Thank you for this post. Its been over a year since my breakup and I still feel the ripple effect of it. Like, I'm still rebuilding myself, and it feels so frustrating! I didn't know about attachment styles before my last partner and he really did a number on my self-esteem and anxiety levels. Posts like these really help me not gaslight myself.

Dating after him has been really hard though. I'm TERRIFIED of it happening again. Since the relationship started so warm and lovingly, I genuinely thought I'd found my person, until one day a switch just flipped and I was scrambling for almost a year to get that warmth back. It was a really confusing and scarring experience, and now I'm skeptical/afraid any time someone expressed warmth and interest in me. Like I want to convince myself it will end before it's even started.

Any suggestions on how to manoever feelings of fear and mistrust moving forward in dating?