The problem with living with an opinionated man is the tendency to listen. It's not so much that I take his opinions as my own - I've always been strong and level headed enough to make my own decisions. It's that you eventually start avoiding the things he has a strong opinion about because you just don't want to listen to it anymore.
Today I asked a simple question. He was watching a show about UFOs and I asked if he believed in them. And he went into a spiel that lasted an hour at least. The thing is that it always becomes about how he is so much better, so much smarter, knows so much more than anyone else; how everyone else is living their lives wrong; how the masses are idiots.
I'm all for opinions but I don't understand how someone with such strong thoughts and ideas can't see that others have equally strong thoughts and ideas. And his are not always automatically right. But he doesn't listen. No one else knows the way he knows.
The irony is that when he talks about other people's narcissism and/or closed mindedness, all he's saying to me is that he is closed minded and narcissistic. And that's just sad. For someone who is so intelligent, it is sad that he can't see beyond his own thoughts and ideas.
Another problem with living with an opinionated man is that you start avoiding things you like and want to do so you can avoid the conversation. I don't want to hear about how shitty my taste in movies and music is. It's what I like. I don't need to read your books, I don't need to feel the same way, I don't need to become anyone's shadow.
I need to stop doing that. I need to do what I want, go out when I need, move as much as I can, cook and read and listen and dance and pick my nose whatever way I want and if he has a problem with it he's going to have to find a way to deal with it.
It saddens me that I'm here again. This is where I was with Karl. But the difference is I don't need to run off and be alone. I need to be me, no matter where I am. He can do the running if he wants... I'm sticking.
