even for a distant friendship. Since there's less than a snowball's chance in hell for the friendship to resume with FCP, I have no worries in this regard.
PS: I had another message exchange with the Ex tonight. I won't go into details, but from how I read things, she is afraid that seeing me will trigger her feelings for me again. She doesn't have to worry about that....
