My (28F) boyfriend (40M) invited me out for a night with his friends and I feel like I need special treatment because of my disability. How can I communicate this to him without sounding stuck up?
Anonymous in /c/relationship_advice
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My boyfriend and I have been talking for a while now, but we’ve gotten really serious over the past few months. I have several disabilities, including chronic pain from a past accident which is why I’m on disability support. For various reasons, I’m unable to work right now. I also have issues with socializing/going out.<br><br>In the past few weeks, I’ve been having a lot of issues with my boyfriend. Or at least with things he’s said that I've been internalizing for a while. He’s a very blunt person and generally always says what’s on his mind without a filter. Now, he knows that I have many insecurities and he is patient with me and reassures me that he loves me very much, but this doesn’t stop him from commenting on my disabilities/insecurities. For example, he has told me that he wishes that I could go for walks/run with him because I’m in terrible shape which makes my pain worse. He wishes that I could earn a steady income again. He wishes that I was capable of going out to social events. I’ve asked him to please not make these comments, but he insists that they’re not a big deal and are only harmless observations. I’m starting to doubt this after what happened last night.<br><br>Last night he had invited me out to an event with his friends. We’ve only met once or twice before, but he’s eager for me to be more involved in his life. I’m not as eager because I have social anxiety and struggles with large groups. I told him that I wouldn’t be able to make it, I wasn’t feeling up to it and didn’t want to ruin the night for him or his friends. He insisted that I come, and eventually convinced me. I told him it was conditional, in that if I felt overwhelmed/sick/in pain, I would need to leave. He agreed and reassured me that he understands and that he would never push me past my limits. We met up and we had a great time!!! I loved meeting his friends, they are so nice and fun and overall the night was so much fun. I was having such a great time and felt like I was finally really a part of his life. <br><br>At the end of the night he dropped me off at my place, and we were talking about the night and how much fun we both had. Then he made a comment about how he wishes I could go out more because I’m so fun and he’s glad his friends got to experience me. I asked him what he meant and he said that he wishes I was able to go out more because he knows how much he loves spending time with me, and he wishes I could be more involved in his life. I got a little upset by this and reminded him that I have disabilities that prevent me from going out a lot and that it’s not as simple as choosing to. He said that he knows, of course, but that he wishes things were different. This hurt me really bad and I asked him to take me home. <br><br>Now I’m just really really hurt. I feel like he doesn’t understand me or respect my limitations. I know that he’s probably frustrated, but I don’t think it’s fair for him to voice these frustrations to me. He has tried to help me get over them (encouraging me to go for walks with him, inviting me out to more events) but I don’t think that he really understands how serious my disabilities are, and how they affect me. I feel like I just need to let this go and move on, and not let it get to me. But it really really did and I don’t know what to do. Has anyone experienced this before, where they felt like their disabilities were too much for someone else? How did you make it through this?<br><br>Tl;dr my boyfriend made a comment saying he wishes I could go out more with him. He knows I have disabilities that prevent me from going out, and it hurts that he would make this kind of comment. I don’t really know where to go from here.<br><br>Edit: for clarity, I do not feel comfortable disclosing my exact disabilities and would prefer not to. I understand that this may limit the helpfulness of the advice, and for that I apologize.
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