Is There Something Wrong with Being a ‘Commitment-Phobe’?
Dear Noncommittal,
Thank you for sharing so much of yourself here. You ask what I think your problem is, and I find myself wondering what you think the problem is or if you even think there is a problem.
It sounds like you have been able to pretty clearly identify a pattern of behavior when it comes to intimate relationships and have also indicated that this pattern of behavior works for you; it allows you to experience the good of relationships and avoid all of the bad. So it doesn’t really seem like you view the behavior as a problem. However, I’m going to assume that since you are asking for advice, you are interested in trying to have a deeper and longer-lasting relationship but find the prospect of the “bad stuff” to be so scary that it gets in the way.
It sounds like you have identified your parents’ marriage and divorce as the source of your fear of the “bad stuff” of relationships. That makes sense—for better and for worse, we learn what intimate relationships are “supposed” to look like by looking at our parents’ relationships. It sounds like what you saw in your parents’ relationship and ultimate divorce was so “bad” and “scary” that it has made you want to avoid relationships altogether. However, I would suggest that because you have such high levels of self-awareness—your own patterns of behavior and how they are connected to your experience of your parents’ relationship—you are nicely positioned to have a very different kind of relationship. If you add in the support of a therapist to help you process your feelings about your parents’ marriage and divorce and explore what kind of relationship you would like to have, you are even more likely to be successful in finding that relationship.
Yes, relationships are laborious, even painful at times. But without conflict, we cannot repair, and without repair we cannot deepen the level of trust and connection.
Finally, while not getting too deeply into an intimate relationship can protect you from the “bad stuff” of deeper, long-term relationships, it is also stopping you from enjoying the “good stuff” of such relationships. That might be something worth exploring with a therapist, too. You deserve to experience the very best of what an intimate relationship can provide.
Yes, relationships are laborious, even painful at times. But without conflict, we cannot repair, and without repair we cannot deepen the level of trust and connection. In other words, all the struggle of a relationship can lead to a deeper fulfillment—a fulfillment that cannot be realized through avoiding conflict. Truly, no pain, no gain here.
What’s more, relationships can force us to do our own emotional and spiritual work. There are not only many benefits of being in a relationship, but you may also be missing a magnificent opportunity to address the fear and the old pain that likely lurk beneath the surface. Tending to this old stuff has great potential for helping you find greater joy and contentment in life.
Best wishes,
Sarah
Sarah Noel
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patience
December 4th, 2015 at 10:22 AMI choose to look at it like this. Maybe you are not necessarily phobic about getting involved with someone but you might have a little fear of getting involved with the wrong person, and that is completely understandable especially if you have been in a bad relationship before. The most important thing is to learn to love yourself and then if or when the right person comes along, then you will be ready and accepting of that person in your life.
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Margie
December 5th, 2015 at 9:59 AMI don’t know, there is nothing with being alone and making that a conscious choice, but it can be awfully lonely if you are not positive that you wish to be alone.
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Ric
December 7th, 2015 at 10:16 AMSo maybe you are a little phobic
big deal
your choice, your life -
Maggie
December 9th, 2015 at 11:22 AMTo each his own right? And if this is what works for you and you are happy, then you shouldn’t feel like you have to make someone else happy in your life, just yourself.
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Moe
December 27th, 2015 at 4:01 PMBe happy with the life that you are living right now… this might be the right thing for you forever and then again it might not be. But the answer is one day going to come to you and it will hopefully be at a time when you are ready and able to accept that in your life.
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Gena
December 29th, 2015 at 4:12 PMHave you considered going to a counselor or therapist?
It has obviously scarred you because of the relationship and divorce that you witnessed your parents go through. It could do you some good to talk to another person about your fears and how that plays into your own hesitation to get involved in a serious relationship of your own. -
K
February 18th, 2022 at 4:55 AMOut of my experience, (I am born 1977), I have been able to witness the lives of “commitment phobia” driven people or how one described herself as “a three month wonder” and the lives of non commitment phobes through the years. Whatever looks good in the twenties, in the forties it’s complete different. No family, no kids, people traveling to all kinds of places is after 20 years “boring”, going through the same “highs” in dating and new sex is now “boring”, they either end up in therapy, finally addressing their past /childhood experiences and doing their work or they withdraw into a very superficial “self-reliant” but “bitter” state, usually sarcastically mocking people who have family, a house, kids and go through the many struggles they were fearful of. Some even say “I attracted good people but it’s me, I should have not xyz go”. Sometimes they end up in a relationship but make their partners daily lives a living hell (with passiv aggressive withdrawal, having secrets, being away most of the time “because of the job” etc), like they want to punish their partners to “feel trapped, lost their freedom, feeling encaged”. Others have so much entitlement and unreasonable high standards of their “perfect partner”, that no other person will ever achieve those fantasy images that they secretly dream about. Like they are lost in their dream world of the “perfect soul mate where everything is easy and everything falls into place with zero efforts”, hence as soon as reality kicks in, they finally got irritated (because of minor things, one friend of mine broke up because his girlfriend repeatedly was chewing a gum before going out to a fancy dinner, to him it was the proof that “she was unable to appreciate him if she could not appreciate a good red wine”). It’s sad but they are running away because of small, small things. This is my experience. The last type is what I personally detest the most, because they have figured out that they are commitment phobes but try to be in committed relationship with a usual very understanding and patient partner but end up are ruining another person’s love for them just because they are too lazy to grow up and deal with their childhood issues like a grown-up adult. I call them “half ass”, because they are fifty percent inside in door and fifty percent outside. There’s counseling and help available. But again, even this is too much of a commitment for many. And then they complain about “how difficult their relationship is”, yeah sure.
To end with a positive view, those who have been through their internal struggles, after usually two years of trying to sabotage the relationship but found the courage to face their own fears and learn not to project their own internal struggles on their partners and do their work end up changeg, end up having a good, committed relationship. Nothing is lost. It all depends on when or if a person is growing up and ready to mature on an emotional level. You can be almost 50 and behave like a teenager on an emotional level. Whatever is nice as a teenager or in the twenties looks ridiculous and immature in the forties.
Good luck.
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