Fast forward 2019: during November 2019 I met an attractive, intelligent and charming (albeit dramatic) woman and very quickly we became inseparable. We spent a lot of time together, visited many different places and really enjoyed each other's company. I fell in love and by April 2020 we decided that I will spend the South Africa Covid-19 Lockdown Level 5 at her place in Cape Town.
My income was severely compromised during the Covid Lockdown rules and I realised I had to make a serious plan for not just my own survival, but to also contribute to the household. My girlfriend, being an entrepreneur herself, also had no fix income (due to Covid restrictions) and I needed to pull a rabbit out of a hat as fast as possible.
Fortunately, throughout the years, I have been a Contract for Difference (CFD) trader on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and when the oil price slumped in April 2020 I made a high risk decision to purchase Sasol (energy and chemical company listed on the JSE) CFD's through my online trading account. As the oil price and Sasol share price recovered I purchased more and more Sasol (and other) CFD's and very quickly reached high liquidity positions to withdraw cash and contribute handsomely to the household.
Experiencing ingratitude
We used to go shopping every couple of days in which I would purchase all the food and basically everything and anything we needed. This was now about four to five months into our relationship and I noticed, for the first time, something strange - she would never thank me for anything I do or purchase. It starting to worry me in a big way. The words 'thank you' just did not exist in her vocabulary...
During the infatuation stage of the relationship it never occurred to me that I was never thanked for anything. It was only while living with her full time (in a routine environment) that this behaviour of ingratitude was now overtly manifesting itself. Over the short term this behaviour from her was repeated ever so often and I felt the need to address this delicate issue.
After some careful consideration I finally confronted her with my concerns that she never thank me for the food that I bought or anything that I did... her only response, a rather underwhelming grandiose pretext, was the mere fact that 'eating the food that I purchased, with me', was her 'thank you' to me. An audacious statement of self- entitlement and disdain to say the least. I became quite disgruntled with this response and discussed it with one of my close friends a few days later.
I find myself for the first time in my life questioning somebody's repeated lack of appreciation and ingratitude. Something wasn't quite right or perhaps I was expecting too much. My friend assured me that there was nothing wrong with my expectation of gratitude from her - and it's is quite normal to say thank you, even for the smallest token of appreciation.
This was a profound shift in the relationship. I started thinking back to all the occasions where I felt she acted a bit strange after giving her a gift or bring flowers and / or other gestures of goodwill. I realised on top of that I did not once received a thank you - I lived off the crumbs of expectation only to receive no gratitude for anything I would do for her.
This ingratitude would repeat itself over the next few months. In May 2020 I overindulged on her birthday with gifts and goodwill - I thought (although not very optimistic at the time) that I would at least get some sort of acknowledgement... I received nothing!
After the strict lockdown rules were lifted we went away for a few weekends of which I paid for everything - I did not mind paying, as my CFDs on the JSE were thriving - and I really wanted to share my JSE trading gains. I received no thank you, no gratitude for anything during and after these weekends. On one occasion she told me of the very nice thank you note she sent the manager of a guest farm we stayed. Go figure...
Moving on
On the return of an extended weekend we spent down the Cape West Coast she told me that I should thank her for the nice weekend we had. This was the moment I realised that her self-centeredness is not going to change and together with all the other red flags in her behaviour its best that I move on. I withdrew from the relationship by spending a few weeks in my studio apartment to try and come to terms with her behaviour.
During August 2020 I started to pull away completely from the abusive relationship. It brought an immense sense of sadness over me. I grappled for the next couple of weeks with her lack of gratitude, sense of self-entitlement and her physical and on-going verbal abuse against me. The verbal abuse was getting worse - she also verbally attacked my sister (over the phone) and I knew I had to disengage permanently from her. During September 2020 I collected the last of my stuff from her (said a couple of nasty things to her - of which I'm not proud of). Apart from a few text messages after this I have not engaged in any further contact with her.
My learning and acceptance
I've read and researched a wide range of mental health, phycology and dysfunctional relationship resources to come to terms with the past year of my life... in many ways I was still very much in love with her when I walked away, but knew that I could not carry on living like this... for my own safety and sanity. My dreams with her were shattered and it's taking me a long time to pick up the pieces in rebuilding my life without her.
I have learned to accept that I cannot change somebody else's (dysfunctional) behaviour. Coming to terms with the fact that no appreciation or gratitude was ever offered is something that I have to accept, understand how it affected me and what I can learn from this unfortunate behaviour.
© Vernon Chalmers : Mental Health and Motivation (Importance of Gratitude)
I hate ingratitude more in a man
than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness,
Or any taint of vice whose strong corruption
Inhabits our frail blood.
— Shakespeare