DEAR DR. NERDLOVE: So long story short I am a single guy approaching 30, never been in a relationship and only went out like 2 dates in my entire life. This all boils down to this major issue.
Basically my brother has been in a toxic relationship for as long as I can remember and this relationship has left scars on my self esteem. He is 35 years old, he has been with her since he was 18 years old and she was 14 years old at the time {they are married now with a daughter of 6 months). His wife is a gold digging materialistic manipulator, has never worked a job for more than a couple of months and constantly picks arguments with my parents over bulls--t issues. She always requests either myself or my parents to do favours for her and then she literally kicks our asses to the curb afterwards (and my brother does not utter a word of protest that his family members are being treated like dog s--t). My brother spent Euro 80,000 on their wedding without her paying a single f--king dime and she only found a job recently so that ”my brother will shut the f--k up about their depleted finances already”.
The issue here is that all my life I have been struggling to try and find a partner and settle down because this always keeps cropping up in my mind… I don’t want to end up like my brother. Mind you my parents constantly keep reminding me to not let this situation effect my opinions on relationships and women because there are awesome women out there who are career oriented and just want a loving partner to come home to.
And also another thing I have been getting into the habit where whenever I start thinking about relationships and women, I start to get really pissed off, angry and frustrated and that having a relationship will set me back in my life. Part of me says its all in my head and that I am overthinking this however I still fall back in the cycle of negativity and bad thoughts.
Any ideas on how to fix this please? I am going to admit, I might be wrong and the above scenario has nothing to do with me however I appreciate a second pair of eyes on this.
Thanks for your help.
Anger Issues
DEAR ANGER ISSUES: There’s a lot to unpack here, AI, but I think the first and most important thing is to recognize that your brother’s in a toxic relationship… but it’s not your relationship. Watching what your brother is going through is unquestionably painful; it’s never easy to watch someone being mistreated by a person they love and who supposedly loves them. It can make you want to tear your hair out. I mean, how in pluperfect f--kery can he not see the damage that she’s doing to him and to your family? But, unfortunately, your brother’s a grown-ass adult and he’s gonna make the choices he makes.
The unfortunate truth about toxic or abusive relationships is that you can’t pull people out of them. It absolutely sucks to feel this powerless when someone you love is being harmed. But you can’t stop people from making mistakes — or sticking with those mistakes — when they’re determined to make them. You can try speaking up and making it clear that you find her behavior unacceptable, sure. You can talk to him about how she treats him and your family. However, all of these run the risk of pushing him further away or causing his wife to isolate him from you all further. And you don’t want that. His connection to you and his family are vital for him to have any chance of breaking away from her.
The most that you can do is make sure that he knows that you love him and you’re ready to support him if and when he’s finally ready to leave. And that means making it clear that you’re ready to support him and welcome him back without judgement. Part of why it can be so damn hard for people in toxic or abusive relationships to leave for good is the shame of having “let” it happen. Everyone has a mental image of what someone who gets abused looks like… and nobody wants to think that they could be someone who “lets” themselves get abused. And to make things worse, many times when they get away, their friends and loved ones will say “WELL GODDAMN FINALLY!” instead of “welcome back, we’re so glad you’re back with us.” That judgement, that “f--king finally“, is often the very thing that moves the needle away from leaving. The fear of the judgement and shame is greater than the pain of the relationship and so they choose what they think is the lesser pain.
Does this make sense? Of course not. But this isn’t about logic, this is about emotion, and those emotions utterly cloud your judgement. So making sure that you and your family can provide your brother a soft place to land is going to be vital for his eventual escape.
But you already knew that this wasn’t logical… after all, there’s no logical reason for this to affect your relationships. But it has.
So, as I’m always saying: Dr. NerdLove is not a real doctor, and I’m certainly not a mental health specialist. However, I have had plenty of experience with jerkbrains f--king you around, and I know what you’re feeling from experience. That’s not actually anger you’re feeling… at least, anger isn’t the primary emotion you’re feeling. What you’re feeling is pain — specifically, the pain of helplessness and frustration. You’re looking at your brother and you’re aching for him, but you’re also frustrated by the fact that he’s still with her. You’re looking at all the awful ways your sister-in-law is treating him and your family and not only is he enabling this, but there’s nothing you can do to stop it. You can’t pull him away from her. You can’t make her stop being an awful human being who treats her family like garbage. But it feels like you should be able to.
This is going to sound like I’m veering wildly off-topic for a second, but I promise you, I’m going to bring tie this all together.
So, towards the end of 2020 and into 2021, my cat’s health deteriorated rapidly. It’s not entirely a surprise; he was over 20 years old at that point. But watching his world get smaller and smaller as his body started to shut down was enraging because I couldn’t stop it. It was bad enough that a dear friend of mine had died suddenly, but now it was like 2020 just had to get one more shot in. I just had to sit there and watch my best friend lose more and more of himself until he was no longer capable of enjoying being a cat. I had been his father, his brother and his god for his entire life, the person who took everything that was wrong and made it right and I was helpless. I was getting slapped across the face with the fact that I was not actually God, and the only thing I could do was keep him comfortable and safe and ease his passage into the clearing when the time came.
And I was angry. I can’t tell you how angry I was. It was full-bore “I want to get my hands on God” levels of anger, because I was powerless to do anything. And I’m not gonna lie: it was a struggle not to unleash that anger at people around me. It wasn’t until I said goodbye to him, mourned his loss and just let myself scream that I was able to accept that I did the best that I could. Unless I had the Infinity Gauntlet or was imbued with the Phoenix Force, there wasn’t anything I could do and I had to just realize that I was the best possible friend to him in the end that he could have had.
That anger you’re feeling — at women, at yourself, at everyone? That’s anger you’re feeling because you can’t do anything for your brother. And just between you, me and everyone reading this: it’s anger at your brother too, for being in this situation and contributing to the pain it causes you and your family. But there’s that part of you that knows that it’s unfair and unkind of you to be angry at him for this… so with that outlet blocked off, it seeps out elsewhere. And so a lot of it gets directed at a generalized target — the vague concept of women and relationships — and turns inward because… well, because you’re helpless and you shouldn’t be.
And yet, here we are. Recognizing the source of this anger isn’t the cure-all folks often think it will be, but it does make things easier. Understanding the why means that you can, at least, deal with it and channel it in productive directions. Anger can be fuel for a force for positive change, as long as you use it wisely instead of letting it rage out of control.
Case in point: you don’t ever want to be caught in the same situation as your brother.
Now, as cold-blooded as this will sound, your brother’s situation is a lesson to you. The best defense against a toxic relationship is to not get trapped in one in the first place… and the way you do this is to ensure that you have strong and effective boundaries. Abusers, narcissists, toxic people… they all look for folks with weak boundaries, people who won’t stand up to them or for themselves. Having strong boundaries tends to chase them away and keeps them from latching on in the first place, but they also serve to keep you from getting stuck if a relationship becomes toxic.
I mean… been there, and quite literally done that. I was stuck in a toxic relationship for years precisely because my boundaries were weak and I let folks walk clear past them. There were multiple points where, if I had stronger boundaries and actually enforced them, I would have cut the whole thing off long ago. Thanks to hindsight being 20/20, I can even point to exact moments where I could’ve shut the whole thing down. But I didn’t, and I wouldn’t for a long time afterwards.
But here’s the thing: you are actually in a position to see what this looks like from an outsider’s perspective. You’re able to see those same points in your brother’s relationship and how things could have been different. Because you’ve seen it, you are in a better position to recognize the s--t that needs to get shut down hard if it crops up in your own relationships. That awareness is the first step to making sure that you don’t make the same choices your brother did.
The second step is harder. That step requires being willing to face the consequences of having strong boundaries. Because here’s the thing: part of having strong boundaries means that you’re going to piss people off. Sometimes those people will be toxic assholes who’re hoping to take advantage of you. Other times, they may be ordinary folks who don’t like it when you tell them “no”. People who trade on your having weak boundaries aren’t always cartoon villains rubbing their hands and cackling about how they’re going to hurt you; they’re people who just get pissy that you don’t let them do whatever they want. They may be potential lovers. They may even be friends. But telling them “no” can make them upset or angry, even cause the relationship to end. And you have to be willing to face that.
You’ll also have to learn when you’re willing to ease your boundaries and decide who gets greater access and influence and who doesn’t. Sometimes you’ll realize that maybe you’ve set your boundaries in the wrong place and you’re causing drama where none was warranted. Other times, you’ll realize that you didn’t set your boundaries high enough and now you have to push them back. It’s an intimidating and uncomfortable process and unfortunately, it’s very much a case that you can only learn how to do this by doing it.
But if you look at your brother and what he’s going through — and putting you all through, for that matter — you can see why it’s necessary.
All of this isn’t to say that hey, just resolve not to make your brother’s mistakes and everything will be fine. I would strongly suggest talking to a counselor about that anger; even if you understand the cause and the source, you’re still feeling it and you’ll want to cultivate ways of managing it. The last thing you want is to let it fester inside you until it becomes something horrible. But I think that, if you can channel it in a way that leaves you feeling less helpless and gives you something positive you can do, you will find that it will hit you less and be much less of an obstacle in finding your own relationships.
And I can’t emphasize this enough: keep lines of communication open with your brother. You may have to enforce those boundaries against him and his wife for your own emotional protection… but make sure that he always has a way to reach out to you and knows that he can always get ahold of you. Because at some point, he’s going to need your help and knowing that you’re there for him is going to make the difference between more time lost to this toxic relationship or finally breaking free.
You’re in a s--tty situation, AI. You’re a reasonable person who’s stuck in an unreasonable situation and your feelings are a natural result of the bulls--t you’re dealing with. But you’re strong, you’ve got a caring heart and the courage to face it.
You’ll be ok. I promise.
Write back in and let us know how you and your brother are doing.
All will be well.
Please send your questions to Dr. NerdLove at his website (www.doctornerdlove.com/contact); or to his email, doc@doctornerdlove.com