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WelcomeToHolland
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19 Dec 2014, 10:44 pm

I've posted before about my troublesome relationship before on here. We've been together for a long time but things went downhill around 2 years ago. We had a messy separation and long story short, I said to him "no wonder nobody likes you" even though I actually do like him (very bad move I know). I have since apologised (many times and said I do like him, etc.) and while things are much better now, he still holds onto this and worries about it and is upset about it, and I really want to help but don't know how.

In February, I started a book where I wrote things that I liked about him and now all the pages are used and our anniversary is coming up. But I just read it and I'm second guessing the idea...I wrote it over time because I thought it would be better to write stuff as it comes to mind, rather than sit down and compile a list of everything, because it's more natural that way, and shows that I think positive things about him on a regular basis (I also wrote some stories from the day that illustrate what I like about him). While that still makes sense to me, doing it over time means it is very disorganised... it jumps around and does not follow a specific path. I'm also not really the greatest writer.

So basically just wondering if you think I should give it to him or not. I guess I'm nervous because I really want things to continue going uphill and worry that changing anything might screw it up and I want him to KNOW that I like him, but maybe this isn't going to accomplish that..I don't know...


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Humanaut
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20 Dec 2014, 12:00 am

The book sounds like a perfect token of appreciation. It doesn't have to be perfectly organized. Quite the contrary, actually. I think you should give it to him as it is.



cathylynn
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20 Dec 2014, 12:56 am

i would love to get a book like that. it's a very thoughtful gift and likely to be appreciated.



jk1
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21 Dec 2014, 8:49 am

Sounds like a good idea. What do you think might not be good about it?

I think you should also try to make him realize that you said "no wonder nobody likes you" purely out of anger and that you don't actually believe that comment of yours, although I suspect you have already tried that.



WelcomeToHolland
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21 Dec 2014, 5:43 pm

jk1 wrote:
Sounds like a good idea. What do you think might not be good about it?

I think you should also try to make him realize that you said "no wonder nobody likes you" purely out of anger and that you don't actually believe that comment of yours, although I suspect you have already tried that.


I don't know what makes it a bad idea. I'm just worried about doing something different I guess. I feel like he sees the world very differently than me so what seems like a good idea to me sometimes isn't for him. One time, many many years ago (before we were even married I think), I bought him concert tickets for a band he really likes. Good, right? I mean I'd like that. But he hated it. He was polite but I could tell he was dying to leave- we actually left before his band even came out (there were smaller bands opening it). It was too loud for him (way too loud) and he didn't like the lights and there were people smoking weed and that made him anxious and you know, it was just bad. I thought I knew him very well by now (we were happily together for 20ish years) but then this crap happened ~2 years ago, and I realised that there are some things about him that I never really "got" so now I'm just worry that I'm reading him wrong or am not responding optimally.

And yes I've really tried to explain it (not excuse it) but to no avail.


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Dear_one
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26 Jan 2015, 8:49 am

One time, a grade school teacher had her class write a list of one thing they liked about each other person in the class. That night, she transcribed them, and then gave each student a list of everything that people had liked about them. Thirty years later, at a class reunion, over half of them still had those lists with them.