Hey, I'm Ethan. Had my eye on a Project Manager role at work. My boyfriend and I both threw our hats in; he won, I didn't. We said "no hard feelings," but reality's more complex. I'm analytical, but this has turned life into a blind maze. My defense mechanism? Sarcasm's on high. Raised in a house where 'second place' was just the first loser, the pressure to excel got baked into me early on. So grappling with being 'second best' at work, especially to someone I love, hits hard.