In Need of Love Today

Dearest Chuck and Garland,

I thank God for the both of you.

QUESTION: Firstly, i would like to talk about my family background before starting the ball rolling. Well, since young, my family is often not there for me when i need them. I dun get much love from them as both my parents are often working and i have only myself to take care of.

Because of this fact, when i met my first boyfriend, i will unknowingly, depends my love from my boyfriend and that it has never dawned to me that one day he will leave me. and true enough, he did. i have to beg my boyfriend countless of times not to leave me.. it came at the point of time that i needed find another guy to take his place in case he will leave me again and i have no one to turn to. So it became a cycle that every time when my boyfriend wanted to break with me, i would find another boyfriend before he does that. and right now, i feel that i cant be doing this anymore. But i don't know how to stop this cycle and if i have no one to turn to, i will have suicidal thoughts. it felt as though i have lost the meaning to live. i am lost.

Right now, the guy i love most wanted to break with, and i do not know how to react. i love this guy alot but at the same time, i do not see any future with him. I have done so much for this guy, in fact, i have never done so much for any one in my whole life. He's a guy with big ego, everything that he says, i cant say no, i have to listen to every word of his. i paid for his everything. even the present that he wanted to give me for my birthday, i paid for them. in the eyes of all my friends, they see me as a loser. but that shows how blind love is. Throughout this relationship, he has never give in to me, say sorry to me. even when he's at fault, i have to apologise to him and beg him to come back to me. He always break with me over the smallest things, even things that he accuses me which i did not do. i cant live without him. cause i felt i'm too dependent on him for love.

To be frank, i have phobia of love since young. He's the first guy that make me overcome this phobia that whenever i am with him, i cant feel that phobia. We been together for 2 years. But it felt like 10 years. i think this is because we've been through so many ups and downs. He's a very practical and realistic person. everytime when i ask him if he's willing to spend his rest of his life with me he said he doesnt know of the future and he doesnt know the answer. Does that means he don't love me? in fact, although overall, we had a great time and a happy memories, i really don't know if he loves me alot because everytime he can give up this relationship so easily. He has never cry over our break ups or arguments, neither did he show signs of sadness over breaking up. He told me that to have me is a bonus and that no matter what happen, he can live life without me. Seriously, i'm scare that i'm not able to move on without him. I scare my suicidal thoughts take over me. I tried knowing other guys, but it doesnt help at all. I kept begging him back but it's of no use. I think i'm going crazy over this and i seriously hate my life. i don't know how to love myself. and i do not know how to start. Could you give me some advice?

Thank you for your advice and may God bless you.

Love, Miss Unfortunate

GARLAND: Thank you for kind words, the Blessings, and for sharing your question with us!

The first thing I want to get your attention to is this website: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
it is a direct link to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline! While Chuck and I are grateful that you think enough of us to share such a deep situation, we want you to understand that suicide is an extremely urgent matter and you need to speak with highly trained individuals that can help you through such a difficult time. The people at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) will help you through the places in your life where the journey seems a little rougher than it should be.

Now, for your question.

The very first thing we have to address is the fact that you seem to already know - you HAVE to love yourself. You CANNOT CANNOT CANNOT replace the love of YOURSELF with the affections of some man. YOU have to love yourself, period, BOTTOM LINE, that's it! There is so much I want to say to you - I hope I can get it all out...

You mention all of these different boyfriends and you mention "love" over and over again. No one finds LOVE over and over like this, you are in what is called "DEEP LIKE," you like these guys "DEEPLY" and they may even like you "DEEPLY" but please don't keep saying that what you have is LOVE with all of these different guys. You LOVE this guy today and you LOVE that guy tomorrow. That will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS lead you to emotional ruin. You are putting all of your self worth and value in the hands of men that MAY NOT have your best interest at heart. You are letting THEM define who and WHAT you are and you are letting them establish your measure as a woman and a person.

When you give others the complete ability to define you, and to establish the lows and highs that you have in your life, sadly you leave yourself open to hurt, sorrow and worse.

What can you do?

In my humble opinion, AND PLEASE REMEMBER THAT I'M NOT A PROFESSIONAL COUNSELOR, but to start loving yourself and your life:

• You have to take away the negatives - The Boyfriends. You have to stop right where you are and either stop looking for the next one, or ask the current one if you all can take a break. I know from your E-Mail that this is going to be very hard. You have made your boyfriends the lifeblood of your existence, but you need to understand and believe that the lifeblood of you is WITHIN YOU. Find a way, SOONER than later and tell your boyfriend that you care about him, but you need the freedom to get to know and love yourself better and the only way you can do that is by being with just yourself for a while, several months, a year, or whatever it takes. (It will NOT take just a few weeks. Don't fool yourself so that you can rush back to him!) Hopefully he will care enough about you to give you a complete break without a bunch of drama. If he gives you a hard time, then he probably doesn't have your best interest at heart. This won't be easy on you, but nothing that is truly great in life is easy.
  
• Then, I think you need to find a way to connect more with your parents. I'm under the impression that you're under 21 and still at home with mom and dad. If you are having suicidal thoughts, TRUST ME, your mom and dad, no matter how busy you say they are, want to know and they want to be there for you. The main reason a lot of parents work so hard is to make life easier for their children. THEY love you, and they want you around with them. Few things will reinforce a person's self love like the reassuring love of a parent. GO TALK TO THEM NOW! TODAY!!!


• Then, change up the scenery of your life. I think when people get locked into the same cycles day in and day out, they lose perspective on the world around them. They get trapped in the same routine of the same places, the same people, the same faces, the same drama, the same old same old. Find new places to spend your time, find new places to mix and mingle, shop in different places, travel in different ways, try to bring a fresh and new perspective on who you are and where you are on this big little planet of ours.


• And, mostly - find the time and place to search into who you are. I think that having all of these boyfriends coming and going and trying to let them define you and make you seem valuable, you are not looking in the mirror and asking that lady, "Just who are you?" You have to find out what you like and don't like, what drives you crazy and what makes you pee in your pants with laughter. You have to make some serious quiet and alone time to find the beauty of you. It's there. It's there for you to find and for you to love. And once you find it and love it... my, my, my.

I want you to really walk away from these "boyfriends." They are going to ruin you. You must find the beauty of you in you. Talk to your parents or call the number I gave you above. There is so much in this world that you have yet to see and do. There are so many people in this world that have yet to be touched by you, to be befriended by you, to be embraced by you and to be enlightened by you! Life and YOU are both too precious to throw away.

Thanks for your question, and you make sure you drop us a line soon to let us know how you are doing. We won't post it, but we want to make sure you're okay.

-G

CHUCK: Miss I'm-not-going-to-call-you-Unfortunate, thank you for the kind words and the question, but before I can even try to answer you, I have to address these suicidal thoughts. To be as direct as I can be: DON'T. While I suppose it is normal to have thoughts of taking your own life, it seems as though you are in an emotional state desperate enough to take some sort of action. Please seek some help. Professional help. Garland and I feel we are pretty knowledgeable laymen in the area we work in, but dealing with folks lonely and sad enough to consider snuffing out their own lives is definitely where our area of expertise ends. Use the information above to contact someone before things get too serious.

You never state what your age is, but I think we can assume that you are a young person. And everything is of crucial importance to a person when they are young. But sometimes the simplest solutions evade us. For example: your parents. I know that times are tight, and people need to work to make sure they can provide for their families. But they need to look out for their family's emotional health, too. Your parents may assume that because you are of a certain age, you can take care of yourself, and their work is done. Obviously, they're wrong. Be straight with them and let them know that you are feeling alone and unloved. I wouldn't mention the word "suicide" to them necessarily at this point, but I doubt that an honest request from you for more of their time could go ignored.

Now on to the subject of these guys. I feel so sorry for young people these days, especially young women. Because so much of what passes for love and relationships these days is utter selfish bullshit. I'm not saying my generation never perpetrated bullshit like this on one another, but it's so much more obvious and unapologetic these days. What kind of guy is such a piece of shit that he makes you feel worthless, threatens you with break-ups, and uses you financially and sexually? One out of every four guys, apparently. And these guys go along about there merry way, going from victim to victim. Because why? They know how to spot their prey. Young ladies like you with "phobias" about love and low self esteem are who they flock to, because they feel like they can run their games on you.

Women, readers, I would like it so much if we could put these bastards out of business. If you see a guy trying to be with you, but trying to play you like this, walk in the opposite direction. It's that simple. Being alone is better. Honestly. Love yourself that much.

That is my simple advice for you concerning your sorry excuse for a boyfriend. He's always threatening to break up with you? Take the choice out of his hands and break up with him. Really, what are you losing? You need to feel better about yourself before you can get anything positive out of a relationship with a guy. It's a cliche, but it's true. Dump him. And do all that stuff Garland says above.

Finally, if it seems like I got emotional and rambled on here, it's because I take the issue of suicide very seriously. I lost someone to suicide, and I'd like to think that if that person thought about the effect it would have on those that were left behind, they would have reconsidered. No matter how bad you think things are now, they can get better. They will get better. And I want you to be around to see it.

God bless you.