Insecurities keep reader from being happy with man

Hi, Carolyn: Earlier this year I had a short but intense relationship with a guy who was a great catch. Good-looking, smart, well-read, liked his family, etc., and in our late-20s/flirting with 30, that seems harder and harder to find. He wasn’t a “words of affirmation” person, which I very much am, and he had several close female friends — four — whom he had varying degrees of intimate relationships with in the past, which I had a hard time with. I wasn’t quite ready for a relationship and was still working on self-esteem and insecurities, which really came to the surface with this person.

My question is — how do I move on from a relationship that had great trappings that I wasn’t ready for? I know he wasn’t perfect, but it seems like it was my insecurities and neediness that really drove us apart, and I’m finding it hard to forgive myself and come to terms with that.

Emotionally Unavailable?

Actually ...

If you’re still at the point of “working on selfesteem and insecurities,” and if your neediness was in full bloom with him, then I think it’s more useful to look at this guy as someone your low self-esteem, insecurities and neediness picked out for you.

We’re often drawn to the familiar, and if feeling bad about yourself is still what you’re used to, then your attractions will reflect that.

He could have looked good because of his command of your emotional strings.

If that’s the case, then I doubt he’ll look like such a great catch to the healthy person you’re becoming through all your hard work.

Keep working on your stuff, on your ability to stand confidently on your own.