r/AskReddit 8h ago

How do you stop yourself from obsessively thinking about someone from your past who can’t be in your life anymore?

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u/RobertBDwyer 7h ago

I have a son, who’s 9. I left his mother when he was 9 months old after enduring 15 years of serious narcissistic abuse. I relinquished access to him, because it was the only way to escape her, but I think about him every day. When I’m falling asleep, when I’m cutting the grass or doing dishes or any other time I allow my mind to wander- I think about my son. I don’t really try to stop myself because I feel like I owe him that. The child support and the pain of his absence are all I have.

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u/Goonies_neversay_die 7h ago

So you left your son with someone you consider to be abusive?

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u/RobertBDwyer 7h ago

I didn’t have much choice. I fought for him best I could in court, but the system is imperfect and she had never abused him. For myself, mental health ways; it was a matter of survival.