Growing Pains

I have a problem working in groups. Not that I hate other people's ideas, it's just that they never seem to just say what they mean. I'm not sure if it's a product of a generation growing up being told not to hurt other people feelings or that a majority of humans don't like to make a cut and dry decisions.
That being said I know that I'm a bit of a control freak. This stems, not from my wanting to be in charge and tell everyone else what to do, but more from the fact that I HAVE to know what's going on in any given situation. What better way to know what's happening than to seize control and strangle the life out of it.
This dislike/distrust of 'committee' work can be illustrated in my day to day life. What I do for a living...I create TV spots that for the most part I complete on my own (and in cases where I do have to work with other people, it stresses me out and I am very demanding of them). I enjoy reading more than any other hobby I have...Alone, me and the story, that I read, at MY pace.
All this is just prologue though.
The real crux of this commentary is that I have, unknowing to me at the time, gotten 4 extra girlfriends. Mind you, I have a very nice relationship with a woman that I love and I am working very hard not to be too demanding of or confrontational with. She is smarter than me so she can handle my faults... And she lets me hold the remote control. It is a normal relationship one that fits into a definable category. I digress.
It started innocently enough, I just wanted to play some music. BOOM, next thing I know I have a date nights and there are talks about 'where we're going with this thing' or 'let's talk about the future'. We fight like wounded bitches if our faults are criticized and are as protective of our ideas as any mother bear is of her young. This is not like any relationship that most have ever had. Normally you fight with just one person and at he end of the day that is the only person to deal with. Not this fucked up poly/monogamous relationship. You get shot down and you think it's passed into the night only to realize that 3 of your 'girlfriends' have been talking about for 5 days afterwards. It is a dynamic that is utterly new to me.
I am not entirely ignorant of work place dynamics, I know that they exist, but I am no good at working inside of them. I was fired from my last 'real' job, because in the final analysis, I was unaware that people were talking about my work/me behind closed doors and therefore I did nothing to defend myself.
What does this all amount to? A head clearing rant...Yes. A cry for help...I don't think so?
I mean, I just finally, after more than half a lifetime of work at it, got a handle on having a relationship with a woman, and here I go getting into an even more confusing mess. A situation where there can be no control, only discussion and compromise. Strange place for a control freak to be.
I guess I'm growing.