3 painful relationships have made me afraid to date again. Has anyone else felt this way?
I don't really know where else to ask this, so I figured I'd ask people who have actually been through it.
I've been hurt pretty badly by three different women over the years.
The first was a relationship that lasted 10 years. I genuinely thought we were going to build a life together, but eventually she got married to another guy. It destroyed me, but Alhamdulillah, I've accepted that it wasn't meant to be.
The second person lied to me about basically everything. Finding out that so much of what I believed wasn't true completely messed with my ability to trust people. Again, Alhamdulillah, I eventually accepted it and moved on.
The third relationship ended with her simply dumping me. Nothing as complicated as the previous situations, but after everything I'd already experienced, it still hurt badly.
And now I'm at a weird point.
I'm not angry at women. I don't hate relationships. I still believe in love and I'd genuinely like to have a healthy relationship someday.
I'm just fucking tired.
The thought of meeting someone new, getting to know them, texting every day, opening up, becoming attached, introducing them to my life, trusting them, building something together... and then potentially having it all fall apart again honestly exhausts me.
Part of me is scared of getting hurt again.
Another part of me is just tired of starting from zero with someone new.
I sometimes think, "What's the point of doing all of this again if there's no guarantee that it won't end painfully?"
So I've started wondering whether I should just stay single for a long time and stop looking for anyone.
For people who have been through multiple painful relationships:
Did you ever reach this point?
Did you eventually become comfortable with dating again?
Did you take a long break from relationships?
And if you eventually found someone new, how did you learn to trust again without constantly expecting the relationship to end?
I'd genuinely appreciate hearing people's experiences, especially from people who felt like they were completely done with relationships but eventually changed their minds.