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The original was posted on /r/relationships by /u/Disastrous_Top7228 on 2024-01-04 19:01:50+00:00.
Throwaway account
This is actually hard to write, as a lot of things are going in my mind. Basically, I am the man that women avoid at all costs since I have ALL the possible red flags. I am currently 40, always lived with parents, never moved away, been living with my overy attached and depressed mother for years, I have huge collections of geek stuff like videogames and action figures, my life's been a mess for the last 10 years after I become unemployed and my house is a wreck. I was also born with an aesthetical physical issue. I have a degree but my salary is low and I currently work as a freelancer who barely makes it. I am a very sensitive and shy person, but cold as a stone on the outside.
At this point in my life, I expected to have zero success to find a partner and for the last 10 years or so I grew up with the idea I'd remain forever alone, with absolute zero chances of finding a partner. I didn't even consider a chance of finding someone at this point.
A few years back, a women fell deeply in love with me in a way I had never imagined someone could fall for me. She's been single for many years after breaking up with her abusive partner from whom she had children. She eventually confessed her feelings to me, but this came out of the blue. I was scared with a lot of things, my feelings for her were not mutual at the time and even though I didn't close the door at first, I did end up rejecting her. She stood close as a friend and has always, always been very supportive even when I didn't deserve it because I was kinda rude to her some times.
Fast forward a couple of years later, after getting to know her better, I've started to develop feelings for her. She was always respectful but she was never able to get over me, rejecting other guys. I decided to give her a chance, and we just started a relationship. She was somehow able to read beyond all the red flags and told me on multiple occasions that I have all the qualities she looked in a partner. I love her like I never expected to love someone at this point of my life. I feel beyond super lucky to find someone like her and a short while ago I've come to realize I'd have to be extremely dumb to not at least give her a chance, so I put all my fears aside and decided to give her that chance.
As a result, my overly attached and depressed mother became the problem I expected she would be. At this point, without ever hearing about it before, I'm positive I've fallen into covert incestr. She fell into a huge depression, started to create all these worst case scenarios about my GF, to the point of being very, very selfish towards me and only worrying about herself. She is phsychologically very ill, she's terrified of staying alone at her current age and she never had any sort of trouble when I was away for days or longer doing my life, until a GF appeared. I argued a few times with her, imposing my relationship over her selfishness. And I'm still adapting to all this because it's all very recent. Recently my mother recognized a few of her issues, even admitting that she inconsciously turned me into a replacement partner, she's been more tolerant, less intrusive and "doing the best she can to deal with all this" regardless of her depression. I also realize this, but it's not enough.
I gained some immunity to her feelings and started doing things my way, but I am not that insensitive to ignore she exists. Even my GF tells me to not completely cut her, since she's a family person and also lives with her mother after her father passed away. Plus, everything is way too recent. However, my GF sometimes feels insecure about my relationship with my mother, especially for the future. We openly talk about it and it helps a lot to clear many insecurities. I think we're managing pretty well for now, but I am afraid of what comes next and if I'll be able to handle it the appropriate way. I've considered visiting a psycologist to help me deal with all this and try to make things work, because I am positive this is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. If this fails, I don't think I'll even consider getting another partner - this might be my hot head saying this right now, but it is what I feel.
Decided to share this with you guys, for my own sake. Either to hear comments, insults, or simply looking for advise.
tl;dr : I have all the red flags I could have in a partner, but someone saw more than that and still fell in love with me. After a few years, I found out she's the one and decided to give her a chance, so we started a relationship. Now I'm deeling with a depressed and overly attached mother and this is causing some insecurities for the future of my relationship and I'm afraid of not handling everything properly.