What do you feel is the least productive thing you did after discovering the affair?
By Linda & Doug
Hopefully, you will find these statements somewhat enlightening. Please add your own thoughts in the comment section below the post.
The least productive thing I did after the affair was…
- Not being able to control my rage/anger. It kept me from learning to heal and be better for myself.
- Obsessing about trying to find every little detail of what my wife was doing throughout each and very day after I discovered the affair.
- Always being the one to instigate conversations and ask questions. I figured if he wanted this to work, it was time for him to step it up, so I stopped doing that.
- Reading all their e-mails. Many of the messages they exchanged haunt me – and it’s an additional cause of suffering.
- Believing their story and thinking that me, the wife, is the third party to their relationship.
- Romanticizing their affair and obsessing about the details, and felt that perhaps they were more compatible to be together.
- Trying to heal on my own. I tried single-handedly to rebuild trust and move on.
- Confronting him in a rage the second that I found out that my suspicions were correct. Well, I stayed in that rage and that emotional roller coaster for 4 months and I think that things would’ve moved faster had I been calm.
- Spending too many hours looking at phone logs and counting how many each sent and who initiated them. I also found myself comparing myself physically to her and thinking they were a better match.
- Pouring energy into wondering about her and whether or not he has spoken to her today. I have to assign her a lot less importance; she really isn’t worth it.
- Confronting my wife when all I had was a gut feeling that there was something going on. This lead to lies and more lies as she tried to blow it off and “get it under control” before anything bad happened.
- Letting her know how weak I was and how much I want our marriage to work. This gave her a great deal of power to do and say what she pleased without fear of me leaving or her being kicked out.
- Not controlling my emotions and not controlling our conversations so as to not let her turn them around on me.
- The way I verbally berated her in that discovery period. Laying on guilt, calling her names, trying to ‘shock’ her back to reality.
- Punished my husband by telling everyone I could about his affair.
- Confronting her affair partner.
- Allowing myself to be a doormat. Putting up with both the affair and the crappy treatment for months after D-day while he pulled his head out if his ass.
- Continuing to be my husband’s emotional support, even when what he needed support with was his tortured feelings for the OW.
- Being too understanding.
- Confronting my wife with my knowledge of the affair. It drove them closer together and as a result that could mean that the situation might have resolved sooner if I’d just gotten out of the way and allowed it to run its course.
- Keeping too much inside and not telling family members or close friends what was going on with me. I retreated from all of them and closed myself off.
- Feeling powerless, guilty and blaming myself for his emotional affairs.
- Trying to manage my husband’s recovery.
- Blaming myself for my wife’s failure and trying to become someone I’m not.
- Initially believing my husband, which caused me to minimize the extent of the problem.
- Using rage and anger to transmit my pain.
- Not getting help soon enough.
- Not trusting my gut feelings.
- Not taking care of myself.
- Not contacting the OWs husband right away… I would’ve left… I would’ve kept my own dignity intact and let HIM do the work and figure HIS crap out.
- Confronting him before I had all of my proof so that disclosure from him woould not have been in bits and pieces.
- Not asking him to leave, and giving him the chance to miss me completely, and to feel as though I was lost and gone from him forever.
- Yelling and arguing when trying to talk and get answers regarding the affair.
- Focusing on what I did wrong in the marriage.
- Not letting him know that his behavior was unacceptable and that I had a choice whether I wanted to continue in our marriage when trust was broken.
- Not getting angry. I should have let it out and released those emotions instead of carrying the blame for his emotional affair.
- Believing everything he said was coming straight from his heart.
- Being uneducated about what I was really up against and that an affair is not all about love.
- Being personally drawn into the illusions of the affair.
- Acting clingy, neurotic, jealous, insecure, and distrusting.
Obviously every situation is different when dealing with infidelity, and what’s not productive for some, can be very productive for others.
Remember to add your least productive actions or behaviors in the comment section below. Thanks!
74 replies to "The Least Productive Things to Do After an Affair"
Not being more stronger, instead of standing my ground. Pleading and begging isn’t very attractive, and gives the cs more power.
Thanks SR. If you wouldn’t mind…For the benefit of those who are just new to this…How do you feel that pleading and begging gives the CS more power?
No worries Doug, it gives the cs more power of the situation, because they see you as weak, they see you as easy to walk over, and they see that you won’t leave.
Exactly! Thanks for expanding on that for us.
I should have filed for divorce much earlier than I did. Should have kicked his sorry ass out the door immediately. This would have stopped his awful words to me as how I wasn’t like her and how in love they were. As now he denies all that was said. Yet he forgets, he said all of it in front of our two children. JERK!
Yes Rachel, he put you through a lot of emotional abuse and pain didn’t he? Just curious…how do your kids react to him these days?
My oldest son was begging him not not come to my fathers funeral and he came anyways.
He told my oldest that I’m financially sitting pretty. Wanted to know the amount of my bills.
The sperm donor told my oldest he owes him money after he said to put purchases on the charge. Again it’s about the money . They deal with him with frustration.
I received a letter from a credit card company last week saying that I have an acct with spermy. I called and cancelled the card.
Spermy emailed me and said that I owe him 1,500.00 because there were points on the card for a new/used card and I need to send him a check.
Ya, sure I’ll get right on it ! The sperm makes 6 figures. As my dad said, he will harass you forever!!
Spermy?? I like it. I was thinking he was just a dick!
Good one Doug!
I’ve been thinking about this blog post and feel my least productive time was right after d-day (11 months ago). I was in total shock the day I found the emails regarding my husband’s emotional affair. I have kicked myself several times for the things I did NOT do that day. I wished I would have examined the emails closer, before he had the chance to destroy all the “evidence”. I confronted him immediately before thinking things through……I know…..I was in shock.
That “evidence” might have saved me countless hours of wondering how deep the affair really went…..something my partner is not all that willing to share. Perhaps that would have saved me asking the same questions over and over again. To this day I feel at such a disadvantage not having these “missing pieces of the puzzle.
Another thing I did was or rather did NOT do was…..be present when he made the phone call to end the affair. I needed to hear that call.
Looking back, I know I was beside myself with shock as I’m sure most of you were…..we should not be to hard on ourselves
Besides that, I’m actually proud of the way I’m handling everything. Nothing in my life has ever hurt me to the degree that this has…..I’m still standing and have no regrets about my behavior.
SI,
I messed up on the same thing you did. I wish I had the brains to get copies of the emails, voicemails, etc. because my H isn’t willing to share, either. He was so willing in the beginning but is now so determined to forget. So one of those least productive things I did after the affair (about two years later) was to find out more about the CS by spending lots of time online.
I’m not proud of my conduct, at all. I did a lot of crying, screaming, and raging hissy fits. Mix into confusion the death of my mother and I was pretty messed up. My biggest regret was not taking divorce more seriously. I just couldn’t deal with divorce while my mother was fighting cancer. My H is trying to make amends, but I still have so many questions.
Si tabs, I too wish I had of had the strength to not spill to my h that I knew about his texts and what was in them, maybe then he would not have kept in changing his oasswords, I could have had information that he was not willing to share. I’m no very good at keeping things to myself, I always would get excited when I bought my h something, I just couldn’t wait to give it to him, even now.
Yet you know something else, the things I do know now about the affair, I wish I didnt, at times, because it haunts me, and disgusts me. Not good when you are trying to keep your family together. When you keep fighting the urge to not just walk away.
Strength
I thought about that as well…..knowing more than I can mange to deal with. The things I do know still haunt me.
Tabs,
I did plenty of crying as well….I still do, almost daily. But I think it’s important to go through the pain…it has to come out somehow. My mother passed away suddenly about 5 months after D-day so I know what you mean about being confused. Somedays I wasn’t sure if I was crying about Mom’s death or the affair.
My husband is trying to make amends as well and we are working hard at not causing more damage as we work through this. Last week I was still trying to figure out that there must be someway to retrieve that email account until I realized the info about what the affair really meant will be much more valuable if it comes from him, rather than if I manage to find out things with my detective work.
Something that has been helpful is that we put time aside every two weeks to talk about the affair….once a week was too often. Up until now I have been the one to lead the conversation and ask the questions etc. He is resisting going to counseling, so I told him I needed him to be more proactive in these conversations that since I’m not a counselor I didn’t think the burden should fall on me. Well there was such a difference with our conversation with him taking the lead. We put a time limit on these sessions and find it helps if we go for a walk while talking….seems to help us open up.
I must say again….this site has been a lifeline.
SI
You’re idea of setting aside time to talk about the affairs is brilliant. My H will not go to counseling. He was a psych major (30 years ago) and believes that he’s above seeing a therapist. And, a time limit probably will help both of us. Talking for more that hour about the ordeal would probably cause neurosis.
Strength,
What I did read of the correspondence was “much” more than I could comprehend. How do you handle the anxiety?
I wish I had stayed calm and gathered more information before confrontation. It is what I could have known but because I confronted him immediately, I will now never know that haunts me. Unless you strap the cheater to a polygraph test no one will ever know the whole truth. Cheaters never tell it all, there is always the little tidbits that they think don’t matter what really do. Cheating is the gift that keeps on giving…..
I, too, confronted my husband too quickly after discovering phone calls & texts. That was two years ago this week. Needless to say, this has been a difficult week–lots of triggers that’s for sure!
I wish I would have just observed him and gathered information, but I truly don’t know how a bs would EVER know to do that. When you make a discovery like that, it is so overwhelmingly hurtful that you instantly go into survival mode.
I also obsessed over the phone logs and searched emails for months and months. I tried to compare phone logs to my planner and our family’s calendar. I had such a need to know if all the times I was happy could have been real. I carried the paper stack of phone calls with me back and forth to work and would take them out any chance I had and pour over them. I totaled minutes talked a day and wrote it all into my planner. All I can say now is that none of that changes anything. It confirmed that I had been duped by the person I loved and trusted most. And more often than I could ever have imagined. Getting over that is a process. 2 years later I am doing more things right but at times I feel unworthy and unloveable. I hate that I have given my h the power to make me feel that way.
I should have left the minute he started the verbal abuse instead of staying and letting it get into physical when I continued to ask questions about the affairs…..I recently found out the “emotional” affairs (18 years apart…supposedly) were physical with all the “trimmings” such as expensive gifts, trips, etc. He got physically abusive when I kept asking him to clarify points he made — raised fists, calling names, etc. He spit in my face and told me to “get my big ugly face out of the bedroom” at one point. I should have left then. I separated from him for 10 months while he continued the affair, for safety, all the while thinking it was just emotional. It wasn’t until I felt safe and moved back home that I discovered through an anonymous package sent to me in the mail, that it was deeply emotional and physical. He finally spilled the beans on most everything, but it has been slow trickling of info. Now he appears to be out of the “fog”, but I am not sure that I want to stay because I”m not sure if anything is truth or fiction. I can say for the first time , that I see true remorse from him, after almost 20 months of lies. I have currently given him the 6 months he asked for to allow him to show me he has changed. He has not been abusive and has been seeing an anger management therapist and a counselor. I do see a change. But I still want a polygraph to prove what he is saying is true and he is balking at that. Hmmmm….still considering leaving after the 6 months are up unless he changes his mind and gets one. Is that bad of me to want that? We’ve been married 36 years…I hate to give up after such a long time.
Sad wife our stories are so similar it sounds like we have the same husband. It has been 4 yrs I wonder if your still together.
Pleading and begging. Constantly lifting him up while I was so low. Doing everything I could to be better and falling for all the things he said I dis that made him unhappy. Forgiving, forgiving, and forgiving until I was so worn out. And then realizing I was getting nothing in return. Our marriage is coming to an end divorce hearing coming up and probably going to a custody battle. I can’t help but think if I could have been as strong as I am now, or as strong as I really was if I didn’t buy into all his negative views on me if maybe we could have beat the statistic. He never has changed and by me getting stronger and less tolerant made him even more unhappy with me. He never has moved on and looked within himself after 3 years……if only I could have been this way 3 years ago maybe I wouldn’t have given him even more ammo. He doesn’t look at how my actions and emotions were text book, he never realized that or cared or we could be still together. Life lesson, I am worth more, I deserve more, and I am perfect flaws in all no matter how unhappy that apparently made him. Lesson learned. If only I could have been stronger. My advice to newly discovered affairs, to the.betrayed stand strong, don’t listen to them, and take.care of yourself. To the cheater…..look in the mirror, although you may have marital issues this problem is all you….and its not anyone else’s problem but your own
Yes hindsight is 20/20 for all of us who unfortunately have lived this cheaters nightmare.
I was not strong enough on DDay to drive to where my EA CS was, get her phone from her, smash it on the ground in front of her, her girlfriend & girlfriend’s husband, say nothing to her, drive back home, put her clothes in trashbags on the porch, change the locks to our house & go file for divorce the next day! However some of this is what she wanted me to do (file for divorce then I was the bad partner) because it was an Emotional Exit Affair to end our marriage.
I cried an ocean. Then I got so pissed off I went to Facebook and put on my husbands wall back when you couldn’t remove posts so it is still there 3years in the past but it is still there then I went to his prostitutes walls . I put on my husbands wall that for all who believed my husband was such a great man great husband that he had conned everyone that sharing hookers and prostitutes and their diseases with me his wife was being a lying serial cheating lowlife son of a bastard . On his hookers walls I blasted each one publicly for being the whore for a married man wow the crap all of them posted hmm his last whore deleted her whole FB account by the way her 15 year old daughter (who by the way hated my husband and her whore mom ) made her FB and was somehow getting FB notifications talk about the KARMA bus and it feels wonderful to be the driver . I have been used and abused and you will NEVER see me lay down to be a whoremat( like a door mat just one for whores ) I did everything right I did not swim with parasitic sewer rats I did not have sex with sewer rats other than my husband he is the one who lost the man I love to be less than the man I loved.
It’s been 14 mos since I discovered my wife’s interracial affair. I’m a recovering alcoholic and out my wife thru years of suffering. She compared my love for drinking to an “affair” they are similar in many ways. In 2009 my mom died inexpectedly and my wife went back to get her masters degree in nursing. I was making my way back into the work place after losing 3 great jobs in a 7 yr period.
I took care of our 3 young boys while she went back to school. She planned a trip
For the two of us for 2012 once she had her degree, new job and a few cosmetic changes- Life was looking up. We have still never been on that trip together. She stuffed her feelings from my drinking. We went to counseling and she told the councilor she was over my drinking she thought that I just needed to quit acting like a jealous HS boyfriend. She began saying things like, I love you but I’m not I love with you. The longer I was sober the more independent she became. In 2015 our lives started changing before our very eyes. Our 11 yr old son made an amazing run with his all star team. We were intertwined with several parents, coaches and players. Last April I check her phone records and found out my friend and one of the coaches has been texting and talking regularly to my wife for 9 Mos. I confronted them without all of my facts at the time and they had me believing that she was friends with him and he was an ordained deacon of the church. She had sought him for counseling and advice on our past history, resentment and my false accusations of her cheating. I actually apologized to me friend and he and I spoke everyday. He told me his wife was involved in helping with the situation as well. This went on for 6 weeks. My wife denied and was very hateful towards me from 2015 to 2018. This was before during and after the affair. 6 weeks after checking her phone records i was able to retrieve 9 mos of deleted text messages regarding sexual encounters, discussions, daily meeting places and negative comments about me.
I tried to win my wife back as she has answers specific questions with limited and non-believable answers but has never come to me one time on her own to apologize and or ask for forgiveness, tell me the entire story and she has not brought any ideas or taken any action to show she is serious about repairing the marriage. She want to forget it happened, wabtsme to keep my mouth shut, say nothing and toughen up and get on with my life. This man was my friend and my son’s baseball coach. I’m still uncovering derails. I regret not being firm with her, she blames me to this day and now all of her anger from my dinking has reared it’s ugly head again. I didn’t go to his wife bc he has 3 children like I do and they are friends. I’m not healing and she gives great lip service and backs it up with no action. I don’t think they talk anymore but she says he treated her great, they had a connection and he was the opposite of me. She says she can’t trust me so she is carrying a huge resentment from my drinking day. she has no respect for me but bc of the nature, person and situation as a whole she would rather be miserably married instead of divorcing, getting honest and telling people of her mistake.
It’s just a matter of time before she will cheat again. I wish I had stood up to her and not been so emotional,needy and jealous. I am hyper sensitive- I am obsessed with details, the stories you hear about these kind of relationships, fear of not adding up or measuring up intimately. She checked out and is not giving me the support I need. She lets me check her email, phone etc.if she is going to continue to cheat then there is nothing I can do.
I just want this pain and knot in my stomach to leave for good
The least productive thing I did was trust him to end it. That’s why it took three D-days. I trusted him to end it, then he went underground instead. I trusted again, and he began to frantically try and plot how he could have both of us. By the third time I gave him an ultimatum, and had read enough on these boards to know I needed all access to his phone, email, laptop, everything. I couldn’t trust him to do it himself.
The first time around I would have feared that doing all that would mark me as a crazy, controlling wife. But it wasn’t productive to worry about how I might be perceived! To be serious about saving my marriage I needed to know everything he was doing. So then he ended it for real, and is much happier now, a full year past. He doesn’t care that I still check his stuff from time to time, he has nothing to hide and that makes him feel free. He knows he can check all my stuff too. It’s a good feeling, being able to be completely open to each other.
My CS also took 3 D-days to finally get it, approx 8 months apart. During that time, we were rebuilding, things didn’t always add up. I was so trustworthy…and dumb. Finally after D-day #3, he gets it. I threatened to throw him out and he saw me crumble. That woke him up! We have rebuilt a much better marriage. He is happier and we share all passwords and access. I still have trust issues, but it’s getting better. Almost 2 years post D-day #3, I learned new facts, that were originally lies. He couldn’t even keep the lies straight. We talked about it, but I don’t know if he will ever be wholly truthful and transparent. That is the most frustrating part of our marriage. I wish the doubt would go away!
Hi,
This blog has been my saving grace! It’s so good to know that I am not alone. My least productive thing has been not making my husband end the affair. I am at D-day #4 since his affair with a 27 year old co-worker first came to light in August 2020. My husband was 54 at the time! He actually had a breakdown after confessing which I helped him through even though I was devastated He took 3 months off work, started counseling, then went back to work saying he could handle it. 3 months later they picked right back up where they left off. My gut told me things were not right as he was distant, preoccupied, and stopped being intimate with me in July 2021. January 2022 was D-day #2. Even my battle with breast cancer in sSeptember 2021 did not stop his affair and it turned from an EA into a PA. I filed for divorce February 2022 and he refused to leave. June 2022 I caught him again sexting with her and told him I was proceeding with the divorce. He set up and asked me to attend marriage counseling which we have been doing for the last 5 months. I thought we were making progress but I just found out he was texting her Christmas morning while he was home opening gifts with myself and our 2 adult sons. So D-day #4 and he is gaslighting me and calling me psycho for being angry! Mr. Avoidant won’t talk about it. He actually tried to lie about contacting her until I provided the texting log from my cell phone bill. I’m now certain the affair has been underground this whole time! I have told him he must call her and end all contact, surrender all passwords and become an open book or he can move out. He maintains he is not leaving and he loves me! I am to the point that I can’t continue to be hurt. He cannot continue to live in his cozy home and get his emotional and sexual needs met by a 29 year old who still lives with her parents and can’t cook or make her own bed! He is never going to take responsibility or be remorseful for his actions. We are married almost 30 years, together for 33 years, and did everything together prior to his affair. I know I don’t deserve this- no one does. I have taken the high road and treated him with kindness and grace. In return I have been cheated on, lied to, and disrespected. I am not sure why my physician husband who is well educated and has compassion and empathy for complete strangers can treat the wife who cared for him and he shared life with so horribly. So yes, me not insisting he end his affair has gotten me to this point. Taking the high road doesn’t pay off. He needs to leave and suffer the consequences of his actions. I need to stop being a doormat.
Things that I did……when the lies wouldn’t stop, I decided to record him in his car and tape his conversation with the OW, and boy, did I get an earful!! Because it started as a Facebook affair and there are 2,200 miles in between them, they never got to physically consummate the relationship, but they more than made up for it with phone sex and all the voice messages I taped him sending her. They made videos for each other which I found on his phone and sent to myself (and to this day still keep as evidence), he would snap selfies EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. to her as his “good morning kiss” to the whore; they sent naked pics of each other (which I didn’t find, but to which he made reference to in the tapes) sooooo….what I DID do that may have been the least productive but the most satisfying was to sleuth around until I found out the info about the OW husband, I called him up, spilled the beans to him and sent him all the evidence I had found….that didn’t end the affair right away, but he outed her to her family, and exposed her for the whore she is…..oh, and I also put her info out in a cheaters’ site, which I didn’t know shared info to other similar places, so instead of the original site I posted in, she’s now “featured” in several others as well…..Karma IS a byotch, I guess…..
Well I tried to make him “get it” and kept doing the emotional heavy lifting in the relationship and the recovery. It took me a year to realize that if he wasn’t going to do the work on his own, and back out of every promise he made to restore trust, that he wasn’t really committed to the relationship and repairing the marriage, he was just trying to manage down my expectations and avoid a divorce. I’m standing my ground now and he’s finally stepping up his game and taking steps to be an active participant in the relationship, but now I have more hurt about his behavior over the last year of false reconciliation. I think that actually hurts more than the 13 years of affairs ( physical and emotional with both howorkers). We might make it he’s seeming to finally get it I just hate that it had to come to me being fine with leaving and moving on with my life for him to finally value our relationship.
Doing the ‘pick me!’ dance, which meant I thought I had to not only survive a terrible series of D days, but that I believed him, (naively), when he promised he wanted to stay in our then 25 year marriage. Had more sex, more intimate conversations, bought lingerie….sad for the me that was so devastated that I did this… He continued his affair, (one of many over the course of our entire marriage), and I was trusting that because he was still there with me that he was honest. In retrospect, after the second D day I should have asked for a post nup and given him a crystal clear understanding of what I would no longer tolerate. I wonder where I’d be now. That would be the big one; don’t make yourself small, don’t be afraid of the distinct possibility that your marriage is over. I wish I could have been less shell shocked and more my own champion, instead of worrying about him and what he was going to do….AND, I wouldn’t have written to the OW, thinking she’d get my heartfelt, ( and really pretty frickin gracious, truth be told), wish for her to change her cheating ways!
Who knew you could grow up so much so fast in middle age ????
His was his ex fiancé who he had stern for 49 years but contacted her website
They exchanged # and talked he told me he was still in love with her and she with him
Shocked and upset I left
We saw a counselor one time he says that let him realize that the fantasy was just that but they continued to talk and text he has stopped the affair or she did I’m still angry and hurt and he is remorseful
I just can’t get over the betrayal after 35 yrs of marriage and 1 son who’s autistic and around that time my other son had cancer my world fell out of reality he says he’s sorry and he loves me but then why go to the person who is not in my league and who he told me she was the only person I should be afraid of and how goos she was in bed 40 years ago
I am still lost even though it’s over he wants to forget it but it haunts me and I still have a part of me that can’t let it go
My greatest waste of time in our recovery was to release occasional snide comments to vent my frustration with her lack of communication around the affair. I would say things like, “ I hope the sheets only smell like the dog when I return from my business trip.”, when I would be helping her change fresh sheets on our bed. Or to refer to ‘her side of town’ when I’d drive by the 3 hotels I knew they met at. She was remorseful and guilty and this made the guilt compound, but also made her bitter and angry at how cruel my comments were to her. She still doesn’t realize completely, how cruel and hurtful her actions were to me. I’m hopeful we can communicate better about all this together someday. There are just triggers that will push me to need more of her understanding, without it turning into a pity party for HER hurt feelings.
I went thru the article several times. It’s full of conflicting advice. I have gone thru the comments. The thing that surprised me the most is just when I think that I have heard it all. I read something worse. I have to admit that I have been on both sides of the affair thing. I had an affair years ago that I justified by saying my marriage was ending. I could do what I wanted. Somewhere I woke up after my divorce and realized he would never leave his wife. I left him tho. Years later I guess from karma or my own internal conflict my long time partner had an affair and thru me out. Now 10 years later my long term partner has had two affairs. I’m rocked to core wondering if my mistakes will haunt me for the rest of my life. There are no therapist, no friends, no family that understands the pain or hurt affairs cause. They may pat you on the back and offer encouragement but it’s pure unadulterated pain that no one wants to share. No one wants to stand up and fight for the promises that we make to other people. You have to do that on your own or with your partner. It sucks. But it’s your burden to bear.
CC… damn. Your story is almost exactly mine. Your post is on point for me. I’ve been doing this since last November with my cheating husband and no one knows I have had similar moments such as yours, but not.
My marriage has always been challenging due to addiction and dishonesty. It is clinical that addicts lie. My husband did at every turn. But his ultimate deception was an EA with a 28 year old coworker. Hes 47. The toughest part for me was knowing my own sin and almost not blaming him for his affair. I blame him for not telling me and dragging it out as long as he did. The lies are what is unforgivable right now.
I did not hide my indiscretion from him. I gave him the opportunity to know it and then did the counseling thing for a while that brought alcohol and porn addiction to the surface. I believe he was often depressed and those addictions started long before us. I just made them more relevant to his life when I chose to criticize, judge, blame, mother, take away his masculinity, and dictate his life for him, to him.
This past year was “justifiable” for me as I had a few drunken makeout sessions because ‘my marriage was over’… what I didn’t know was he was finding comfort thru convo and texts with a gold digging, homewrecking, child… whom he later filed for divorce from me for. (It lasted 20 days.) At dday #1 &2 I resorted to The Empowered Wife series and changed who I was when I concluded I really did love my husband, I just never treated him like it. I don’t think I loved us. I always thought I married beneath me (alcohol/ porn/lies) and always had one foot out the door.
How can I hold on to the months of pain and lies he inflicted when I did the same type of things, just not as involved/emotional?? His was long term, deep, one person, and he lied hard for months. Mine was moments of stupidity (not sex) that didn’t even evolve into a text message the next day… not that it makes it right. I know this.
We both screwed up. Am I mad at him, or me?
I am often jealous that he got to have what I was always “searching” for because I didn’t have it with him. The affair is almost understandable. The lies and deception is what I can’t forgive right now and its keeping me/us stuck.
In the months since dday #3, he has changed jobs, quit drinking, went to counseling, started attending a new church, and is even reading self help and marriage books. He has been treating me like we’re dating and has been spoiling me like crazy. I feel he truly regrets hurting me. I know I regret what I contributed to the breakdown of the relationship that made him want to seek out an affair. Our divorce would be final this Friday. Weird to think about. Destructive to think of how he was then; arrogant, uncaring, blocking my calls, ignoring our children, confiding in her daily…hourly, filed, still lying about her even after filing. And the months leading up to getting caught; distant, withdrawn, secretive, denial at its finest. I knew something. I just didnt know to the extreme of what it was.
Another challenge I have is significant dates and holidays. Anniversary to birthday, August to February. I feel I myself will be pretty unproductive during these times. If anyone can share their advice for how to handle Christmas for example, I’d appreciate it.
CC, you’re right about the burdens we put on ourselves. Karma. And the fight within. It seriously sucks.
The least productive thing is not coming clean from the start. Minimizing the affair, continuing to lie, telling me i must have already had HPV and BV, arguing with me that he should be able to continue a friendly relationship with her (AP was co-worker), blaming me for affair, blaming me for not be able to move on, getting defensive and angry, letting me find out his affair was sexual in every way possible not from him, causing me to have 3 DDays through trickle truth, not taking full responsibility for his choices. I am one year out of first DDay where he lead me to believe affair was emotional, even though i knew in my gut it wasn’t. I am currently in he depths of an abyss because i am having flash backs and PTSD due to fact that one year after first disclosure i know this was all a lie. Now, as I reflect back on past year and i think of all the pain and horrible ways he has hurt me, our family and our marriage, i am not sure i will ever trust, forgive or get over this, I think and this is so sad but i think i need to move on from this marriage. For the first five months after initial DDAy this bitch was still controlling the narrative because her husband didn’t know extent. She told my husband “ she wont divorce you, she doesnt want to be divorced”. Well surprise Divorce seems like the only way i can heal because right now after one year i am still filled with rage over not just the affair but how he handled the aftermath. The aftermath is just as disgusting as affair. I don’t believe a word out of his mouth. I cant live like this
I know it has been over a year since you posted but our stories are so similar I had to chime in. My CS also swore up and down his affair was “only” emotional and that she was ‘just’ a friend. A ‘friend’ who he took with on multiple week-long road trips and spent dozens of nights alone in hotels and condos when he claimed that he needed ‘alone’ time to disconnect as he eased in to retirement after 35 years of marriage. When I discovered their affair and confronted him, I had the same “aftermath” as you. He me compared us and told me all of the ways that I came up lacking, told me he had feelings for her, told me he didn’t want to be married any more, defended her, refused to stop seeing her, and continued to lie by omission. It was like peeling an onion, every day/week he would contradict something he said the week before, or mistakenly add a detail that changed everything. Through all of that I kept trying, almost 6 weeks now from DDay. He makes just enough of an attempt to string me along. But I can’t live like this either. I could forgive him for the state of our marriage, I could almost forgive him for the affair and the lying, but I will never forgive him for the aftermath. And that is why I am leaving him. I hope that you found peace in your process and that you are happy.
I have a question for everyone? Do you feel like you have been raped because of husbands affair? I feel like i was raped, forced to have sex with her, her husband, her two other affair partners, their partners and the countless people she had sex with at sex clubs and swingers clubs. I didn’t have a say in who i had sex with with. I didn’t have a choice, it was thrust upon me but his decision to have sexual relationship with a whore and he found this info out, not all before sex started and then the rest later. He still continued because he was angry that she was having sex with his partner and didn’t want to lose to him. Well guess what, he lost that battle and he is almost certain to lose everything we have ever built.
Yes, I do feel like I was raped. Similar situation, she was a husband poacher for fun. She was responsible for several divorces, my ex believed her when she said she’d never cheated on her husband and all the other sweet innocent me statements. He believed it all.
DS…..
I haven’t commented in a while as I myself have been immersed in pain and rage…..DDAY will be 3 years this coming February, and the trickle truth was the most hurtful…..his affair didn’t get to be a full blown PA because it was online, she lives in another country and they never met face to face, but the intention was always there to keep lying until he could figure how to have his cake and eat it too…..they DID have phone sex, video chat sex and dirty pics exchange, so all that was missing was the flesh to flesh contact, so all of the above enraged me (still does) as I can never be sure that he isn’t thinking of her when he is intimate with me (HE didn’t break up with her, SHE broke it off with him as she figured that after both spouses knowing about it, the secrecy and exhilaration of being forbidden wasn’t so secret and exhilarating anymore); he claims he only sent her money ONCE (which I would only believe if he took a polygraph test) and claims the day she broke it off with him was the very last time he ever attempted to look her up or find out how she’s doing today (he gives me inconsistent info about that, so I KNOW he’s lying again) all this to say, I CAN TOTALLY RELATE to what you’re going through and my DDay was longer ago than yours…..this kind of pain doesn’t have an expiration date stamped on it, NO ONE can impose on you a “USE BY” date on your recovery or whatever choice you make……if you feel that a divorce is the only way you can move forward, I would only ask you if you’ve been to counseling or therapy to heal (I still am even after 3 years, I have a weekly session) and you might want to at least consider if the marriage is still worth saving or not. I don’t think anyone here will push you to do one thing or another as everyone’s journey differs from the others depending on their circumstances, but the pain and rage and anger are all too similar to everybody’s on this site……know that we are here for you and that we support you whatever your final decision is……
Hi Kitty,
I have 2 therapists and a psychiatrist as i had a total nervous breakdown after finding out that my perfect husband had had a disgusting affair. They sexted, had phone sex, in my home. He took her out in PUBLIC WTF, bought her gifts wined and dined her as best he could. She is an Orthodox Jew, which is really quite funny that she would only eat Kosher (NOT). She is definitely a sociopathic narcissist as she did triangulate all her partners. I am obsessed with her. She is in my dreams, she haunts me. This bitch even came to my home for a party. She has a sic child that she uses to garner sympathy in exchange for attention and makes it perfectly clear sex is on the table. She tried to kiss him twice before my A hole husband just decided this is what he wanted and needed at the time. Yeah, thats what he said. She knew he was conflicted and in a happy marriage. They had sex in his office in a hospital. People always walking by. She would get butt naked. Who does that? I cant seem to get over this. His behavior during his affair was nothing short of abusive toward me and i took i because i thought he was depressed over his job. Every day i told him I love you, I want you, you are my king. I feel like such a dupe. It’s the lack of respect that kills me. Also, how can you say you never stopped loving me. You cant serve two masters. Even now, he speaks about her in a way that makes me think he is in love with her. I asked him to take a poly and he refused. I also think that when we have sex, he is thinking of her. In short, i am very messed up even though i have availed myself of all the appropriate help. I was almost committed against my will. I trashed her office when i found out the truth. My husband lied to our therapist, his therapist, me for those first five months . We all knew he had sex with her. I thought i married my soul mate, now not so sure. What do we get out of staying with lying, cheating pieces of Shit? Why should I stay. Kids are older. I have a few friends and my sisters know but other than that no one in our family knows. People think he is such a great guy and perfect husband. If only they knew
Get rid of him. You deserve much my h better.
DS
Then if you have exhausted every possible avenue of recovery and you still don’t trust him, it doesn’t seem likely you ever will if he has repeatedly lied and still does. Whatever you decide, I offer you my support if you ever need it.
I felt so betrayed and I also found out by seeing text messages. H had apparently deleted off his phone, but they stayed on his Apple Computer, wish I would have saved more of them. It was hard to read, but somewhat satisfying to “know”. H had two affair partners within a three year period, both sexual and emotional, all texts were about how he loved them and wanted to make a life with them. There are days I wish I would have let him go and it’s been almost two years since D day. The memories of all the crazy is getting less toxic and I don’t need to talk about it as much.
Same on many levels, Unsure. Awful to see that stuff and yet we need the truth in order to decide how to live with it. I am glad I stayed, because my H has changed so much for the better, but I do find myself, two and a half years out, still playing out fantasies in my head where I catch them earlier, humiliate them, leave him. It is me living too much in the past and inventing new scenarios in my head but that kind of thinking is hard to stop. I don’t know whether to just let that all die down over time or whether I should try and squelch all thoughts like that immediately. Am I dwelling, or am I processing? I don’t always trust myself to know the difference.
I’m doing the same thing. I know some details but I’m SURE not the whole story. And the details I know are destroying and leading my life. If I knew some things for sure I would probably go crazy. I want to know but I don’t want to know. H told me that the times they met she was wearing very very low tops exposing a lot…. from that I’m creating so many scenarios. But I’m sure those scenarios are true. What man would pass up invitations like that. Bad week! I just need a shoulder to sob on.
I also play scenarios in my head where I confront them and let the other women know he is married. I live in a small town and know these women and I so want to ask them if he told them he was married. When I ask H he said they never asked!!! WTH? Our relationship seems to be getting better after two years from D day. One thing I did tell him to help him understand my hurt about his secrets. Infidelity is the keeping of secrets – no matter what the secret, even flirting. Also when I ask questions about the affairs and he walks away or deflects; it makes me feel like the relationships he had with others is more valuable and important to him than our relationship.
I still have days where I can’t get the AP out of my mind!! Still have bad dreams about him leaving me for them.
Unsure, I feel the same. I feel like that WH… ( fill in the blanks) was more important then me that’s why he can’t stand when I talk about it. I’ll never know what exactly happened but then I really don’t want to know because what I already know is killing me. I just wish it never happened. The WH… he was with was an old F… that was totally in love with him and reached out to see how an old friend was doing…. He took the opportunity to make himself feel good since our relationship was not good for years ( a lot was my fault for shutting him out of my life) She is also married with kids and knows that he’s married. I wonder where her husband was when she spent 6-7 hours with my husband one day… ehmmmmm… I wish I wouldn’t have gotten married! I guess a bit too late after so many decades. He’s trying to make it up but the only thing I see is him being so loving and kind to her, laughing together, talking about their pass etc. etc. I’ll never believe him again. Sometimes I feel like it was a good thing that this happened otherwise we/I would still be acting the same way. Like he says this woke me up and he has me back but at what cost? But then I think he probably would have done it anyway even if we were good. I think it’s better to be an AP rather then a wife. Things get old and boring after being married so long. With an AP is always exciting and new.
That’s why I left after giving her many chances due to our 3 year old son. No matter what anyone says, the trust has been broken and can never be totally restored. You are just insecure or in denial if you think that their betrayal won’t always be in the back of your head…especially in bed. Tough way to live…
I hate the person I have become. Before D day I was a happy, go lucky, loving woman who cared about life and everything. Right after D day I became both verbally and physically abusive to my Husband, I was a complete mental case. Now 7 months on, I feel sad, unhappy and in so much pain. I long for the day when I can have normal, happy thoughts. I feel robbed of the last 7 months of my life and the lovely woman I used to be. I wish she would come back.
Vivienne I feel just like you. It’s been a bit over two years that I found out H one month affair with an old F… whore. We were having problems for some years, she reached out to him and he took the opportunity to feel wanted and important ti someone. She always loved him. He always used her but had to have something for her. She was his to go F… when there was no one else around ( this was before we got married) He said he didn’t sleep with her this time. 😂 I REALLY think he did. He met her 2-3 times and spoke on the phone about 10 times.
He said it was over the day I found out 🤷🏼♀️
He’s been trying his best to make me comfortable now but just like you I’m a different person now (that I hate).I was always very sweet now I’m a volcano inside. I don’t know if I even love him anymore. I stay because of our adult kids. I don’t want to hurt them, I know they would be devastated. And also I have not worked in 25+ years. I have no family or any where to go. He gives me what ever I want, I guess deep down I’m using him. I’m too old to start a new life, and too I don’t want him to get with her. I’m sure she would get a divorce ASAP. I don’t know where the old me went! I don’t like this new woman! I never thought I would think like this. THANK YOU for reading! I been having a ruff weak with this.
For me (still in the middle of it), clinging to my wife’s facacde and image instead of realizing that this is new person who I have to decide if I even like before I can build with her. We have good past to build on, but I can’t figure out who she is these days.
She is changing and changes are scary. Everyone are scared something they dont know. You now dont know that new person in front of you and still that person has that face that you know from that long and you thought you know that well. I suggest you to give it a try and go on a first date with her. Try to meet her for the very first time and know something about her. It can be very building to do so. And remember to be honest (both of you). Let her meet you once again as the first time. Take from the past what was good, all the wrong treat as a lesson for the future.
Take care and all the best for you two.
Two years later filing for divorce. It sucks. Now he is contrite and sorry. Bull shit or reality. Who knows and who cares
Mine was not taking care of myself and only focusing on repairing marriage. For that I ended up with 2 hospitalizations and 1 11 hour surgery! It’s been a year since I caught him. Some days I’m okay unless triggered. He definitely has changed. I realize now he was a sick individual all 31 years of marriage. He only waited till he was 66 to have the need to feel like a stud on Facebook. He’d had ED for years and thought this would work for him. NOT…yet he still hasn’t seen proper doctor. Sick he is.
Hoping the best for everyone – I did almost everything on the list. Almost had a breakdown. They still work together is the hardest part . I waited 11 months before going to a therapist. My argument – she did it – she needs to go. Wish I would have gone sooner- cbt really helps me. I have learned a few things on my journey. Some couples recover and some don’t. I can’t control what she does, I can only control how I respond,,,,,, this was really important fir me. I have gotten comfortable in knowing we could get divorced and again, only time will tell. I don’t trust her but of giving her the benefit of doubt- up to her what does next. I also have learned about negative cope mechanisms – things that we all do that initially make us feel better but long term hurt us. Example driving by the bar where they use to drink. I convinced myself that if we went by and didn’t see them I would feel better. But in reality, I would drive over and in my mind plan out what I would do if I caught them., then they wouldn’t be there – 2 minutes of relief and then started wondering if they were somewhere else and the rage would continue. My daily security blanket was toxic. It was so unproductive. Not judging anyone – just sharing my story. Good luck
The least productive thing I Did after finding out about the affair was to continue believing my ex had any integrity at all. Believing he could and would be honest. He could not or just would not.
It’s been almost three years since the last D-day and I find myself wondering if he said the same things to her that he said/says to me, especially post sex and cuddling. I did find a text message to one of his AP where he told her that he had the best sex with her that he had ever had.. WTH… I wish I had given myself more time to decide to reconcile, especially because after we reconciled I found about more AP and texts where he had actually asked women out, he said they didn’t go (liar, liar). I don’t think I would have reconciled, my life would be so much better without all the images, crazy thoughts, anger and hurt. I am a strong, confident women and I have lost some of that with all that I’ve been through. He tries to make me feel better and tries to understand… but I don’t know that he does, it’s like his little secrets all over again, he got good at convincing me he was someone he is not. I always thought integrity was one of his good traits, now I know it’s a façade.
The least productive thing I feel I did was to trust him when he promised me he ended it. I also wish I would have pushed for healing sooner. He refused to talk deal with it for over 30years, so I also allowed it all to be sept under the rug. I had tried several times to bring it up but was met with so much defensiveness, I also just quit trying. A crisis with a grandson and issues following that seemed to trigger a memory and all my pent up emotions just seemed to explode and come flowing out like hot lava. I should have trusted my gut, then I wouldn’t have been subject to so many lies, blame, frustration, pain, triggers, painful memories, his affair partners ghost in our home. I regret not believing in myself more than anything!
I wish I had stopped digging for more information and details. All it does is cause more pain. If you discover one lie you can bet there are endless more. Not worth the trouble.
Connie/Patricia,
Don’t beat yourselves up. You did nothing wrong and there’s no manual for this. They have to live with the guilt for the rest of their lives. Move on and forgive…for you, not him. I know you will never forget, I know I won’t…
I confronted too soon. I really should have taken my time. Saw call logs and she was calling AP every night in bed. Should have got a voice recorder to see conversations. Instead I confronted. And it went under ground. I have plenty of proof but would have been better. She has denied everything and they are just friends even though she hid the 5-10 calls a day to him. Could also have gotten more out of the GPS and maybe caught them in the act.
I would tell anyone to not rush. I know you want it to end but the more evidence you get the better. My wife has been denying everything for months and it is my biggest regret.
In my case “just friends” turned out to be a full blown sexual affair that my ex had. It’s probably best to push the issue, if my circumstances are a normal indication. My ex lied about it for 24 years, wanted the “marriage” and her. He finally decided “I deserved” to know everything. Things never got better, he never felt any need to be 100% honest.
My husband says he’s counselor told him it’s understandable that he has looked me in the eyes and lied so many times. Out of fear and shame. Please! It’s because he wanted his cake and eat it too. Selfish and cold. Didn’t want anyone to know what he was and I feel still is capable of doing. I have no respect for him. He is not an honorable man. I feel he needs to be single and do whatever he wants. He says he made a mistake. He made a choice. Not a mistake. He gets angry because he can’t bullshit me with his lies like he did with 2 A. P’s. We have been trying for a year and a half to work it out. I look at him one day and think I might still have feelings for him and then another day I see who he really is. Takes a very long time to go one way or the other. We have been together for 18 years. I don’t see myself living the rest of my life stuck in the middle of these feelings. You have to do what’s best for you now. I didn’t cause this and I am not going to fix it. Only a matter of time.
You know. I know all to well that there is always more to discover. However the pain it causes isn’t worth. The bottom line is they cheated in the first place. I myself can’t trust him again and have lost all respect. This is not the person I fell in love with, married or want to spend the rest of my life with. It’s become crystal clear to me. That’s just me. Some people can get past anything. I don’t want to spend anymore of my time trying to get over it and help him get past it. He made the choices he made for a reason. Being self centered is not a good quality. It’s pure selfishness. I deserve better. Good luck to anyone suffering through this. I am moving on.
I agree with Patricia. Once the trust is broken, there’s no going back. There will always be doubt in the back of your mind. A stronger marriage after an affair is a lot of crap…
I agree with that. I am still with my wife but it is only a matter of time. She has no respect for me. If she did she wouldn’t have done what she did and at a min she would be semi-honest about what she did. But nope. I am going to lie lie lie even though there is so much evidence. I am only still here for the kids but end of summer on D day anniversary I will be filing.
Good luck to you. It’s not going to be easy but, living with a dishonest person is torture. We too need to be happy and feel loved.
Don’t stay together for the wrong reason like the kids. It doesn’t set a good example and it’s heart wrenching.
Just friends my ass! lol
Happy Mother’s Day
Thanks. Going to see Lost City with my 3 grown girls.
I did many unproductive things. I I believed all his lies, I held on waiting patiently (over 20 years) because he was not ready to deal with any of the fall out from it yet. Showing him how much I wanted our marriage to work because that just gave him the power to do nothing because he knew I would always be here.
Staying in the same home and bed where he brought his affair partner, and trying to heal in the same place where he brought all the hurt. Ignoring all the red flags. Allowing myself to put up with every little bit of crappy behavior: his lies, the distancing himself from me, ignoring what he did and sweeping it back under the rug for him because when I did try to address the issue, he would get loud and defensive and stonewall me for weeks on end. Not trusting my gut when it warned me to get out! Trying to heal on my own in rebuilding the trust we lost. Losing my faith in God, and blaming him for not answering my prayers (my deepest regret). Still waiting patiently for him deal with some of the issues his affair partner his affair partner is still causing. Still feeling I can’t trust him because my gut telling me he is still hiding something. He still hasn’t figured out the “WHY” says he can’t remember, doesn’t know where his mind was, but won’t seek any professional help, because according to him he can figure out this on his own, even if it takes him another 20 years. Claims he wants to save our marriage now and he is ready to give it his all, but I’ve been hearing that for the last 18 months, and he still hasn’t done much to show me he is. wants me to be more patient with him and give him another second chance for him to show me how much he really does love me now. I’m still hanging on, but it feels like everything is slipping away faster and faster each day. He has no respect for me, our marriage, our future. If it really meant so much to him and he always loved me through it all even when he was carrying on with her as he proclaims, then wouldn’t he be willing to work a little harder at it? Am I doing another unproductive thing by giving him another second chance for the 888th time? Am I do another unproductive thing believing there is still hope for us, when I haven’t seen any proof from him?
I did many unproductive things. I I believed all his lies, I held on waiting patiently (over 20 years) because he was not ready to deal with any of the fall out from it yet. Showing him how much I wanted our marriage to work because that just gave him the power to do nothing because he knew I would always be here.
Staying in the same home and bed where he brought his affair partner, and trying to heal in the same place where he brought all the hurt. Ignoring all the red flags. Allowing myself to put up with every little bit of crappy behavior: his lies, the distancing himself from me, ignoring what he did and sweeping it back under the rug for him because when I did try to address the issue, he would get loud and defensive and stonewall me for weeks on end. Not trusting my gut when it warned me to get out! Trying to heal on my own in rebuilding the trust we lost. Losing my faith in God, and blaming him for not answering my prayers (my deepest regret). Still waiting patiently for him deal with some of the issues his affair partner his affair partner is still causing. Still feeling I can’t trust him because my gut telling me he is still hiding something. He still hasn’t figured out the “WHY” says he can’t remember, doesn’t know where his mind was, but won’t seek any professional help, because according to him he can figure out this on his own, even if it takes him another 20 years. Claims he wants to save our marriage now and he is ready to give it his all, but I’ve been hearing that for the last 18 months, and he still hasn’t done much to show me he is. wants me to be more patient with him and give him another second chance for him to show me how much he really does love me now. I’m still hanging on, but it feels like everything is slipping away faster and faster each day. He has no respect for me, our marriage, our future. If it really meant so much to him and he always loved me through it all even when he was carrying on with her as he proclaims, then wouldn’t he be willing to work a little harder at it? Am I doing another unproductive thing by giving him another second chance for the 888th time? Am I do another unproductive thing believing there is still hope for us, when I haven’t seen any proof from him? I think I set myself up from the very beginning by believing him when he looked me in the eyes, told me he loved only me, and that it was over with her, all the while he continued his affair. He just became a better liar, got better at covering it up.
I was in much the same situation, more than 20 years of his bull when he decided I deserved to know the truth. He also said he had loved me even while he was cheating, then over the years when he made our life together a massive lie. I went to counselors, we went together for several months to counselors until he decided it wasn’t helping. I found a new counselor when he decided to go alone to the counselor we’d used as a couple. I also did three different programs on line and asked him to at least read the online information.
He read enough to get the jest of what needed to be done and said. The words and pleas that were indicated in the programs were coming out of him, but the actions were not. He made no changes to his actions, I caught him in a lie after I told him one more and that’s it. So a year and a half after his confession I filed for divorce. He acted surprised and did the pleading and even a few tears, couldn’t understand why I was divorcing him since I said I’d give him another chance. No matter how much I explained to him he couldn’t, more likely didn’t try to look at it logically. He would never change. He didn’t live up to his promises, not even really try to improve himself. Like your husband he felt he’d gotten away with it for so long, he could keep on feeding me crap. I came to the conclusion he had your husband’s attitude and would never change. I decided I had to live by my values for me and that meant walking away from that life. It wasn’t easy, but I know it was and is the best thing I ever did concerning him.
That’s a long time for him to be in the fog. I didn’t give my (ex) wife that long. Too painful and I could never trust again. Don’t give up your power and stay strong. Leave while you still have some life left. Things will get better over time. Can you be any worse without him??
Taking the High Road
The least productive thing that I did was not getting him to end his affair. I have now had four D-days because of that. I began to suspect in March 2020 that my 54 year old physician husband was having an emotional affair with his then 27 year old nurse. He had a breakdown in August 2020 and confessed it to me. As devastated as I was I helped him get in to counseling and on medication and did his leave and short term disability paperwork for work. We were married 27 years at that point and we share two adult sons together. I kept his secret from everyone. Against mine and his counselor’s advice he went back to work after a 2 month leave and by December 2020 they were right back at their emotional affair. By July 2021 it had turned physical and he continued to lie to me even though my gut told me something was not right. He even claimed he had erectile dysfunction due to his antidepressants. Even my subsequent breast cancer diagnosis in September 2021 did not stop his affair. I found proof of the affair on his phone in January 2022 (D-day #2). There was sexting and inappropriate photos, proof of him buying her gifts and meeting her after work along with evidence it was a PA. I was devastated and filed for divorce in February 2022. He would not move out so it was stressful and horrible. D-day #3 occurred June 2022 when I again caught them sexting while I was home recovering from surgery. I decided to proceed with the divorce process when he set up marriage counseling. ON the advice of my lawyer I attended counseling with him for the last 5 months. All of this time he has maintained that he loves me and wants the marriage. We made a tiny bit of progress in counseling and he has begun to admit the error of his ways and apologize for the hurt he has caused. My gut continued to tell me something was not right because he still refuses to talk about her, give me passwords for his phone and email, and has been affectionate (kissing, hand holding, doing things together), but has not tried to be intimate with me. His actions never match his words. We had a lovely Christmas and spent time with our sons and extended family. I asked him the day after Christmas if he had any contact with her and he looked me in the eyes and said no. Two days after Christmas, I saw that he texted her 4 times on Christmas Day while he was opening presents with his family. So D-day #4 and once again I am devastated. I knew it was a risk on my part and my gut was telling me something was amiss. Of course he still maintains he loves me and wants the marriage. I told him I can’t take the lying and hurt, so he needs to move out. He maintains he is staying. We have a counseling session tonight, so I will tell him he must call and end it in my presence, give me passwords and become an open book. I am fairly confident that he won’t agree to this, so I will be going to my attorney to proceed with the divorce and have him removed from our home. It is shocking how easily he lies right to my face. I am unsure why this educated man is going to risk his wife, family, and reputation for a 29 year old woman who does not have a college degree, lives home with her alcoholic parents, and cannot cook or make her bed. I have been the loyal, committed fool who has taken care of this man for 33 years as we are almost married 30 years. I hope this young woman will be happy with her 56 year old cheater and liar who can’t do much to take care of himself either. Even though I still love him- I AM DONE!!!!!!! It is time to choose me and my sanity! It is time for his PA to see the light of day and for him to suffer the consequences of his actions!
Doug just About everything you listed there !!! I think the most important thing I DIDN’T do was to put myself first and look after myself.
The main point I didn’t regret in the slightest was to tell her husband she deserved every thing she got out of that.Jennet