During post-sex cuddles is typically when we have a lot of space to explore our thoughts - or BIKSS has time to probe into my brain and I have time to float about in there and think about the past, myself, growth, fears and anything else that requires good strong emotional scaffolding before one goes diving into potentially murky reservoirs of memories and dredging up things that sometimes should remain sunk and buried.
So the most recent chat we had of this nature was about how I was grateful for all the safety nets, harnesses, ladders and air mattresses that he has surrounded me with as I navigated this relationship with him.
In the past whenever a partner reacted negatively to something I did / said, I made a mental note of never sharing it with my other half again. This, you can imagine, is detrimental for downline relationship building. I internalised all the criticisms and believed I wasn't enough - not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, slim enough, cool enough. It just stacked up one after another.
The result of all this is that sometimes when I'm faced with uncertainty /sadness /doubt /fear or anything that one would usually think of running TOWARDS a partner with (for sharing, or because one needed comforting, presumably) I would, instead, tuck it far away inside me, or sometimes haul the dark cloud over my shoulder and run in the opposite direction.
This has no doubt led to many misunderstandings - when one can tell a friend something that one cannot tell a boyfriend, and that friend happens to be a guy, the boyfriend is BOUND to get suspicious.
I could call a spade a spade and say "When I tell John about it he doesn't judge me and I feel as if you blame ME for everything that goes wrong in my life - which makes me feel small and unworthy." But I've tried that and it only leads to more problems.
The thing is, I should have just WALKED AWAY. It's not that I shouldn't try and solve problems and work out issues. What it is is that I should have known when it wasn't possible to have a reasonable conversation with someone and that the person I was in love with was flawed and incapable of communicating rationally.
If I could go back in time and teach myself a lesson, this would be it.
So anyway it only took forever for BIKSS to peel away those layers and teach me that I could trust him NOT to diss me. And for that I'm grateful. It feels fantastic to be able to take anything I'm feeling and run TO him with it, instead of away from him. More than the love, or more than the kink, more than the DDlg, I appreciate him for being my safe space.
Then comes the next part. I sometimes browse through my dating app, just to see what's out there.
Would I go on dates? Yes. I have before. Is BIKSS fine with it? He is. We both know the day will come when we will be no more.
Am I gunning for a new beau? No. But I'm open to meeting someone, either to be exclusive with, eventually, or as part of an open relationship... I'm not sure. But we're fluid that way, for now at least.
So I said to BIKSS that this ability for me to come to him with EVERYTHING, is either going to make it REALLY easy for the next chap in that he won't have to do the peeling of all those gunky fucked up layers, cos it's already done! OR it's going to be really hard for the next guy I date cos I think at the slightest hint of being made to feel the way my ex-es made me feel, I would turn around and give him my "Now look here, I don't deserve this" speech.
The up side is that I'm better equipped to deal with assholes now. The down side - it's gonna be tough finding someone who can scaffold as well as BIKSS can.
It's constant aftercare for my psyche.