Compersion…
Chances are you haven’t heard this word a lot in your lifetime…
If you’ve never heard of it – Google it… go on – I’ll wait..🙂
Powerful little word, isn’t it?
Personally – I’d never heard of it until I’d been in the lifestyle for about a year… so I was around 52 years old…
52 years on this planet – and I’d never even heard of this word…
Which is weird – seeing as it’s described as the ‘opposite of jealousy’…
When you think about it – most emotions come in pairs – they have an opposite…
Happy/Sad,
Love/Hate,
Anticipation/Dissapointed…
But jealousy seems to exist on its own…
Which probably goes a long way to explain why it’s the default emotion for the majority of us when we’re in a situation where a partner shows interest in another…
I mean – how else are you supposed to feel?? 🤷♂️
Especially if you don’t know that there is another option available to you! A better option…
An option that instead of reducing the amount of joy & happiness in your life – actually increases it!!
It’s crazy, right?
But we in the lifestyle understand it – to varying degrees of course…
And its not easy.. it feels uncomfortable & unnatural at first – because it goes against everything we’ve been taught by society…
When my then wife came to me 4 & a bit years ago & told me she was in love with another man – I genuinely did not know what to feel…
I had no personal reference point for what I was going through – we’d been together since our early 20’s, she was my first serious relationship and I had no experience with these sorts of feelings…
The only things I knew was what I’d seen in movies & on TV…I was torn between falling dramatically to my knees in a dramatic rain storm & dramatically screaming to the heavens; to standing outside her house holding a stereo above my head in a dramatical, yet futile attempt to win her back!
(I know this reference will be lost on most people – but to the 3 people that understand it? Are your knees sore too? 😊)
Luckily though, I managed to find a way out of the dark hole I was in – thanks mostly to the help of 2 wonderful people who showed me it wasn’t the end end – just the end of a chapter in my life…
Fast forward 2 or 3 years… I had been in the lifestyle, casually, for a bit – mostly as a single guy or somebodies +1 to events…
I met a lady, who I’ll call Wench…in a similar situation to me relationship-wise, and began seeing her – with the agreement that we were open to others, not exclusive to each other and were not looking for anything serious or long-term…
Mostly this was to protect myself from heartbreak – if I kept people at a distance, I’d be safe, right?
So strictly FWB situation from Day 1…
And its great. Wench & I are having a great time.. we hang out, and hook-up, explore different aspects of various things together & learn a lot – giggling stupidly as we do (I had questions!)
Then – as they often do, feelings turn up..
Which – when you stop & think about it – is what should happen! If you’re spending quality time with someone, talking daily & being intimately intimate with them – and you DON’T feel anything towards them? Then you my friend – are probably a physcopath!
But I’m having fun.. I’ve set my boundaries and I’m seeing & playing with other people, congratulating myself on being so emotionally mature… we’re going to parties – where we are both playing with others & having a great time…
We hear the term compersion somewhere – I don’t remember where sadly… we research it & discover what it truly means… the freedom it gives you…
I’m not exaggerating when I say it changed the way we look at the world… just to know that it is an actual thing – and it is possible to not feel jealous of your partners’ enjoyment was so liberating!
But – like anything worthwhile, it took some hard work and uncomfortable conversations… mostly with ourselves…
I remember one particular week where Wench had organised a play date with a guy early in the week, and then a dinner date a couple days later…
I was very surprised to find that the play date did not concern me – but that she was going out to dinner, did… somehow this was ‘more’ than sex…We had both come to a point where sex as play was fine – just some good fun that people can engage in without it having any serious or romantic overtones as in more vanilla situations…
Fortunately, I saw this as an opportunity to grow – I’d recently seen a FB post about emotions being like muscles – they get stronger when you use them – so I was actually happy with the opportunity to deal with these feelings….
Rather than feel like I was missing out on her, I was able to enjoy her happiness and feel joy out of her joy – I literally doubled my happiness!! This hit me like a brick to the head!!
The realisation that I was happy for her – not sad for myself – was so powerful, so liberating that I immediately told my cat…
Who did not care in the way that only cats can….😅
And it is work, and it is communicating with your partner, and being honest about what you feel – and probably the most important thing – its NOT, “not” feeling jealousy…
It’s about being able to handle those feelings, and find a way to the other side of them, finding a way to deal with your own ego…
And for me – it gets easier every time…
Wench is out enjoying herself, meeting new & interesting people and living her best life – and I not only support her – but revelling in her enjoyment!!
As someone that enjoys giving pleasure, seeing her smiling face, or even her sweaty face when she’s engaging in some skin-on-skin fun – never fails to bring a smile to mine…
And I know our story isn’t everyone’s, and our situation does make it easier because we are not ‘Forever Partners’… but we have met couples like that – at various stages of their own journey, and can readily attest that it is possible…
Sadly, I guess its not for everyone…for a thousand reasons some people won’t be able to handle it… just like Swinging isn’t for everybody…
But I do wish that more people knew of Compersion, and understood it better – because it is an amazing thing and can greatly benefit people’s lives.
Sorry for the novel folks – but this is something that I am passionate about, and really hope that I can spread the word about this so more people can increase their own level of happiness!!
Stay safe guys & keep swingin’!