Have you ever felt emotionally and sexually numb after repeated bad experiences with different men? And if you have, were you able to get past it?
I’m interested in that particular kind of absence: when the question isn’t simply whether I want to date someone, but whether I can feel much interest at all. Emotional closeness and sexual desire are different things, yet this question touches both.
There’s something difficult about asking whether feelings can return. The word “return” makes it sound as though they’ve stepped out for a while and will eventually let themselves back in. I don’t know whether it works that way.
I’m not assuming everyone’s bad experiences were alike, or that everyone who felt numb found the same way through. I’m wondering what happened afterward for people who recognize this.
Did interest come back gradually? Did emotional connection and desire return together, or separately? Was there a point when you noticed a change, or did you only recognize it looking back?
And if you’re still in that numb place, that belongs in the answer, too. I’m asking whether anyone has been there—and what came next.
