The Motivator has Cancer

Just a recap for those who haven’t been following my multi-year dating saga. The Motivator was my long-time friends with benefit who I was at one point crushing really hard on, which is probably an understatement if you’ve read past posts. Well, he’s a few years younger than me, very physically active both at his job and at the gym and he got hit with a cancer diagnosis.

I’ve been struggling with my friendship with him and how he fits in my life now that I have a boyfriend and our friendship seems more and more out of place. His cancer diagnosis made me think about what would happen if he just disappeared from my life – like if he were to just die. Oh I definitely realize how wrong it is to have that kind of thought, but at the same time it’s worth asking as a hypothetical.

Well, firstly, it’s not like it would just happen overnight. What I started to question was my continued friendship with The Motivator for the time being actually. His cancer diagnosis actually has more of an immediate impact as well. Like, could you really unfriend a friend that was recently diagnosed with cancer? That just seems wrong. For a short period of time, I felt like I was actually in an even more sticky situation with our friendship like I couldn’t leave even if I wanted to.

Okay, so real-time processing this thought as I am writing this post because, on one side, I do feel like the relationship/friendship has played itself out. Now that I have the perspective of having a boyfriend, I kind of want to balance myself out and actually have more girlfriends in my life. I’ve always had the idea of having a few girlfriends who live nearby and who I can lean on for emotional support and should I want to start a family, maybe these girlfriends would be in the same life stages as me. Or, maybe as a couple my boyfriend and I can invest in some couple friends at the same relationship stage as us. It’s not like there’s no opportunity cost, I do think that there are opportunity costs.

Even now, I think that The Motivator has taught me so much in life, but is that reason enough to remain friends? I don’t know. I also feel like I held onto the relationship because I wanted to continue to have sex with him and enjoyed that type of company, and that part of me now is now wholly being fulfilled by my boyfriend. Not just that, but The Motivator has hurt me, although I’m over it now, it’s not like these acts didn’t happen at all. If I had to pinpoint it down to something, it would be the lack of communication that caused the most hurt for me. I wished that he was more open about what our relationship was, I wished that he was more open about the time that started crushing on another girl in our group of friends that he would disclose things things to me. I remember being so humiliated by him a few times such as when he just showed up with the girl he crushed on without warning, how when we were on vacation together he told this stranger that we weren’t together, and how on many occasions he seemed ashamed that others would insinuate that we might be together. And to that, I guess I could have brought it up too but I didn’t because it didn’t feel welcomed at the time.

So now when the tone has changed in our relationship because I have a boyfriend, he would ask me to essentially spend his birthday together – when we never did birthdays in the past unless it was with a large group. I always knew that he knew when my birthday was, but he would let it pass without a word. It’s these kind of things that I think about. We can never really be close friends in that way because of that.

If this relationship could be simplified, it was that we were friends with benefits mostly because he didn’t want to be more serious. And now that I’m with someone our dynamic has changed and it almost, just almost feels like he is pulling in harder now that I have a partner. I realize that in today’s society, people would say to leave this relationship aside, it’s just that it feels like he just keeps on holding on tighter – and now the cancer diagnosis.

I guess I am more so the type to let friendships fizzle rather than cutting things off, which I consider unnecessary.

Separate thought I had the other day – I kind of wonder if The Motivator is kind of jealous now that I have a partner. I don’t mean it in a way that I hope he was jealous, no, not at all… rather the opposite. I actually have a fear that he might be jealous and because he doesn’t know how to communicate this properly and he has this jealousy pent up inside that he might be capable of doing something bad. Not to say that he’s had a history of this or shows any signs of this at all logically – but it was a really scary fleeting thought that I had the other day. And the only way I was able to shake it off was to remind myself how vehemently he shook me off before.

And then much more recently, I considered the other side of the coin. What if we remain friends, and to be fair he’s been one of the most consistent friends that I’ve had in the last few years… I mean I guess that’s partially because our sex lives intertwined but it has been consistent. Some might say that it’s pretty chill that we’re able to move fluidly from being friends with benefits to just being friends.

I want to be clear that I’m mostly debating if we should be friends or not based on our complicated background with each other. If I were to only consider just the friendship alone – like do I even enjoy the friendship enough to keep it going? I think the answer is still no… at least for the current time being. He comes over every other week or so and we have dinner together – I cook dinner, and while I enjoyed that before I would much rather be cooking dinner for my boyfriend now. I enjoy the chats, but I don’t enjoy it that much that I couldn’t live without it. A big point too is that he doesn’t share his friends, his friendships with me are solely with me and that is it. He almost never brings me out with his friends, he never invites me to concerts even though he knows we have very overlapping taste in music, even when he hangs out with our mutual friends he doesn’t think to call me out sometimes. I was going to say that maybe on my side it’s like that too – but it actually isn’t. I stopped bringing him out when we first met each other, because he was simply just not into my friends at the slightest. And I can even think of a very recent time when I invited him out to a concert and it’s like he doesn’t even consider it.

So yes, I guess maybe I’m a bit of a coward. I don’t want to be blatant that I don’t really care to be the kind of friends that meet up even every other week, at least not at this time. So I think about what if situations where he is no longer here… I realize that isn’t nice but it really was just a thought exercise. I’m non-confrontational, not all the time, but in cases like this I am yes. Usually it’s really easy to just create distance in a relationship, but in this case I do feel like he’s holding on. And I think it’s okay for now. Maybe he needs me? If he needed me, I’d be there for him. But my worry is that it’s not that… it’s that he doesn’t care all that much and is really actually motivated by his own jealousy or ego now that he’s not with me in that way anymore and he’s just acting on that ego. I think nobody really wins in that situation, not him, not me.

Awkward Platonic Friendship with The Motivator

I’m still dating The Magician and things are still magical with him. Everyday I continue to be grateful for what he brings to my life.

But I logged back into this blog to write about my awkward relationship with The Motivator still. We continue to be friends, and despite dating The Magician for over a year, he continues to put in a considerable effort to see me roughly once every week or two. I don’t really get it. We don’t sleep together anymore, we are literally just friends and he is now even more consistent with seeing me than even when we were sleeping together.

Personally, I figured that this friendship would fade away a bit. Although he was nice to me and introduced me to a lot of nice things, at the end of the day, we were friends with benefits. I didn’t want to abruptly end our friendship when I started dating The Magician more seriously, but I figured that it would naturally fade a bit and while we would see each other in group settings, that this would be the extent of our friendship. But no, he would initiate and declare that he would come over about once every other week or so.

This past month, he asked me to spend a day with him at the gym followed by dinner… this day also just so happens to be his birthday. Since his birthday fell on the weekend, and my boyfriend was over at my place, like he is every weekend, I had to decline. The thing is, The Motivator and I NEVER did birthdays, and the one year that I remember where we did celebrate his birthday it was with our mutual group of friends. I also know that he knows (at least roughly) when my birthday was, but always downplayed it or didn’t bring it up. I even recall one year when I asked our group of friends to go on a day trip to climb on my birthday and he mentioned he had work, didn’t come, but also didn’t even wish me happy birthday after the fact either. I guess I bring this up, because I kind of felt a bit guilty about declining his last minute invitation to spend his birthday with him, but I do feel like it’s justified in some ways.

He asked me again the next day, which was Sunday and so I was still with my boyfriend. I said that we could meet up with our group of friends and asked if I could bring my boyfriend. He took a whole day to respond to me but eventually we agreed on this plan. Long story short, there was a misunderstanding and our mutual friends could not show up, so here I am with my current serious boyfriend (The Magician), and my previous friends with benefit, The Motivator. By the way, my current serious boyfriend, The Magician absolutely knows that The Motivator and I used to be friends with benefits, but he also knows that I’m very serious about him. Overall, it was fine in the moment, but in thinking about it, it is a kind of an awkward situation. The Motivator wanted to go out for dinner afterwards I guess for his birthday, to which my boyfriend and I declined.

The week following the Motivator’s birthday, he wanted to have dinner over at my place. We did that and we had a good time together – we have a routine together where I make dinner, he appreciates the food that I make, we catch-up, which really amounts to me telling him all about my life, me asking him what he has going on with his, to which he gives me tidbits of what is going on, we listen to some music together late into the night. The difference these days is that we no longer get drunk and high together to end up hooking up and having him stay over.

I guess I feel like my life is a bit crowded. I’m happy with The Magician and he gives me everything that I need in a partner. He is my confidant, my best friend, and the best emotional support that I could ever ask for. He is open, communicative and I have zero doubts that he is the man that I choose to be with. I know that The Motivator and I are just friends and I have no feelings for him at all these days, but somehow it just doesn’t feel appropriate, not to mention that I’m not sure why and whether it is worthwhile to put the energy and effort in this friendship.

But while I say that, I also feel that maintaining long-term friendships in my life is important. As an adult, I appreciate how difficult it is to build and maintain long-term friendships, and I would say that I have just a handful of friends that I regularly keep in touch with. Who am I to tear friendships down… but the real question is, is this really purely a friendship? Even if I don’t have feelings for my ex-FWB, The Motivator, is this friendship actually just an innocent platonic friendship now?

And for additional context, I feel like my boyfriend, The Magician seems more fine about all of this than I am… I’m not sure if in his position I would feel the same way. Is this really fair to him?

I think it’s easy to say, oh cut out the ex-FWB from your life that is already full as-is, but I’m not sure if that completely resonates with me. Relationships are complicated, and long-term friendships in this day and age are rare.

I other news, The Magician and I have discussed and we made the decision that we will be moving in together. Originally we were looking to rent a bigger place, but in the meantime, it’s just easier for him to move into my place. It just gives us more financial flexibility to do so. I’m very excited for this to happen, we’re just taking some steps to setup my place so that is is appropriate to accommodate for this.

One whole year with The Magician

It’s been one whole year with The Magician. I’ve written very little about him on this blog and that’s because there’s not much to write about, he is so special to me and touches my life in a positive way every single day. Being loved by him is like a breath of fresh air, but more than that, it’s like breathing. Sometimes I think about how I even breathed before. I’ve cried thinking about how I’ve lived without this kind of love in my life before.

What makes him different from past lovers is that he truly wants to be with me, and we have a very special connection. Even when we get mad at each other or are annoyed or disagree, it’s very easy to see beyond the superficial immediate feeling. It’s easy because we know that we care about each other so much. Our relationship feel very natural and is very easy. And when things are easy, there’s really not much to write about – I think that’s key.

The last time I wrote in this blog, I wrote about how even though I’ve moved on, I wasn’t sure how to deal with him. We were no longer lovers, and we were just friends but sometimes it felt like he was holding onto something. Since then, I can’t really say that things have been smoother. Our friendship still continues, and I’m lucky that my boyfriend, The Magician is very understanding. He has absolutely no qualms about The Motivator being in my life, because he understands that the connection that we have is so strong and frankly I spend all my time with my current boyfriend, The Magician anyways.

While I have respect for The Motivator and all that he has brought to my life, I am just over him in a romantic way. And even if things didn’t work out with my current boyfriend, I just don’t think I could go back to pursuing a deeper connection with him. I don’t feel like he’s my “back-up” or anything like that.

I guess I am a different person now. The Magician has made me realize all the joys of being able to fully trust my significant other. He has made me feel safe and I love how silly and joyful our relationship is. I say that we are “ridiculous” in that we go to lengths to be so silly with each other. He lets me be myself and I don’t feel judged, even for the things that I do that I’m not so confident with or feel that it’s not the social norm. The Magician accepts me for me. The only thing that he bugs me about is taking care of myself better. There is nothing better in a relationship than someone you can fully let loose with.

This might be the end of my dating saga, my dating blog.

I will continue to update this blog on the ups and downs of my current relationship – every relationship has those, but I do pray that my days of dating are over.

I do not mourn the end of my dating life, I see it rather as a celebration. That said, the shift from dating to not dating is not without its challenges. Dealing with the balance of providing your partner with attention, yet not taking too much away from the rest of your life is a new challenge. Another is dealing with men who still continue to pursue me, and being able to turn them down gently and respectfully. I still have trouble with doing that.

I can’t deny that I had a rough time being single for a long time. I hope to be able to help others that were in my position. When I was single, I tried so many weird ass methods, some of which were very wild and had many rules and such. Looking back, my thoughts on this is that although it helped me learn a bit about myself it was largely not so helpful. In the end, being authentic to myself and pursuing what I naturally liked worked out the best for me.

My Favourite Boyfriend, The Magician

Wow things have changed drastically since I’ve last posted. I have a boyfriend now. How did it happen? Well, we have been friends for nearly a year before we got together. Over the course of that year, I always knew I liked him and thought that he was cute, but I never thought that he saw me in that way. We were a little bit flirty with each other, but I was never sure because he was so much younger than me.

I haven’t written about it because I kind of dropped writing a bit. The reason for this is that I realize that my writing created this narrative that compounded the way I framed how I saw my romantic relationships. It was helpful in mind dumping my thoughts and frustrations and sometimes it did help but I see now that the way I framed my relationships may have not been the healthiest.

I had been crushing over him for about a year and I never thought that I would find someone that I am so into, that also reciprocates that feeling. We are so compatible, we share many of the same hobbies and we both just want to spend all of our free time together and do everything together. Honestly, it is everything I’ve ever wanted in a relationship.

So what about The Motivator? The man that has shown me so much of myself, but also has caused me so much grief?

Well, I told him that I have a boyfriend now. We definitely do not hook up anymore. My idea was that he would just be an acquaintance because it’s not like I was seeing him that often before. He would show up pretty much once in awhile, after the pandemic years anyways. After all the things that has happened between us, the disinterest he showed in me, I find it so surprising that he now literally pines over me.

Now that I have a boyfriend, he buys me gifts all the time, he tells me which days he has off, he wants to spend his day off with me almost every week, he wants me to cook him dinners, he comes over and stays until late but I don’t allow him to stay over. He wants to go to dinners with me, he wants to go to yoga with me, he wants to do all sorts of things now. He messages me often, at one point almost everyday. He even compliments me and says nice things and reminisces about the times that we’ve spent together.

I don’t have any feelings for him anymore, just none. I’ve become the passive person in our relationship now. In all honesty, I would rather not do most of these things. My needs are met by my boyfriend and while I do have interest in remaining acquaintances/friends, it is not my prerogative to put anymore effort into this relationship.

It is so ironic how the tables have turned. Do I think that he wants me actually? I do actually think that he thinks that he wants me, absolutely. I think it’s one of those situations where he didn’t realize that he wanted me until it was too late.

I am not at all keeping him around as back-up or anything like that. I was thinking to myself that even if my relationship with my current boyfriend doesn’t work out, I would never go back to pursue a relationship with The Motivator. He absolutely had his chance and there has been too much rejection for me to ever want to go back to that.

Also, my current boyfriend has opened my eyes to how well I can be treated, and there is no way in hell I would go back to a situation like The Motivator. The Motivator had me on a toxic emotional rollercoaster. Sure, I learned a lot about myself, and it was thrilling at times but what I have now with The Caregiver, it’s just not comparable.

Some would say that I need to cut it off with The Motivator. The reason why I am against it is because we still have some parts of our lives i.e. mutual friends, mutual hobbies that actually would have us bumping into each other often. I don’t believe in shutting out a relationship entirely just because I’m in a new relationship. My boyfriend, The Magician also thinks that it’s important to be cordial, if possible with ex-lovers. He is supportive of the friendship and he is very much in the know that I think the world of him.

Even still, The Motivator has become a bit too much now. It’s funny how I think about what he’s doing and hit bow much I would have appreciated it if it had happened before. But now, I feel burdened and feel that I need to close out some boundaries.

Feeling Fresh with The Magician

What is life like now that I’m not entirely infatuated by The Motivator? It’s different for sure. I do think about him less, a lot less, like I’ve stopped thinking about what it might feel like if he so happened to change his mind and decided he likes me. I feel like at this point, if that were to happen, I would feel confused. Do I still love him? Hm… it’s hard to love someone that doesn’t fully reciprocate it. I mean, I think that I could definitely still love him if I so choose to, but now I feel like that is something that I can decide. Have I just replaced this infatuation with The Magician? No, I really don’t think so.

When I am away from The Magician, I don’t miss him. I actually find that it can be exhausting to be around him sometimes because I have a crush on him and I’m flustered while at the same time trying to hide the fact that I’m flustered. I enjoy it a lot when I am with him actually and I can be very talkative when I’m with him, but it can be tiring too to be on guard.

I can tell that he likes me, for sure he does. He asked me to go to the gym to train with him this week, and this week we partook in activities that he was more enthusiastic about and he was leaning into me so hard. I now notice his body position when he’s around me and he makes it very obvious and turns his entire body towards me and even leans in when we interact. Though, when we’re amongst mutual friends, he doesn’t do that. I do think that there are certain friends that we have that are fully aware that we are into each other, but not our closest gym friends, our inner circle now.

It’s fresh because I feel like I get to turn over a new leaf. All the things that I said I would do differently when I really liked someone new, I can do that now with him. All those things that I said before about The Motivator and what I’d do differently if I could do it again. I would actually actively get to know more about the hobbies that he likes, that I would listen more to him, that I would allow for more time and be more patient for romantic feelings to naturally develop. And if it doesn’t then I think that I would be in a better place to accept that this time around.

Though sometimes I look at myself and I kind of just think about how he’s just out of my league. The Magician is younger and objectively very cute and fit. There’s just no doubt about it, and it does make me think that I need to work on my confidence a bit. I mean, do I think I could seduce him? Yes, but at the same time that’s not really what I want. I want him to actually like me.

Forget The Motivator, Found Someone New

It’s happening. I found someone that I like more than The Motivator… and it scares me to pieces.

But first, a recap. I’ve had probably the most mentally healthy year in my life. I didn’t really think about relationships really and mostly just focused on me. I was very content. I did go on a few dates here and there and also had a few people that I thought could maybe be a good fit, but it never really worked out. Unlike in the past, in the past year (or even more), I’ve not really been emotionally invested in any.one from a relationship standpoint.

I still thought about The Motivator from time to time, but it wasn’t really the same as it was before. We even still hooked up as recently as a few weeks ago. He now works nights and he would booty call me and come over at or past midnight. Sex with him has always been amazing and that hasn’t changed. Even better, since we don’t really have mutual friends, all of my anxiety about all of that has subsided. I still wouldn’t want to see him with anybody else. Luckily for me, I haven’t really had to see that happen.

It might be the end of The Motivator era. There is a new guy, and I’m pretty sure he’s into me. He is much younger and really smooth and empathetic though. It was definitely a slow burn at first. We go to the same gym and one day he introduced himself to me and said that he had been following my Instagram. I thought he was so smooth about it, given that he had been following me online for some time now and it could have come across as creepy. He somehow got me to drive him to, let’s call it a few nature hikes with a few friends. I thought nothing of it, I thought nothing of him, though I found him to be very cute. I just figure that he’s too young for me and most definitely out of my league.

Then we talked about possibly going on a trip with a few other people at the gym. He tells me he booked the time off already and was going to go either way. At the time, I was on the fence and I guess with that, I decided to just get up and go! There’s definitely something suspect about the whole situation, but maybe for the good.

Then, we happened to be at the same outdoor summer rave party together. I was with my friends, and he was with his. It was a series of parties. The first time I saw him there it was a good time. I didn’t think much of it. The second time I saw him there, we were both on something. I was inebriated and he led the way. I held onto him, and it turned into hand holding and it was such a comfortable hand holding experience. I loved every minute of it. It was magical. In an inebriated state, I told him that I liked him a lot, and he smiled back at me and said that he liked me a lot too. That was our confession I guess. The drugs brought it out of us.

I had to come back the next day… he asked me to join his friends. So I went out of my way to get a sold out ticket for the second day. I wasn’t as inebriated, but he went and met me at the door and even bought me a drink. Just everything about it was so magical.

He escorted me back to where I picked up my bike. He was extra concern about me when at one point he thought I was going to walk all the way back, and he texted me several times even though he knew my phone was dead.

I guess I noticed that he went out of his way to be where I was. I said I was going to the gym the next day and he showed up. I said I wanted to get Thai food, and he was there for it. I love every bit of it and I have to say that that weekend was one of the best I’ve ever had.

I’m scared though. I know I’ve pulled back even though he seems to be going strong with the communications and ensuring that we continue to have a connection. He would bring up how he had a great time, and how his friends really liked me and thought I was really cute (though I knew that’s probably his words). We have such a strong connection… but I am so scared. This was exactly how it was when I was with The Motivator. Everything seemed so perfect and he seemed like the most caring and doting guy ever, then all of a sudden he pulled back and was just kind of over it. I’m traumatized.

I’m going to call the new guy The Magician. He’s kind of magical and I think he truly does make a lot of things happen in the background, more than I’m fully aware of. Hands down, I like him way more than The Motivator.

The Motivator has really coasted our relationship… in that we had a few special moments, but the bad definitely outweighs the good the longer it drags out. The only thing he’s really riding on now is our physical relationship. The other day, I texted him because I had an awful dream. He just kind of dismissed it. There’s nothing, there really is nothing that I’m getting out of this other than sexual gratification.

I think that if there was nothing that came out of The Magician, then at least it gave me some perspective on The Motivator and how he is treating me.

I tend to come into relationships like this really fast and hard… once I decide that I like someone, I’m ready to move at lightening speeds. But I’ve learned my lesson I think. I’m going to try to take this with The Magician slow. Technically, we haven’t really gone on a real date together, we just had a moment. And now I’m just acting kind is bizarre when he’s around and purposely keeping a bit of a distance. If I overthink it, I don’t know what to do or how to act… it’s kind of cute in a way because I’ve not felt this way in years. On the other hand, I guess I do know, I should just be myself.

So this group trip that we’re going on together, it’s only actually 3 people. Me, The Magician and one other guy who The Magician seems to be able to convince to tag along. There is a last leg to the trip, which I was on the fence about. Before I realized I had feelings for The Magician, I was pretty certain that I was just going to go home, or at the most stay an additional one or two days only. Now, he’s definitely become aware that we have a connection and he’s sent me his AirBNB listing and stated that there were two beds so that I’d be comfortable. I don’t know what to do…

I think the general theme of this is that I don’t know what to do really, and everything now requires me to think twice. In addition to having been traumatized the last time I felt this strongly about someone, I also am not unaware that this thing that I have with The Magician is high risk, and highly unlikely to work out. The Magician and I now have a circle of friends that is quite close. Also, he’s significantly younger than me and has a non-committal personality. He’s very much the type of guy that is in it for the chase, the long game. And so part of me wants to just play this out for the long game, and see how far it can run out.

I often wonder whether my mistake with The Motivator was not playing the long game, and just moving too quickly. In the beginning I had him coming to my friend’s BBQ party, we went to brunch, I said yes to everything. I would just ask him randomly to come over to hang out with me. I was very open about how much time I wanted to spend with him. It maybe cut the chase short and wasn’t as appealing. But on the other hand, I wasn’t playing games, I really opened up… and so I’m just uncertain about what to do now.

Multi-faceted Personality Analysis

A bit of a different type of post here. I saw a video yesterday about multiple personality disorder, formally known as dissociative identity disorder. While I don’t have this I thought it was really interesting. Every person has a personality that really is multi-faceted, but it seems like people with this disorder literally split their brains between different versions of themselves.

The older I get the more I realize that I’ve had quite a traumatic upbringing and it’s not quite “normal”. I thought about identifying these different aspects of myself in order to help me, give me a way to analyze and understand myself a bit better.

If I had to divide the different aspects of myself:

Work Bella – This is my work self. I am disciplined, generally focused on certain priorities and key points, highly motivated. I am motivated by positive re-enforcement and I have a can-do attitude. I’m quick and fast, capable of critical thinking and problem solving. I am personable, but always know what my objective is. I am charismatic. I am good in high-stress situations, but find it to be tiring. I am not great at being scolded or general disapproval.

Work Bella started off as the studious version of myself at a very young age, being positively encouraged and re-enforced as a young child to study hard and receiving positive feedback on a job well done. During the work days, I often am this version of myself, but even outside of work when I need to find motivation or need help solving a problem, this is me.

PLUR Bella (referring to peace, love, unity and respect) – This is the carefree, loving version of myself. I am emotional and loving and caring and want the best for everyone. I am non-judgmental. I believe that every person has their reasons for their actions. I like to connect with people, especially on a deeper level. I want to get to know them, figure out what drives their heart. I want to do everything I can to make the world a better place and to help others be their best selves.

PLUR Bella usually comes out when I am intoxicated, particularly when I am high on marijuana. PLUR Bella comes out during leisure settings, when connecting on a deeper level with others. PLUR Bella developed from a more maternal version of myself, taking care of my younger brother, making sure he has what he needs to succeed. PLUR Bella really surfaced as recently as a few years ago when I met The Motivator and he really gave me a different perspective in life, to disconnect, to be carefree and to truly enjoy bringing small amounts of joy to others.

Maternal Bella – Maternal Bella exists because I’ve been an older sister for most of my life. I remember dreaming about an aunt that I disliked dropping my infant brother – it was a nightmare that is still quite vivid to me today. Even at a very young age, I had the instinct to protect my younger brother no matter what. I am protective, but also strict, and easily roused if my younger brother makes a decision that I don’t approve. I can be highly emotional and easily angered, if someone threatens my brother or someone else that I am protecting.

I like to think that I’ve since matured since PLUR Bella came to be a few years ago, and take more of a step back and allowing things to unfold as well as understanding that there are things that sometimes will just not be controllable. Also, my brother is now a full fledged adult now and my feelings and need to take care of him has lessened considerably.

Teenage Angst Bella – Teenage angst Bella actually originated from my early childhood days, around the age of 6-7 years old. I was starting to explore boundaries and would be silly, tell jokes and try to annoy others. In my teenage years, this included swearing at random people on the phone just to see what their reaction would be, pulling pranks, being mischievous. I am looking for fun, an exciting time, looking to break the rules in a carefully assessed manner.

I am rebellious, go against the norm or my parent’s wishes, takes calculated risks. I can be easily excitable. I suffered some trauma, and I am angry that my parents do not grant me the freedom to go out with my friends. I am bored and so I create my own excitement in other ways.

Introverted Bella – Introverted Bella has always existed, ever since the beginning. I loved to play with my make-up set when I was little, by myself. I would go through each piece of the set quietly and I even remember finding a secret compartment in this make-up set after playing with it many times and was really excited about that.

An older introverted Bella now is someone that enjoys dining alone, journaling, and many other introverted activities. I can get quite exhausted dealing with people and don’t like business interactions or even interactions with friends if they become too tiring.

Perfect Boyfriend Bella – This is a version of a man that is my dream man. This version of me is never in the driving seat, but more so someone in the background that forms the version of the perfect man that I wish I could be with. He is there for me when I am mistreated, he is there for me when I am heartbroken and tells me that everything will be okay and that I deserve to be treated better.

He is there for me in simple situations like when I was younger and I wanted to share a magazine that I really liked. He is always there and happy and willing to do anything that pleases me. He’s also there to help me fulfill my loving boyfriend sexual fantasies.

Child Bella – Child Bella is easily excitable over small and simple things such as something really cute, or an exciting idea. I like to be taken care of, and doted on. I like it when I can depend completely on others to help me navigate, drive.

Child Bella mostly comes out when I am in a relationship where I fully trust the other person to be a responsible adult and not lead me astray, when I feel comfortable enough with someone where I don’t have to check to make sure they are doing everything correctly because I have that level of trust and confidence in them. When I am driving, I tend to ask others for life advice and really take it wholeheartedly because I fully trust them. I am easily excitable and if I am being taken care of and my needs are met, I am elated.

When I split up my different selves up into these various components, I feel like

Unexpected Events and Imposter Syndrome (In a Good Way)

I just spent the last two weeks in another city. It was unexpected, in that it was supposed to be a trip with friends with some rock climbing but last minute the friends caught covid and I found myself going on a solo trip. Even the days leading up until trip, I just really didn’t think about what I’d be doing on this trip.

Let’s start right before the vacation even started – just really unexpected events. I had tickets to an electronic music concert. I went with my married friend. I met a guy at the event and he seemed really interested in me, even made his entire group of friends follow me around. I basically had a posse of guys following me around. So many things happened that night and it was so outrageously fun: two guys hit on me, I met a DJ and tried to get him to sign my boobs, there was drugs, everything. At the end of the night, the one guy (who is also a rock climber) asked if I wanted to leave with him, but I declined. We exchanged contacts and started texting each other. I told him I’m going on a trip for two weeks and he seemed alright with that. Let’s call him Awkward Dancer, because he dances like… a white guy. But he’s cute and tall and nerdy and I like that.

Next day, I was still super hungover, but I had a gym outing with a guy that I bumped into at the gym the other day whom I used to work with at the bank. The place that we used to work at was quite special in that it was a big part of who we are as a person – and so we had 2 things in common already. The few times I’ve seen him it seemed like he was in a relationship already but turns out he isn’t anymore. Great, so was it a date? Yeah, turns out it really did feel like a date, and it went well too. The gym climbing session was great fun and there was just so much to talk about because we have so much in common. We can call him The Analyst, because we were both analysts at the bank when we worked together. We haven’t really texted much since I left on the trip, but it does seem like it’s quite open to that.

So I go on this trip and everything just seemed to fall in place. During the pandemic, I picked up a new hobby – livestreaming and so I met up with some girls who has the same hobbies and we just really got a long well even though they are much younger than me. We even threw a party at the end of the week together – and now all of a sudden I have girlfriends! I’m not the kind of person that has a lot of girlfriends and so this was really special to me and I’ve always envisioned having “Sex and the City” -esque girlfriends and this is the closest thing that I’ve ever had to this. I hung out with girls all week and it was amazing.

My friends with benefit – The Rock Climber is also now in this city – I’ve hooked up with him multiple times in the past 4 years or so. We seem to have a very hm… reliable is not the word, but perhaps on-going relationship. And damn I think this time I had sex with him was one of the best I’ve ever had. It’s not him, it’s just me being in the moment (I was high) and to be honest, I was thinking about someone else. I wanted to do it more than once with him but it just didn’t happen.

I went to Tinder and I met up with a guy who is a lawyer. We did cocktails together and I thought the conversation was quite refreshing at first. I invited him back to my place, we picked up more drinks, we basically had some hasty drunk sex. I didn’t think he was that good, it was just too hasty and I don’t really think he *gets* sex, he’s just kind of dived into it. For example, some people know how to enjoy food, but some people just eat food for the sake of eating food because they feel hungry – he’s the latter when it comes to sex. He wanted to get another sesh in before I left, said I was really hot and joked that I totally made a mistake in picking him over the other Tinder guys. At the end of the day, I didn’t really feel like I jived so well with him. Let’s call him The Lawyer in case we need to come back to refer to him later. We texted after and I did try to see if we could do it again, but we couldn’t find a good time to meet up agian.

While this was supposed to be a vacation, it really wasn’t in that I was still working. Work has been really really stressful, perhaps the most stressful it has ever been and it’s been really hard to disconnect. And so, because of that it did really feel like I was living there and not just on vacation. I worked and then I played and then I tried to relax.

I really did have half a mind to just keep staying there. I work remotely, since even before the global covid pandemic and I really don’t have to be at home. I gave this a lot of thought. I think that I have to be home because that’s where my parents are, but the more I think about that, the more I realize that it’s not really a good way to think about it. I also think that while my parents are still healthy, it might actually be better for me to do some more travelling as things start to open up a bit more.

I want to be a happier person and I’m really not building a life for myself where I can be my happiest. If I just want to run away and live somewhere else, what is it that I am doing wrong with my life? I need to make some changes.

I feel stuck and tied down because of my parents still. I’m no longer a young adult, I’m downright a full-fledged adult but yet I feel like I don’t have the freedom that I’d like to have to be away from my hometown for as long as I’d like. I thought I was building a career for myself that allows for flexibility, but in reality, I’ve signed some contracts that are extremely demanding. I want to date more, but in reality, I’ve been kind of hung up on The Motivator for far too long.

Change doesn’t come easy, and I’m experienced enough to understand that change doesn’t happen overnight but I have to keep trying. Last time I went on vacation and came back, I made the decision to just keep hiring more people at business and essentially hire myself out of a job. It was a great decision and although I’m not so stress-free yet, I can’t imagine how much more stressed I would be if I didn’t make the decision to move in that direction. This just needs more time. This time around, the decision that I’ve made is that I’m going to travel more and date more – these are kind of odd decisions but this trip made me so happy and dating can actually be quite nice when there’s no expectations.

I’m going to go back home and I’m going to see where things will go with the guy that I met at the concert, and the old colleague that I reconnected with. I was also thinking that there’s a guy that I connected with on Tinder recently that I originally wasn’t sure if I’d want to follow-through with, but I think I will!

I think part of this decision is that I feel like for the first time, I can say that there’s enough of a distance between myself and The Motivator that I have the mental space to think about dating others. While on the trip, The Motivator messaged me and I was a bit annoyed. I was having such a great time on the trip that I just wanted to forget about him. I have no obligation to him, and so I wanted to be set free a bit. It was much easier to feel this way when I wasn’t in the same city. It felt freeing. I don’t dislike him now nor am I offput by him, but I just feel nothing. For so long I was just trying to “figure him out” and also try to understand why I might not be his type, but something about being away just allowed me to let go of some of those obsessive tendencies that aren’t doing me any good.

I feel more like the world is my oyster (I think that is the saying) and I just need to go out and live it, live it better rather. I can have all the good stuff if I wanted. I can have girlfriends, I can go on trips, I’m allowed to have hobbies and pursue them, it’s okay to want to have really good sex. It’s okay to not want to lock myself down with more obligations.

My whole life, I’ve been a model citizen, listened to my parents (for the most part) and thought about others. But I think just moving more towards putting myself first, being friends with people who are actually truly nice to me – this needs to come first more often.

Dating Two New Younger Guys

I went back to post a bunch of old draft posts that started to feel way too real. So real that I didn’t feel like I could post them at the time because then I’d be admitting that these are actual thoughts that I had.

Just as I planned though, after the vacation with The Motivator and friends, I put a bit of distance between myself and him and it’s been better, for sure. He seems nicer, more appreciative of me and I feel more in control. I’ve actually said no to a lot of things with him recently and it feels good. Will I still sleep with him? I don’t know. It just feels like he hasn’t really tried to do that with me, and so I won’t really initiate that either. I think it depends how I feel about whether that’s something he seems interested in doing.

I’ve been a bit more occupied with other things in life. I’ve been dating two new younger guys. These guys are like almost a decade younger than me. One is a serious climber and fitness fanatic – we can call him Fitness Fanatic. The other is more into body building, has similar taste in music as me and he too is starting to be more interested in rock climbing – we can call him Body Builder.

I went on a good date first with Body Builder and he really didn’t seem to come through with a second date seeing that his life was so jam packed. He tried to make plans with me one month out and I declined to accept that offer. I pretty much almost dismissed him, and then Fitness Fanatic and I went rock climbing together. The common interest in rock climbing really made things flow nicely. Then Body Builder came back into the picture when he invited me out to go rock climbing with his friends – I think I felt closer to him because he introduced me to his friends and made me feel like his girlfriend. That really felt nice, and so suddenly he was back in the picture again.

While I was away on vacation, I kept up with the texting with both of these guys. They both wanted to hear about what I was doing on vacation every day and I think it felt like low-pressure as they checked in on me while I was away.

Coming back from vacation, Body Builder came through and picked me up from the airport! I felt extra special and he came over and we made out. Oh, we also had a taco dinner night where I cooked before I left from vacation too. After coming back from vacation, he invited me to a concert and introduced me to even more of his friends. I felt even more closer to him, with “good morning” texts and constant texting everyday. I felt that we had a closer connection than Fitness Fanatic and I.

Fitness Fanatic started to feel like he was not coming through. I saw him for a rock climbing date when I was back, and it was a great session! I suggested dinner afterwards, and he said he couldn’t invite me up because his place was messy, so I said okay. We went out for Korean food. On our first date, he was very clear that he wanted to split the bill – while I’m okay with this, his insistence was off putting. When the bill came for Korean, I put down enough cash for my half, and after he found out that there was a cash discount he asked if I could pay with cash. He offered to transfer me the money, but I told him he could just get it next time and he agreed. The money situation with him is awkward AF. He then asked me if he could stay over at my place before his planned bike trip with his friends – he had never even come over to my place before and here he is asking to stay overnight… ballsy. I feel like Fitness Fanatic just doesn’t have good common sense, or he’s okay with and used to mooching off others.

Initially, I said yes to Fitness Fanatic staying over, but it turns out that Body Builder asked me to a concert that night. Since the concert was close to me, I instead asked Body Builder to stay over instead. At this point, I felt a lot more connected to Body Builder than I did Fitness Fanatic.

I took Body Builder out for a nice fancy dinner, and he took me to the concert. It was a great night and we totally could have had sex that night, but it just felt like he was teasing me and ultimately I got too tired and pretended to sleep. I don’t want to make out all night, and there were times where I gave him the go signal and he didn’t take it. There was one point where I was straddling him in bed, while we were kissing and as I reached down to see if he was excited, I noticed that he wasn’t hard. Aside from that, I was also confused that he didn’t take it any further than that. I’m unsure if we just don’t have physical chemistry or what. Thinking back, we had a handful of opportunities to have sex but it just never happened.

I continue to text both guys daily, though I’ve not seen Fitness Fanatic at all because he has a terrible work schedule that has him working most nights until 10pm. It also doesn’t seem like he has the thought to make time for me. He’ll just tell me when he’s climbing, doesn’t ask me if I’d prefer a certain gym or time. He isn’t accommodating and between that and the awkward money situation, I’m just not feeling it. Oh, well, one time he asked me on a whim if I wanted to come over when he was about to order McDonald’s. I wonder if that’s his way of getting me back for the Korean dinner that I paid for.

At this point, I was just leaving it up to Fitness Fanatic to put forth something a bit more planned, but he isn’t coming through. Though we still text quite regularly, I really don’t feel that excited that anything can come of it, so I’m just passive at the moment.

I did start to become more and more attached to Body Builder as he continued to text me everyday. My thoughts on this are that maybe he wants to wait to have sex, and I think I guess that could be cute. I go along with it, though his schedule seems to continue to be packed. He has social events almost daily, he’s trying to study for an exam while trying to keep a consistent workout routine everyday. He just doesn’t seem to have time for me, but more than that I don’t think he likes the idea that he has to make time for me. A few times recently I feel like I’ve been imposing by saying thins like, “see you soon”. I am starting to feel like he just isn’t feeling me in this way, and doesn’t know how to say it.

I feel like I am now more attached to Body Builder than I should be given where we are at with the relationship and the number of times we’ve seen each other. Objectively, I just wouldn’t feel fulfilled in a relationship where this is all I am getting. What I need in a partner is someone that would do activities with me, and Body Builder just seems too busy for that, or he just isn’t that into me. This just feels like all the wrong footing for a relationship, and it certainly isn’t a friends with benefit situation either. I’m not sure what I’m getting other than a texting buddy.

So I’ve decided that I’ll keep these two guys around as texting buddies until one of them decides to pull through a bit harder. I’ve been reciprocating and I just don’t feel like I can justify making more effort than I am now. I’ve asked both guys to do stuff with me, and even if they are actually busy and decline what I’m expecting if they really were interested is an intent to reschedule.

And so, I think it’s a good time to just go back on the dating app and find some new suitors to add to the mix. These two guys just don’t have the time of day for me. It’s even worse than The Motivator who seems to be quite willing now to at least accept plans with me when I initiate – and to be fair he’s also initiated with me at least one time.

I feel like my love life is just crumbs left by guys who are just not that into me. And this needs to change.

The Motivator and my “I’m Done” Attitude

This whole “being done” with The Motivator decision is working out well for me. He’s finally reluctantly come out with practice a rock climbing skill with me, but partly motivated by everyone including his crush nagging him to do so. I kept my expectations low, and thankfully I did. I was even expecting that maybe he might even invite someone else to come out with us, which would have been a distraction.

He didn’t invite anyone else out luckily, but complained about the drive there being too long, and then when we got there he seemed solemn, like he didn’t want to be there. We arrived there for 7pm, and I figured we had until 10pm (closing time). He made it out like he was already quite confident with what he was doing, and he gave me some pointers. It was my very first time doing this activity with him and so far I’ve been compensating by practicing at home. For my very first time I thought I did quite well. He just seemed bored and asked if we can finish early. The energy was low, and this time I just went with the flow whereas usually I think what I would do is I would try to lighten the mood.

We wrapped it up a bit early mostly because I felt that he just wanted to leave and seemed like he was saving his energy for some more intense stuff on another day. On the way back, I expressed how I’m worried about the test certification that we were going to be doing later in the week and that I felt cornered into doing it because it was a cheaper and only option that we had to get real feedback on this skill that we are practicing before we take it to the mountains, literally. He seemed indifferent about it, which actually relieved some pressure that I had about failing the certification test. But I got upset anyway, guess I was just bottling it up inside. I was just generally upset and said that today was really my first and only time doing it, and that I felt setup for failure.

In reality I don’t really know exactly why I am upset which is why I am writing this post to see if I can just get it out in my writing.

I’m upset because I feel abandoned. I’ve always wanted to learn this rock climbing skill and he has always given me a hard no answer on this. And then all of a sudden he’s agreeing to do this with other people. Yeah, I feel betrayed a bit, and it wouldn’t be a huge deal but now that we are going on a trip together where we need to use this skill and he’s still reluctant to practice with me. I feel like I’m kind of on my own trying to learn this skill without a partner and kind of in an awkward position where I’m not sure whether I should find someone else. He’s been on and off about taking the course with me too which is why I haven’t looked to do it with someone else And yeah I guess it’s my fault that I hesitated in just finding another person to do this with, but I feel cornered into learning this more or less by myself.

I think the most stressful thing as I think about this test that while I still think is our best bet at getting some honest feedback is that I hate failing and I’m setting myself up for failure with this test for the sake of us climbing safely together. I hate that I’m cornered into doing this because I feel like it’s one of my only options.

I feel that I’m cornered into this position, partly because of him and so yeah, I’m upset about it. And I think yesterday his demeanor – being bored, not wanting to practice and not even giving me the time of day really got to me.

It seems like he doesn’t even want to climb with me anymore, and as I think about my idea of being done with him, I’m glad I have it, because I don’t necessarily feel like climbing with him anymore. I never feel like he is being inclusive when it comes to me and that I’m just an afterthought to him. Can I say this to him? Yeah, but what does it matter? It’s my own fault that I let this go on.

He’s aware that I’m upset with him, he doesn’t really get why. I think he can come to a similar conclusion that I am clearly frustrated over having to learn on my own and not having his full support.

So he drove me back to my car which was parked by his house. I was clearly mad at him and expressing my frustration but not fully articulating why I am exactly mad. He pulls up to my car, I get my stuff from his trunk and he jumps out of the car, which I thought was a nice gesture. I throw my stuff in my own car trunk, he clearly wants to clear the air. I give him a short hug, he hugged me back really hard and it seemed like either he wanted to kiss or talk, but I kept it to that brief hug and then went to my car and drove home. Despite the hug, I think he still felt like I left him hanging. I feel good to be able to express myself, I think a lot of times I just cover up my actual frustrations with him with nothing or just pretending that it’s all fine.

It’s not fine. We are definitely not fine.