Friday, October 16, 2020

Do I have to tell my boyfriend about traumatic experiences I had growing up, or is it ok not to?


I'll try my best to make this short. (TW: mental health, mention of rape, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts).I am a 21-year-old female, by the way, my boyfriend is 25 if that matters.From the age of 14-16, I went through a lot. I was severely depressed and had a few suicide attempts, was hospitalized for a short period of time, and I was sexually assaulted at 15. I self-harmed and still bear the scars from that.I am now in the early stages of a new relationship - and although it's completely natural for me not to have shared this with him yet - I don't think I ever at any point will.I feel extremely stable in my life now, and I have for the last 4 years. I managed to get myself through high school just fine and was accepted to my dream university. I am getting my bachelor's and doing a lot of side projects. This spring was tough with corona, isolation, exam pressure, and my best friend passing away - and never once did I feel depressed or had any thoughts of suicide or self-harm. I just dealt with everything more rationally, as I have for the last 4 years. Therefore I don't fear myself relapsing. I don't view everything that happened those years as something important in my life, and I don't see what I'd get out of telling him. I fear he would be more scared or concerned for me - which there is no need to be. I am also I slight bit worried he will view me differently.I'll be surprised if he hasn't already seen my scares, but he has never said anything about it, and when/if he does I'll just tell him about the depressed part. I don't want him to look at me as a victim the same way everyone else I´ve ever told does. This goes especially for the sexual assault part. I don't want him to worry about it when we're having sex - because honestly, our sex life is good. I've done a lot of trauma therapy to avoid PTSD and have very few if any limitations in the bedroom because of what happened 6 years ago.Now, a friend of mine said that I should just tell him everything - or our relationship would be based on lies. I've been thinking about it and although I see her point - I just don't feel like or see a reason to tell my boyfriend about most of the stuff. It's just not relevant and it feels like a million years ago.So, is it really that important for me to talk about that stuff with him? I welcome all advice on this and if there's any questions - just ask. via /r/relationship_advice https://ift.tt/35a8NqV

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