AIO? My Partner (M/24) is Making Me (F/24) Feel Insecure
TLDR: How can I navigate feelings of discomfort regarding Instagram likes/followings if my partner has made me feel inadequate in the past?
Good morning!
My partner and I have been together for 6 years, and had a long-distance relationship for a good portion of that due to COVID/college/grad school being right after another.
In the past, he would make "jokes" about my appearance, which he has since apologized for. He was also very insecure about me having male friends, but always followed a bunch of women that he found attractive on Instagram (and even made a point to tell me that he only likes posts for a reason, since he joked about me liking every post I saw). I guess I just get insecure because he seems to have a wandering eye, and even emotionally cheated on me (but I forgave him since it never went that far, as far as I'm aware).
We took a break for a while and ended up getting back together; the relationship has been so much better, but sometimes I can't shake those feelings of discomfort when I see him like women's photos on Instagram (these people are not people who he is friends with or knows in real life, and are people who I'm pretty sure they only follow because they're attractive (and some of them also follow him too)). Especially considering that we met due to him noticing that we followed each other since we had mutual friends, and he found me attractive.
I guess with this context in mind, do you have any advice regarding setting boundaries/what you would do? Or is this more of a me problem where I may just need to be going to therapy to work through things? I guess because I was a bit insecure growing up as well, it's hard for me to discern whether this is something that I'm overthinking about or not.
Thank you in advance for the advice!!
