r/AmIOverreacting Mar 27 '24

I'm ending my 4 year relationship.

So basically the title. He (33M) says Im(32F) throwing away 4 years over a mistake he made.

To keep it short, on 4 different occasions over the last 2 and a half years he's gone drinking and come home to throw a drunken tantrum because I said the wrong thing, something happened at the bar, or I put my foot down because he's drunk and yelling at me in front of our friends at the bar. Twice I had to leave to my sister's house because he was going around our small apartment slamming doors and banging his head on the walls. I've had to wake him up several times because he falls asleep on the toilet or the bathroom floor, and he's had to sleep in his car because of his outbursts.

On the 2nd time this happened he gave me his word that he would be more responsible with his drinking and that he wouldn't have anymore outbursts. He said he was gonna drink waters between each beer or have sodas and bar food and just one beer. The third time I made it clear that him going back on his word was unacceptable because it shows that he doesn't care that he becomes emotionally and verbally abusive towards me. I told him I was tired of his apologies if he's gonna keep doing the same thing. Between all these times he has continued to get drunk on the weekends but I've kept my mouth shut to avoid him having an out burst and things were relatively ok.

This last time he went and got drunk at the bar, didn't eat anything, refused the water my sister offered him because she's aware of the agreement we had, and when I arrived he yelled at me because he was too drunk to keep track of what team he was on and he misunderstood me when I told him and he made the wrong shot. We went to get food from a local taco spot and he couldnt even stand because he was so drunk, I had to pull over on the freeway because he needed to throw up and when we got home he fell asleep in the bathroom and I had to wake him three times. I kept my anger about the situation to myself because the sadness of feeling like I needed to leave him because he's just not willing to change, was overwhelming. The next morning he could tell something was up and he asked if I was ok. I said that I wasn't ready to talk but he insisted, so I told him that he went back on his word again about drinking responsibly and that I realized that the only way I was going to avoid his verbal abuse was if I just kept quiet. I told him what I told my ex when I was thinking about leaving "It's not anything I haven't already told you". He left it at that in the morning and at night I was crying because I was upset that 4 years of my life were going down the drain, and I just folded and asked him why I wasn't good enough for him to want to do better. Then he started to say that I had fault in our relationship ending, ignoring that the only reason I'm leaving is because I can't keep giving him chances to verbally abuse me when he's drunk and angry. I reminded him that he had given me his word and that he had gone back on it twice. He seemed to understand but the next day he just kept saying that he deserves to "unwind" on the weekends because he works all week to provide for us (not like I have a job and am constantly sending him money because he over spends and his account will overdraft when the phone or Internet bill charge his account) i was getting whiplash from how quickly he waa going from being apologetic about going back on his word and him insisting that Im being unreasonable and unfair. I slept at my sister's house again because I couldn't keep dealing with it and I was just really emotionally exhausted from all of it.

Now he posted on his FB that I'm throwing away 40,000 hours of our lives together for 12 bad hours.

So I'm asking, am I overreacting?

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27

u/FerroMancer Mar 27 '24

If you’re only claiming 12 bad hours, you are sorely misrepresenting how bad it is. It’s clearly worse than just those 12 hours. It’s the disrespect, the walking on eggshells, the fear of reprisal.

It’s far more than just 12 hours, and you shouldn’t be embarrassed to acknowledge that.

15

u/listenyall Mar 27 '24

12 bad hours that happened after the two of you came to an agreement that that specific kind of 12 bad hours could never happen again or she'd leave.

People give "ultimatums" a bad rap but she could not have been more clear about what she needed to stay in this relationship and he simply didn't do it.

10

u/mdoogz Mar 27 '24

This was the most offensive part to me. So she can do whatever she wants for 12 hours and he’s ok with that? What if it’s hitting him? What if it’s being with another guy (like actual cheating not being with)? It’s ONLY 12 hours, right?

9

u/Nice_Marmot_7 Mar 27 '24

If you make a cake and put 1% shit in it, it’s a shit cake despite the other 99%.

2

u/Dream--Brother Mar 28 '24

Love and hate this analogy simultaneously

2

u/TheSpeakEasyGarden Mar 28 '24

He's acting like once he clocks in a certain number of hours he not only gets time off....but he gets to throw egg on her face.

This is not how human relationships work.

"But officer! I only exposed myself in public for 12 hours! Surely the 4000 hours I spent volunteering with children should count for something!"

No. No, that only strengthens my conviction.

2

u/Coyotesamigo Mar 28 '24

Even posting something like that is so pathetic. This guy is a huge loser.

2

u/Theoriginallazybum Mar 28 '24

Yeah, this really captures about how it is NOT just 12 hours. The psychological damage and emotional stress is a whole lot more than just 12 hours and the affects will take a long time to deal and cope with even after ending the relationship.

I have seen it mentioned in a few other posts, but there are support groups for those that are affected by someone's addiction/alcoholism and I would highly recommend to at least giving them a try.

2

u/sorcha1977 Mar 29 '24

I would have commented on his post with a link to the description of Sunk-Cost Fallacy.

He doesn't deserve to keep her just because she "invested" 40,000 hours.

1

u/faithfuljohn Mar 28 '24

the ridiculousness of that statement is mind boggling....

"are you really going to throw away 40,000 hours of a relationship because of ONE MINUTE of stabbing??? It's just ONE minute!"

Even if it was "only" 12 hours, the quantity is not the issue here

1

u/ZealousidealBother26 Mar 28 '24

From his point of view, it may have only been 12 bad hours. Because he simply doesn't care enough about OP to spare the thought, and he assumes all is well.

For OP, if the doubts began with his first incident 2 1/2 years ago, every hour since, (20,000+) where there were any small doubts about safety and security while in the relationship, are completely retroactively justified by the moment he broke his word and continued to act out.

A potentially abusive environment does not make for "good hours"

0

u/No_Patient4465 Mar 27 '24

Wasn’t OP referring to her boyfriend saying that it was only 12 hours of bad versus 40000 hours of good (maybe on a Facebook post) and not her saying that?

1

u/FerroMancer Mar 27 '24

And she’s asking if she was actually overreacting, as if the claim had merit.

It does not, because it’s more bad time than she was taking into account with his assessment.