Question to PA's in serious longterm relationships

AnonymousAnnaXO

Active Member
Hi, so I am a partner of a PA.

June 8th will mark one year of him being clean. He has made such amazing progress on himself throughout this year, getting back in school and getting good grades, doing better at work and being more responsible with work, and getting back into his hobbies like his car, guitar, and science. I love seeing him be happy in his personal life because prior when he was using he was very depressed with his life.

When it comes to working on the relationship aspect is where he seems to falter. We have started couples EFT therapy as of 3 weeks ago and our communication has gotten so much better, maybe one fight a week now. Though we can talk to each other better, I still initiate 99.9% of conversations regarding addiction, recovery, parenting (I'm pregnant and we are expecting in November). I have printed out packets on infidelity and how to rebuild trust, I've bought books that I've read and have been amazing and could see him learning a lot from (both personally and relationally). His excuse is always, "I can't finish a book" which is somewhat true, he never seems to have the attention to sit and read for very long and I assume that might be a side effect of porn use with getting rewards instantly versus working hard for the reward???

Anyways, what I am asking is, to the PA's who have been at least 90 days clean and in a serious relationship, what were the steps you took to rebuild the relationship aspect of your life? What did you do to rebuild trust, intimacy, the romance and desire, and initiation (both sexually and emotionally)?

Thank you to those who respond!
 

aquarius25

Respected Member
I think this is a great post. I would love to hear from a PA's perspective what they think are the important steps. I hope someone responds soon!
 

gtl923

Active Member
I'm not sure I can answer your question exactly, but one of the reasons my last relationship failed was lack of clear expectations. My partner would get upset with me regularly, but couldn't give me a clear explanation as to why or what I needed to do in order to solve the problem. Ultimately, it was one of those "you should just know" type of situations and I didn't know. After this went on for a while I ended the relationship because it didn't seem to be heading in a healthy direction.

As far as developing intimacy, it was definitely a process for me. I think the first step is just being conscious and doing little things to show that I cared for her. Before, my mentality was that little things were little and as such they were insignificant so I shouldn't bother, but I started to realize that they were quite significant and my partner needed those albeit small signs of caring and interest. Then of course acknowledging the relationship by hugging and kissing when we saw each other after work or whatever.
 

AnonymousAnnaXO

Active Member
Well, I've spelled things out that I've wanted him to do. He has been better at initiating certain things, but romantic moments (aside from a great proposal) are not there a lot. I've expressed that I would like for us to rebuild the romance within our relationship. I know it might sound lame but I like little love notes, or maybe a surprise every once in a while with roses. maybe I'm too romantic, but I think those things are sweet. Also, just making out randomly is very sweet and shows interest. I don't know, maybe I'm thinking too much about it.
 

gtl923

Active Member
AnonymousAnnaXO said:
Well, I've spelled things out that I've wanted him to do. He has been better at initiating certain things, but romantic moments (aside from a great proposal) are not there a lot. I've expressed that I would like for us to rebuild the romance within our relationship. I know it might sound lame but I like little love notes, or maybe a surprise every once in a while with roses. maybe I'm too romantic, but I think those things are sweet. Also, just making out randomly is very sweet and shows interest. I don't know, maybe I'm thinking too much about it.

I don't think that's unreasonable at all. That stuff is important in a relationship. I will say that it took me time to get into the flow of making those little gestures of intimacy with my ex. But I definitely put forth energy and she was aware of that effort. It's really just going to take initiative on his part. And that's not something you can or should pursued or force or convince him to do.
 

AnonymousAnnaXO

Active Member
Yeah we had a long talk about it, and I posted about it here http://legacy.rebootnation.org/index.php?topic=13429.0

I basically explained to him that it's up to him to show me he is putting in effort. I've given him everything he needs to be able to succeed.
 
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