BLUF ('cause I'm too Navy to TLDR): Where do you draw the line on shutting down complaint shit tests when you know some of it is a legitimate health concern?
Backstory: 34, Military (alpha for pay), basically a lifetime beta (single mom with disabled younger brother, childhood was a fight for women's attention and a constant servant role picking up domestic slack while mom took care of him)
Watching my 2nd marriage follow the same dive slope as my 1st one (post 1st anniversary conditions are oddly similar, and bad) This time I won't stand for it and the last three weeks have been some kind of shit test vs beta nerd rage nuclear war. Kinda heard about RP before but (like a beta in denial) dismissed it as "nice guy" loser shit.
Last night, rather than wallowing in my sorrows reading r/deadbedrooms and crying myself to sleep over what I feared was inevitable, I decided to give the side bar a more open minded read. I get it now. I'm sick of how who I am at home is making who I am everywhere a loser. I manned up a little to get through OCS, I'm going to use RP as a framework for the grad level manning up I should have transitioned to after commissioning.
Monday I hit the gym for bodyweight training (never learned to lift, going to use my fat ass as weights while I learn how)
Meanwhile I've been reflecting at length on the shit test concept.
Almost the entire relationship my wife has INUNDATED me with complaints about this or that physical ailment. I'll lean in for a kiss and (even though she kisses) I get "my back hurts" or migraine or IBD issue or menstrual cramps or whatever. I'll walk in the door optimistic about the evening, or wake up on Saturday with hope for the weekend and she'll just hit me in the face with some expression or another of physical pain like a fire extinguisher to the face blindsiding me as I breach a door.
Migraines are the ultimate anti-sex defense for her.
I used to dote, then I got annoyed, then I became indifferent, then threw "see a fucking doctor" at her in response. Then cycled around as different answers yielded different follow on "you don't care about me" lines. (secondary shit tests?) Pre-unplug I mostly go between ignoring, pointlessly saying sorry and trying to play doctor. (not the fun kind of doctor)
I know that a portion of this IS legitimate debilitating chronic pain. But her way of letting me know completely fucks with my sense of self confidently making our lives work.
Anyone with a similar issue?
I'm seeking guidance to know when to give compassion vs when to call her bluff, what to do when disarming her triggers a secondary shit test.
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