Trying to be supportive to a victim of abuse who is emotionally toying with me – what do I do?

I've been dating a woman for about two months. We're both in our mid-30s. We both fell very hard and very quick – we've both said this is a once in a lifetime, magical connection. We are both very distinctive, unique people – to find someone that thinks on the same wavelength, I didn't even think it was possible.

Anyway, needless to say, we (both) moved quick. If anything, she was the aggressor. We texted throughout the day, every day. We spoke on the phone several times a week, for hours at a time. She wrote me a song (it's a long story). However, I noticed that sometimes she would randomly seem to become absent – like she didn't realize I was even there. The next day, all back to normal.

She finally told me about a pretty brutal sexual assault that happened to her within the last year. I told her I would support her any way I knew how. I said we could move at whatever pace she was comfortable with. Then, as soon as she told me, she vanished. Stopped speaking to me for days. Would chime in once every few days saying she needed space, without elaborating, then acting like nothing had happened and flirting, then again backing off saying she'd moved too fast. Then back again. I have severe emotional whiplash – one second she's professing her love to me, next second, gone.

Anyway, here's where I need advice. She says she can't be in a relationship right now and wants to be friends. She talks like she's taking back everything she said to me about her feelings over the past month which is incredibly hurtful. If that's true it means she lied? Was the whole relationship just fake because she suffered trauma and that was how she coped? I feel very used – the one woman on the planet who could get to this part of my heart, a part I haven't shared with anyone, she got me to say things I've never said, talk about parts of myself I never knew anyone could understand, and she took it and held it for a second and then ripped it up and spat it on it, it feels like. Do I confront her about the way she treated me? She seemed totally oblivious to my feelings or how any of this impacted me – it was always "me this, me that." Or do I just ignore it and be supportive of her as she deals with her trauma? I simply do not know what to do.

I hope it doesn't sound too callous – i do not intend to compare her toying with my feelings to the horrific thing that happened to her. I just want to do what's right and I really, really deeply care about her, but there's also part of me that doesn't think it's right to let her walk all over me. I hope there are some empathetic people here that might be able to understand. I'm hurting a lot. Thanks.

submitted by /u/lovesickrona
[link] [comments]

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)

Follow by Email
RSS