I love my partner. We’ve been together for a few years and they’re genuinely amazing.
However… eating around them is becoming my personal version of psychological warfare.
I’m pretty sensitive to sounds, and when they eat, I can hear everything. Every bite, every chew, every swallow. It’s somehow both loud and… wet? I don’t even know how that’s possible, but here we are. They also chew with their mouth open and do this thing where the food ends up at the front of their mouth and I can see it, which is an experience I would not wish on anyone.
I’ve tried to be chill about it. I suggested we watch stuff while eating to drown it out, didn’t work. At this point I’m either leaving the room or putting on noise-canceling headphones which is obviously not ideal and I can often still hear them. And it’s even worse because they always wait until I’m with them to eat. So everytime I see them I have to hear this twice for 45 minutes. Like today we had plans at a set time they left plenty of time to eat but they came out to my car with food and I had to listen THE WHOLE RIDE WITH NO ESCAPE
The wild part is they KNOW, I’ve briefly mentioned it before. And they’ll say things like “sorry I eat so gross,” but then… continue eating exactly the same way?? Like if you’re aware, why are we not changing??
They’re also pretty sensitive and tend to take things personally, so I’m struggling with how to bring this up without it sounding like I’m attacking them as a human being instead of… just asking them to maybe close their mouth when they chew and not be so loud.
I don’t want to start avoiding meals together or build resentment over something this dumb, but I also feel like I’m one loud chew away from losing it.
How do I have this conversation in a way that doesn’t hurt their feelings but also actually leads to change? And has anyone dealt with something like this without becoming the villain?