Why Do I Always Struggle In Relationships?

ostracizedHi, Elsa.

How do you deal with a chart that just says “ouch” in regard to relationships? I’ve always struggled with maintaining friendships and beyond that, I tend to become a target for scapegoating and gossip, especially in work situations. I’m married for 25 years and at this point he’s one of the last people I feel I can trust/lean on. I think other people have meant more to me, than I do to them.

Menopause makes me care a little less for socializing, but I would like to have stronger connections.

Libra Rising
United States

Hi, Libra.  Your post interested me, greatly, I’ve sat on this for a few days, hoping for some revelation. It never came, but I feel for you in this situation. I’ll offer what I can and maybe someone else can weigh in.  All I’ve got is conjecture, though it’s well considered.

When someone claims to have problems with others, the reason is often obvious. I don’t see that here.  Your post is balanced and you own your problem. “I’ve always struggled…” I also believe you are scapegoated at work.

My sense is you’ve got some combination of elements that constellate, rapidly, in all situations.  I’m getting, competent, challenging, aloof, striving… and you’re probably pretty. Shockingly, this is enough to blow an average person’s gasket.

I don’t want to project on you, but I have a friend who has this sort of problem.  She also has Libra.  She was recently ejected from a social group she’d been invited to join. Literally, they told her they no longer wanted her in the group.  They voted her off the island, so to speak and they would not tell her why.

confused travoltaIt was a group of “mean girls”, grown older, but my friend has experiences like this all the time.  People get mad at her for reasons, so vague they can’t be explained. And I mean, they become enraged. In fact, I’ve had this experience myself!  Meantime, she’s left looking around like “confused Travolta”.

My feeling is that you and my friend, fare best with a small inner circle of friends.   It may not even be possible to contort yourself to the degree necessary to be accepted in a group over time. Or rather, it’s possible but you’d not be willing because it  your true essence would have to cease to exist, to make it happen.

My advice is that you go for one friend.  Someone outside your marriage, you can talk to.  Because if you lose your husband, then what?

This friend needs a very specific quality or talent – they need to be accepting of you!  They need to be okay with you and your energy.  People with a strong sense of sense are your best bet.

Just to throw this out there, I also have problem to a lessor degree. I was fortunate enough to have my friend, Ben, explain this to me.  He said, I put people in their “un-comfort” zone.  How well a person liked me depended on how comfortable they were being uncomfortable.  “It doesn’t bother me at all,” he added.

Many years have passed and I think he nailed this in my case. Your case is probably similar.  You can have a friend. They just need to be strong and settled in their psyche, so to speak.  Forget everything else and look for this one quality.

Ben is Ben, no matter who he is talking to.  Elsa is Elsa, no matter who she is talking to.  The group who ejected my friend wanted her to conform. Her integrity and strong sense of self would not allow it, so she was banished from their kingdom. I think you’re one of us!

Forget “friends” and look for a peer.  Someone who can deal with an outlier.

18 thoughts on “Why Do I Always Struggle In Relationships?”

  1. Very good post. I have always had this issue, too. Very much appreciated, the idea of a ‘peer’ makes a lot of sense, my best connections have always been that.

  2. I can relate .. i have Uranus, Jupiter and Mercury in Libra.
    I get rejected from the groups after group … its not in my hand … I open my heart to them, I have Venus in Leo… but my friends starts crossing their boundaries… and when I stand up for justice, I get dumped with humility.

  3. I can relate, I don’t put a lot of energy into relationships. I tend to get let down. I only have 2 people outside of family that I actually chat with. Usually they use me as a sounding board. If I do give my opinion its honest and people don’t always want to hear it. So I am alone since my husband died. Jupiter is in my 7th house this year. I was hoping I would meet someone I would just click with. It hasn’t happened for years. I have mars and neptune in libra in my 11th house. Scorpio sun mercury and saturn in the 12th. That equals to a lot of isolation. Sag asc , venus, moon and north node needs a friend to have fun with. I get bored easily.

  4. i know its trendy right now, but it might also apply to you. could you be on the autistic spectrum? i had absolutely no idea why people would get annoyed by me, until much later in life i was told i have a flat affect and a resting bitch face. both are autustic traits.

  5. I always like using affirmations. Maybe something about finding and connecting to the right people in your tribe. This way you get the right people for you, then be open and see who comes to you.

  6. Elsa, thank you so much for this. It helps to know I’m not alone!
    And you hit the nail on the head. I had one of those friends for years, she got me…but then she befriended someone who hated me on sight! Slowly but surely I got pushed out into villain land. This remains one of the greatest losses of my life.

    Everything you said about your friend’s situation also mirrors my most recent experience…I’d been part of a women’s circle that started during the pandemic and it was my lifeline. While Venus was retrograde last year (in my 11th house) I watched the same old story (painfully) play out. It was very sudden and pointed and I felt that “cut”. Since then, I’ve struggled a lot with fear of never having others to lean on.

    Thanks again for your wisdom and for everyone who shared <3

  7. I am not a libran but i can relate to not relating in relationships 🙁

    I have always been alone even if by social means accepted in a group and am very sure I am going to die that way. Even at biological home – felt like an outcaste, an outlier..an alien.. you name it! No regrets as the best friend we can have is our own higher selves..just realizing that and the fear of not being relatable is transforming to something more meaningful which I am unable to express. has anyone experienced this? I would love to understand more

    that said, I have observed in my relationships, I am looked upon or looked down based on others perceptions and not necessarily my being or doing…something in the lines of huge expectation from me that the world wants as though I have all the answers to ones problems.

    I used to think I have to improve in relating and connecting (i have spent a fortune on self help, communication, emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, psychology, astrology to name a few that again have been used to help get answers for others but me) but of late, I have given up on that as the other (not the self) has to be an active participant in the relating.

  8. My heart goes out to the questioner. I have Jupiter in Libra and I tend to fall flat on my face when I over strive to try to fit into groups. Been scapegoated too!
    I hope you find that one special friend who accepts and gets you! It should make all the difference! 🩷

    @Elsa, what makes Libra so vulnerable to this? Is it a people pleasing issue?

      1. Then it sounds like that means they feel vulnerable being disliked or if people don’t agree or are mad at them?

          1. I see! Yes. That is true. I’ve rarely met one that is very disagreeable-they listen well too. At least my best friend did.

  9. Excuse me, but I would suggest deeper self-awareness for Libra.

    From my long experience with Librans, including Mother, a husband, and many friends, the infamous denied anger drove me crazy.
    “Why do I feel so pissed off when I’m with William??”
    And guilty! … they were soooo gentle and nice.

    Yeah.

    Though not of that sign myself, a stellium in Libra in the First House has bequeathed me with similar traits, hard to spot at first..
    “Why is he so mad at me??” Lol!

    Taking my own advice on self-awareness has improved my relationships immeasurably.

  10. Thanks for writing this Elsa. I’ve spent a lifetime trying to self-reflect enough to figure out what I’m doing “wrong.” I came to the conclusion that one issue is I wasn’t willing to pay the price of inclusion, which would have meant exorcizing my favorite parts of myself.
    Or maybe this is my showy of protecting me from concluding that I am just too broken to be loved unconditionally.
    It’s tremendously painful and confusing.
    Elena commented “be open to the possibility that we could be on the autism spectrum. She may be on to something.” I often make a simple factual observation, and people react as if I have insinuated something I never intended. And I struggle to give the social reactions that are expected; being authentic is too important to me.
    Mean girls are a thing.

    1. Pan, having my own version of this, the questions were “what do I need to see in me?” and “when do I walk away?” The tendency has been to hang on, keep hurting, try to learn the lesson. One day a friend said, “Maybe the lesson is to see it’s not a fit. It’s not personal.”
      Game-changer!

      Go listen to Shari Elf’s “I Like Myself (so you don’t have to)” on youtube, and dance!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Scroll to Top