I'm a single mother, self employed, bi, and have attempted being poly in the past. I haven't had a lot of success, in that both partners I tried polyamory with weren't honest with me during the process, and both eventually left the relationship to pursue monogamy (and marriage) with the women that they weren't honest with me about.
Fast forward several years to now. I've been dating a man for the past year and half after an extended period of being single. We've swung together on several occasions - each time it was excellent and we both have nothing but positive feelings about the experiences. Recently he's asked if he can start seeing other people on his own; we've discussed it fairly regularly over the time we've been dating. Up until now, I haven't been open to the idea because of my past experiences, and was concerned about his prior history of not being able to be fully open and honest with the multiple women he was dating (prior to having known me).
After a lengthy discussion last night, he made his case and I've decided to try polyamory with him on a trial basis. We are in the midst of creating a written agreement and have already made some surprising headway. Surprising in that I'm finding this process already a lot easier than my prior experiences, and I am enjoying having a written agreement (something I haven't done before).
I have several questions.
(1) I realize that I have trust issues. I've done a lot of work (therapy, soul searching, journaling, reading) and will continue to work on it throughout this process. To me its a lifelong journey, and one that I'm happy to work on. I also realize that my trust issues aren't my partners issues, and I don't want to punish him for someone else's mistakes. Does anyone have any suggestions for anything else I can do, read, etc. along these lines?
(2) I'd also love suggestions for our agreement; I feel like we're missing a few crucial bits and pieces. Anything to assist with the brainstorming?
(3) With my prior partners, when they would go out on a date, I found I usually needed to stay busy during said date - probably because I didn't know a lot about their partner(s) and felt very threatened by them. That likely won't be the case here (we have a completely different agreement so far that takes into account this issue), but I know that I'll still have days/nights where I need that distraction, even for a little bit. I don't have the freedom I used to to pursue things outside of the home - before when I tried being poly I was single and without a lot of responsibility other than for myself, but now I am a single parent and living alone in a somewhat remote location. I do have a sitter twice a week - one night to attend sport practices, and one for date night. I don't live with my partner, as he has primary care of an ailing family member, but he has a lot more free time to pursue things than I ever will. Any suggestions? It may be a silly request, but I'd rather have a bevy of ideas on hand before the time comes.
Fast forward several years to now. I've been dating a man for the past year and half after an extended period of being single. We've swung together on several occasions - each time it was excellent and we both have nothing but positive feelings about the experiences. Recently he's asked if he can start seeing other people on his own; we've discussed it fairly regularly over the time we've been dating. Up until now, I haven't been open to the idea because of my past experiences, and was concerned about his prior history of not being able to be fully open and honest with the multiple women he was dating (prior to having known me).
After a lengthy discussion last night, he made his case and I've decided to try polyamory with him on a trial basis. We are in the midst of creating a written agreement and have already made some surprising headway. Surprising in that I'm finding this process already a lot easier than my prior experiences, and I am enjoying having a written agreement (something I haven't done before).
I have several questions.
(1) I realize that I have trust issues. I've done a lot of work (therapy, soul searching, journaling, reading) and will continue to work on it throughout this process. To me its a lifelong journey, and one that I'm happy to work on. I also realize that my trust issues aren't my partners issues, and I don't want to punish him for someone else's mistakes. Does anyone have any suggestions for anything else I can do, read, etc. along these lines?
(2) I'd also love suggestions for our agreement; I feel like we're missing a few crucial bits and pieces. Anything to assist with the brainstorming?
(3) With my prior partners, when they would go out on a date, I found I usually needed to stay busy during said date - probably because I didn't know a lot about their partner(s) and felt very threatened by them. That likely won't be the case here (we have a completely different agreement so far that takes into account this issue), but I know that I'll still have days/nights where I need that distraction, even for a little bit. I don't have the freedom I used to to pursue things outside of the home - before when I tried being poly I was single and without a lot of responsibility other than for myself, but now I am a single parent and living alone in a somewhat remote location. I do have a sitter twice a week - one night to attend sport practices, and one for date night. I don't live with my partner, as he has primary care of an ailing family member, but he has a lot more free time to pursue things than I ever will. Any suggestions? It may be a silly request, but I'd rather have a bevy of ideas on hand before the time comes.
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