On Trust (and Really Bad Automotive Analogies)

Sometimes, even as things get easier, I find myself getting wrapped around the axle from time to time. A new date can lead to worries about the future... about who this person will become in my partner's life... about where that may leave us if he wants to spend more time with them.

It certainly gets frustrating for the Poly partner at times, especially if you've been down this road before.

Why don't you trust me?

If you're like me, you struggle for words here.

If you're like me, you DO trust your partner. You know that they love you and that they want to be in this relationship with you. You've seen that they enjoy your presence in their life and they enjoy being a part of yours. But there's something, though, that rung the warning bell, and it's causing you worry. It's not distrust, but what IS it?

My car.

No, not really, but bear with me.

I trust my car to get me from Point A to Point B. We all do. Yet we all also know that someday, our cars won't be able to do it anymore. Knowing that it will one day drive its last doesn't make me trust my car any less... I know that my car doesn't WANT to conk out on the side of the road. It's built to drive. That's what it does.

So I trust it, until something changes. A light goes on. A funny smell. An odd noise or a shimmy or a weirdness in how it shifts. Maybe it starts burning through oil. Maybe the mileage goes down. Either way, something changes, either immediately or over time, and you notice. Sometimes the change is even enough to cause serious discomfort (okay, perhaps the bad thermostat in my van while the temperatures are in the teens prompted this analogy) and you want to fix it NOW.

It's not time to give up the car, though, is it? It's time for maintenance. A tune-up, or an oil change, or maybe just running over to AutoZone and seeing what that Check Engine code really means. I still trust my car, but I know it needs attention. I need to take action and do something, or its lifespan will be impacted.

Some of us have pretty low tolerances. A light goes on, and we're at the mechanic to diagnose it. Others may give it enough time to know that when the "Service Engine Soon" light comes on, it's usually after it rains, and it'll go out once the engine dries out (ever get overly emotional while PMS'ing and then wonder what the hell THAT was all about two days later? Yeah. Me too).

Others have the faith and trust in their experiences, knowing that this behavior probably means that that part needs to be replaced, and oh, here's how to do that. Some don't have that level of experience, but are willing to learn. Some don't want to deal with the innards of their own cars at all.

I think you get where I'm going with this.

When things are running smoothly, then it's very easy to trust. There's reliability. There's comfort. Monogamous relationships by nature, don't change circumstances all that often, so it's easy to happily cruise along. When circumstances do change, it's often traumatic. The change itself is unexpected, never mind the circumstances behind the change.

Many Poly relationships regularly involve elements of change. A new date. A schedule change. A change in a Partner's partner's life that impacts you. More people means more complexity. More moving parts to break down or begin to wear against each other. Without a lot of experience, every change is a cause for taking that car to the mechanic.

It's not a lack of trust. It's not doubt over how much your partner cares about you. It's fear that this circumstance - this thing you hit in the road - may change your relationship, and you need to dig into it and diagnose it before you feel comfortable again.

Blind trust has its own set of problems anyway. Many a monogamous relationship has ended because the people in it have missed (or ignored) indications of a problem, or failed to maintain the relationship. I thought my marriage of 17 years was fine, until my Ex and I realized it wasn't, and we'd been ignoring (or not understanding) the warning lights for some time. Trust twists itself into complacency - "My car will never let me down," which is unrealistic when there's no upkeep being done.

Maybe, after all, it isn't a bad thing when a change causes your Mono partner (or ANY partner for that matter) to have cause for concern. It's not necessarily a lack of trust in their Poly partner. It could very well be more of a warning that some good maintenance needs to be done here. Hopefully after enough visits to the shop, some good quality work, and enough familiarity with how this particular car drives, it becomes more preventive maintenance rather than reactive. After all, nobody keeps up a car they've given up on.

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