r/AttachmentTheory

▲ 3 r/AttachmentTheory+1 crossposts

Fearful Avoidant Deactivation or Just Lost Interest?

Hey everyone,

I am currently on Day 10 of strict No Contact and need some outside perspective on a sudden, completely illogical breakup.

The Context:
I (M, 30) met her (F, 33) on Tinder 1.5 months ago. She is separated from a 7-year marriage (for about 6 months) and moved to a new city. The chemistry was instant; we kissed after just an hour on our first date because the vibe was so deep and familiar.

For 1.5 months, everything was completely harmonious. She showed real investment: she let me sleep in her bed even though I snore loudly (she moved to the couch so I could rest), she wanted to share traditional Colombian food with me for my birthday, and after just a few times together, she consented to completely stopping protection (no condoms) at my request. She also mentioned that during her period cycle, she becomes hyper-emotional and deeply craves physical closeness.

The Trigger:
1 day before the deactivation, we had a beautiful phone call. We talked about a trial day I had at a new job, and I opened up, telling her how nervous I had been on our first date but how comfortable I got after our first kiss. She felt a strong connection and said, "It's crazy how similar we are." We agreed I would come over to her place the next day (Wednesday).

Later that evening, she texted asking if I wanted to go to a specific Latino club with her on the weekend. The club is in a notorious, sketchy area near a main train station. The next morning, I texted her back, apologized for the late reply, and gently told her that clubs aren't really my world, asking if we could do something else instead.

She completely ignored my message for almost 24 hours. Since she ghosted me, I didn't drive to her place that night. Then she suddenly sent a text on the next day cutting everything off, claiming I was "rejecting her culture" and "disrespecting where she came from."

The Fallout:
I texted her back trying to clarify the misunderstanding. We spoke on the phone a day later (because she called me) She completely shifted the goalposts, claiming the breakup wasn't about the club, but because I didn't show up on Wednesday and she "had to throw away all the food she cooked." But she had ignored my texts all day!

During the call, I lost my frame due to the shock. I was trembling and screaming, and when she kept pushing unfair blame, I got angry and said, "Can I even look into your fucking head?" She got extremely loud and defensive, before she snapped, "Think whatever you want, this is too stupid, I'm hanging up," and slammed the phone down.

Where we are now (Day 10 of NC):
Absolute radio silence since. However, immediately after the cut, she went back on Tinder (using her old anonymous profile with a fake name/no clear face pics, the same we met on). She just mutually followed a new local guy on Instagram who is immediately liking all her photos, and she has been aggressively posting IG stories for 3 days straight (very untypical for her). Her period is also exactly due this week.

Did she just use the club/Wednesday argument as a cheap, rationalized excuse to discard me because she suddenly lost attraction? Or is this a classic Fearful Avoidant deactivation triggered by the increasing intimacy? Will an FA ever reflect on their unfair behavior once the emotional dust settles?

Thank you for your thoughts.

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u/AboQXD — 4 days ago
▲ 2 r/AttachmentTheory+1 crossposts

Should I move on?

My ex partner is FA and aware but I don’t think he is working on it. After a sudden break up, I reached out to him 5 weeks later to see if he was ok. None of it made sense. I wondered if he wanted to discuss what was going on for him at the time because I didn’t actually get any details regarding why things ended apart from he was exhausted and had wanted to make it work but realised that he couldn’t. His response to my outreach -

Hey! That’s a nice message. Poor whale. Not sure I can or would be able to articulate clearly. Given time I could try. Thank you for the open door.

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u/Dear_Purchase4098 — 4 days ago
▲ 3 r/AttachmentTheory+1 crossposts

I’m jealous that others my age and younger have had way more dating experience

And they seem to recall it fondly! They actually had fun dating and I’ve always despised it. I grew up with no romantic interest my direction and I was convinced I was meant to be alone. Guys were never into me and now I’m 28 and have had a horrible dating life. I don’t like talking about it to anyone, including friends. I hate my ex, I genuinely look him up to see if he died, and I dated him years ago. I can’t seem to get a guy to like me. And no I don’t want to date anymore cause I don’t see a point. But it gets me so sad that others can reminisce and they seem to navigate “knowing” that they’ll meet someone. That makes no sense to me. I feel lucky if a guy gives me attention and I genuinely can’t imagine a guy in love with me. It makes dating feel like a massive waste of time

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u/Throwaway474456 — 6 days ago
▲ 2 r/AttachmentTheory+1 crossposts

Anxiously Attached - Communication Cadence

I've been talking to a guy I met online since late March - we met for the first time in early April and have hung out 4 times since meeting (I was traveling for a bit which played a part in not seeing each other).

It's still early on and we haven't fully established our preferences - we do have plans to hang out this coming week and go to an event which he already bought tickets for. Leading up to now, we had been texting pretty much daily the past few weeks (maybe missing a few days here and there). I haven't heard anything from him since Friday - I did text him last night and it appears that he read the text, but he has not sent anything back - I do know that he was with family this weekend, so I'm looking for perspective as to whether I'm being unreasonably anxious given that we haven't fully established our communication preferences and we have plans this coming week.

If there are people out there who don't text their partner daily (especially early on) I would appreciate that perspective as well to put me at ease.

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u/567noname — 11 days ago