I'm glad you had enough strength to hold onto your own sense of self - to do otherwise results in crazy-making.
Just barely. To be perfectly honest there were a few years where I did feel like I was the crazy one. xH developed a close friendship with a female friend at work. I was not invited into this friendship. xH knew her friends and family while I never met any of them. Long story but it was a significant EA (I did not know the terminology then). Any request from me regarding this friendship continued into the pattern of accusing me of having issues that I needed to work on. I felt so alone and crazy during this time. I couldn't even talk to friends about this because I was embarrassed and afraid maybe I was the crazy one. When she moved away with her fiance, he even drove 4 hours to meet her halfway and spend the weekend together. So while I was willing to speak up and push, it should be fairly obvious that xH had the real control because I was unwilling to push him too hard.
I can speak my mind and will stick by my feelings but in the end I will usually try to make someone else happy and comfortable by sacrificing my needs. Hmmm does this start to point to one of my real issues?
But what is happiness except the simple harmony between a man and the life he leads? ~Albert Camus
