I suspect the problem is less him than your (and the letter writer's) secret wish -- call it a persistent illusion -- that this time, somehow, it will be different. This time, it will work out.
It's not unlike what they put in the AA Big Book back in the 1930's: "The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker."
Just substitute love or relationship or romance for drinking and you get the idea. The rest of the paragraph, BTW: "The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death."
He’s the Mafia. Every time I think I’ve gotten away. He pulls me back in again.
I suspect the problem is less him than your (and the letter writer's) secret wish -- call it a persistent illusion -- that this time, somehow, it will be different. This time, it will work out.
It's not unlike what they put in the AA Big Book back in the 1930's: "The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker."
Just substitute love or relationship or romance for drinking and you get the idea. The rest of the paragraph, BTW: "The persistence of this illusion is astonishing. Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death."