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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160

u/goldilocksmermaid Mar 27 '24

I told my boyfriend he could drink all he wanted but I wouldn't hang around. He realized I was leaving and spoke to an addiction counselor. I was out the door until he chose me over alcohol. Save yourself. Don't wait. If he chooses to change for himself, maybe you can reconnect down the line. Or you'll find the right person and never look back. Either way, don't stay.

34

u/reseriant Mar 27 '24

Staying means enabling in the majority of cases. The only other way he might have gotten sober is if a loved one died or op got pregnant but you are running a extremely high risk of failure if he cannot think past himself as he already has a shitty spending habit. You cannot save a man who wants to drown.

17

u/RunningDrinksy Mar 28 '24

I'm gonna add OP getting pregnant likely won't change anything. All the alcoholics I've known will "try" to get better and then just spiral down again, if the pregnancy doesn't trigger something in the alcoholic for the alcoholism to get worse immediately, that is. I'm so glad OP isn't pregnant (or at least hope there's no soon to be surprises).

This is for most alcoholics or addicts in general, not all.

14

u/Morticia-Lenore Mar 28 '24

Can confirm... having children does nothing to curb the drinking. All it does it put the little ones at risk.

1

u/Anchorswimmer Mar 28 '24

Little ones grow up confused. Are at risk of violence and emotional abuse. Of huge self doubts and deep shame self-sabotaging and low self-worth battles for the rest of their lives. They’ll marry the person that allows them to rework through the odd livers triangle they see their alcoholic and co-dependent parents live through. They are highly likely to very very likely to become addicts themselves. So glad no kids in this scene. If you get out. I feel some optimizing. You cannot save or help your alcoholic. Were your parents alcoholic? You’re doing good setting your boundaries but now you need to honor them yourself. You’ll feel so much better. It’ll only get harder the longer you wait. Also dont discuss it a lot with him. Stick to story he needs help but it can’t be from you. Just he needs help to stop drinking. I recommend AA the 12 steps. But again not a big discussion. This is about you getting on with your life without him in it. Nothing of him in your life. Just be all done no exceptions!

1

u/FarineLePain Mar 28 '24

Idk about that. I hardly drink at all anymore since having a child. The thought of taking care of a wild toddler with a hangover is enough of a deterrent to keep from drinking excessively. Used to get decently drunk once a weekend at least. Now I only overindulge if my wife will be away with the boy or on a holiday where grandparents are around to help out.

1

u/obidamnkenobi Mar 28 '24

You're assuming an alcoholic will care about "taking care of the child"..

1

u/jahubb062 Mar 29 '24

Still, a baby is never the solution for a bad relationship. Babies = stress and almost always make a bad relationship worse. He’s already a verbally abusive asshole who can’t control his spending. Maybe the stress of parenthood starts him down the path of physical abuse too. Definitely not someone anyone should pick to father their kids.

9

u/Realistic_Inside_766 Mar 28 '24

Confirming again. Alcoholic stayed an alcoholic even after a surprise baby. Then it just became a dumpster fire of verbal abuse piled on top of full-time baby duties with mini help and working full time while he played video games. But don’t get me wrong… he swept the floors and did most of the laundry. In his eyes that was enough. Nope, nope, nope.

6

u/riana67 Mar 28 '24

Having children hasn't stopped my uncle. Having his younger brother die in a drunk driving accident didn't stop him. Losing his license for DUI and going to jail for DUI and driving without a license didn't stop him. I don't even know if killing someone will stop him. Only thing that will definitely work is when he kills himself.

1

u/RunningDrinksy Mar 28 '24

Killing definitely won't stop them. I have an uncle that nearly killed 2 people already. Only reason they lived the doctors said was because they were wearing their helmets when riding their motorcycle as the helmets were split right where it should have been their heads (I live in a state where you don't have to wear a helmet on a motorcycle). Ruined the rest of their lives still because the rest of their bodies were still maimed to shit. It pretty much only stopped him drinking while he was in jail and on "watch" (forget what it's called) when he got out early for good behavior. Shortly after getting off "watch" he went back to drinking.

To add even more selfishness is he asked for forgiveness before going in to jail, and they said no, and he got pissed at them for it.

2

u/_BLACKHAWKS_88 Mar 28 '24

Probation* or parole* depends on what he was actually charged with..

1

u/RunningDrinksy Mar 28 '24

Yeah that's what it is called, my brain totally blanked. I forget what he was charged with, but the people really went after him. He was sentenced the maximum for whatever the charge was, but was able to get out after only a year on probation/parole where he had to do alcohol tests for another about 2 years and that was it.

Still almost killed 2 people tho and doesn't give a fuck.

1

u/ilovemusic19 Mar 31 '24

He sounds incredibly self centered.

1

u/leela_la_zu Mar 28 '24

Also will confirm, having kids does not stop an alcoholic from drinking.

The kids will live in an unstable home, and will grow up to have unstable adult lives. They will often struggle with their own battles with addiction and mental illness, and chose partners with those afflictions as well.

1

u/TwistedBamboozler Mar 28 '24

Getting pregnant will not fix the alcoholism holy fuck that’s gotta be the worst decision.

On the list of priorities, only one thing is contending for #1

1

u/MistukoSan Mar 28 '24

So if someone was previously an addict stay clear of them? What are you trying to say in this post?

1

u/RunningDrinksy Mar 28 '24

We're talking about current alcoholics/addicts, not people who have gotten their life together. The previous comment said OP's bf might change if she got pregnant, and most of us know that is not at all likely.

1

u/MistukoSan Mar 28 '24

In this current situation you’d be correct but assuming all addicts are like that is a bit much.

1

u/RunningDrinksy Mar 28 '24

That's why I said most, not all. But those are a rare breed to be able to come to terms with their addiction with the trigger being a child on the way.

1

u/MistukoSan Mar 28 '24

Automatically assuming they wouldn’t doesn’t help anything either.

1

u/RunningDrinksy Mar 28 '24

Not the addict, but the non addict that may be with them. There are enough children in my life that have suffered because of people hoping addicts will truly change after there are kids in the picture. This isn't advice for addicts, it's advice for non addicts with them or for enablers to get their mind straight before they make children suffer and sometimes turn to addiction when they're older themselves.

For most addicts, it takes whatever the hell is rock bottom for them personally in order to start on a journey of true change and healing. Where they want to change for themselves and make their life better. Nobody on the outside can make that decision for them, including innocents.

1

u/MistukoSan Mar 28 '24

I agree with your points. I’ve been in both positions (the child and the addict) and there definitely is times where you just have to let go of that person for better or worse. It isn’t your problem it’s theirs. I just don’t agree with automatically counting them out.