@RangerMIke would you mind to share with us your LTR stories and actual situation?
I know a borderline woman (3) which is trying to improve (1) but in the meanwhile with two kids and his husband, I can see she have those high and lows. She love him then she have drama and want to end the LTR.
He is keeping her, disrespect from her, but we'll see how it goes.
First let me caveat by saying at my age, I am not interested in exclusive LTR anymore. All I do now is date casually. It's not easy finding women that are okay with casual dating... at some point they all start pushing for exclusivity and then it ends. But I am honest and upfront with what I want and what I can give. So when things eventually go sideways... the break is clean, and I don't create enemies. Word gets out about who and what you are, and women just won't date you. But you have to keep going on and not worry about what others say. Women drift in... women drift out... then back in again. I don't have any recent LTR stories... my last was my 10 year marriage that ended almost 20 years ago.
My exe, on the surface seemed perfect, she was hot, was nuts about me, put in all the effort. However, the ONLY bad that I could see was that her fvcking family was a godd@mn mess. Not going to detail everything accept to say her mom was a fat. lazy, mess of a hoarder. Her father was an emotional mess as he struggled to live in sh1t. Suicide and suicide attempts are normal in her family... her brother killed himself, her father and mother both tried.... and one of her sisters talked about it. I convinced myself that wasn't who my exe was because she 'hated' her mother (still does BTW, because we have kids together, I talk to her frequently).
Everything was fine.... until the kids were born... then she went off the deep end, she is chronically depressed, but with medication can function. She is (1) "Raised by wolves. This is the hardest to deal with because it's really not her fault, she was destroyed by bad parenting. The man wants to try and save her... but he can't. All he can do is spend money of therapy, keep her drugged up and hope for the best. Since I was worried about my kids, I had to get out and take them with me... otherwise instead of having adult children that were emotional and mental train wreaks, now I have two kids in college doing great.
Today... it is godd@mn hard as fvck trying to find a woman whom you can share your life. This is why fewer and fewer people actually get married, and half of marriages ends in divorce. It's like a daily game of Russian roulette with a 6-round revolver, with three rounds loaded. I only know a handful of marriages that are actually good. Most women are just not willing to put in the work to make relationships work... when things get hard, it's just too easy to load up another dude, she goes on a dating website and she'll get a 100 matches. As she does this, she becomes more and more emotionally damaged. And when things end... well it is ALWAYS the man's fault because the man just didn't try hard enough to make her 'happy'.
It is much better to have a low tolerance for behavior you don't like. As soon as you get a sniff of difficulty... pop smoke and leave. Don't worry about her, she'll find another sucker willing to twist in the wind.