Loving Yourself

He loved me at one time in his life, and perhaps he still does, but that doesn't matter anymore...what really matters is learning how to love yourself. Did you get married or into a relationship, and soon after came household chores, working and children? If so, you probably have spent more time taking care of everyone and everything else besides yourself. For me, I lost sight of myself due to being so busy with it all, but once I discovered his cheating, I REALLY lost it. I was hurt so bad that I wondered what was wrong with me. I couldn't understand why or what had happened and I started doubting myself and all that I thought was me. Sometimes being sad about marital problems can lead into depression. This is a critial time because you really don't want to be sad and depressed to the point that it affects your life. I felt so all alone, when I found out about his infidelities. I wallowed, I cried and then I decided to get some sort of support. There are many support systems out there. Once I found my strength, I started finding things that I could do for myself. I needed to love myself even if he didn't. I needed to take care of me. I not only needed that, but wanted and deserved it as well. Find time to take care of you and love yourself, even if he doesn't. There really IS life after infidelity. Here are a few sites that I have found online that are supposed to be helpful and supportive.

http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Infidelity/support-group
http://infidelitysupport.com/forum/
http://www.divorce360.com

If He Loved Me So Much, Why Did He Cheat On Me?

This is a question that I asked myself over and over for many years. I could never figure out how you can love someone and then go behind their back and be with someone else. Was it for adventure because our marriage/relationship was getting old? Was it because he felt that he could get away with it? Was the other woman so compelling that she gave him more than I could? There are so many questions and for the most part, no answers. Although I expected an answer, even thinking that an answer would help me to get some closure on my pain, I never got it. I was left with nothing. Why couldn't he answer me? Well, as far as I can figure, sometimes they can't even give you an answer to the question....yes, infuriating but true. Sometimes they feel as though they are in another world and they can live this way until you discover it. Whatever the answers, there's nothing that can be done about something that is already done. What comes next, is you must deal with it and even if that means accepting that you might not get the answer. Do you move on easily from this point? No, it's never easy, because it's your life, your future. What you CAN do, is think about things before really deciding on what's right for you.

How I Made The Decision To Go

I think that after being married to him for over 10 years, discovering his affair and leaving him the first time, I still came back to him after about 9 month of being apart, AND divorcing him. I went back to him and thought that I could try it again, perhaps thinking that the second time around, he would know that I would not tolerate his infidelities. But soon after, I discovered more infidelity on his part. Not only with one woman, but with two, possibly a third. No matter what I did (begging, pleading, crying my eyes out, even blocking out the OW's phone number on his phone) I found that nothing worked. He wanted me to forgive him, once again, and he asked me to sweep it under the rug and just go on. He was not willing to make amends, nor was he willing to give the OW up. After going through this heartbreak all over again, I decided that I had to make a decision of staying and putting up with his cheating ways, or walking out on my own, starting all over again. I looked for support groups for help and I decided to speak to a very old and trusted friend, someone who was a friend of my family, also a pastor. He was unbiased, didn't take sides and pointed out some things to me that I did not see before. The ultimate decision was mine, and after much thought, I felt that I had no choice but to go because things were not getting better. I felt as though the other women were more important to him than us. He was juggling me, our family and the other women, along with his work and it was taking it's toll on me. I asked myself "what do I want in this life"?
"Do I deserve this kind of life"? and "what was I showing my children by staying in a relationship that didn't show me any respect"? For me, this meant alot of soul searching but after answering those questions, I felt that I deserved a whole lot more in life than what he was offering me. Let me also say, I didn't make this decision quickly, nor lightly. I wanted this man, this marriage/relationship and I wanted my family together more than anything else you could imagine.....but it honestly takes two people to make it work and without his help, it was all one-sided. I needed more than that and I finally felt that I deserved more. Loving someone means that you cling to that person and honestly try to work things out, the good things and the bad but he couldn't give me that. I needed someone to love me and be happy with just me, but he showed me by his actions that he needed her too and as much as I tried, he didn't try too...and that's how I made the decision to go.

Have You Lost "You"?

Sometimes I feel as though I lost myself somewhere along the way. It's true that when we marry someone or get into a relationship that we mold ourselves to our partner and that makes getting along with them a little easier. I seemed to have lost my inner happiness during the time we were married, and that's not a good thing. Did his cheating on me get me down so bad to the point that I couldn't find my inner peace and happiness? I can honestly say that going through infidelity really made me hit rock bottom with this man. I think that I became his "wife", the kids "mother" and one day I just didn't have time for "me". How do I get back to being the old me? The old me that used to have such joy in life, the one who loved playing around and being silly....well, I think that in time, my joy will return, but it all takes time. One thing I feel is that I can breathe easier not having to deal with a cheating spouse, and another thing is that I can do more things to please me instead of him....maybe that's the start of finding myself again.

Taking Baby Steps At Moving Ahead

Everything's moved from the other house now into a 10x12 storage unit that holds the rest of my forgotten past. How was I able to leave some of it was something I wasn't sure about, but I have it all now. I ended up giving alot of things away, things that didn't have any meaning anymore and stuff that others would be able to use. The house sits now as if it never had been ours. I know that he started his new life a long time ago when he finally moved back in with the other woman but I wonder if he ever regrets what he did to our family. I honestly think that he still doesn't realize that it was by his own hands that we are no longer together. He has indicated to me a couple of times that if I were to have just forgotten about the other woman, that we would still make things work, regardless of him having any remorse or not. He wasn't willing to give her up so there was no way of working things out anymore. I certainly didn't want to be second place and I felt like I deserved much more. I am taking baby steps to a new life but it isn't always easy.

"I Love You--Have A Good Day"

Those words of endearment were those that were said often in my marriage to my ex. Every morning I told him that I loved him and to have a good day. He always said I love you back to me, and for a very long time, I honestly believed that he meant it. I don't think that he ever intended for me to find out about his other women. I feel that he wanted to have her on the side and keep me to help out with the bills mostly and all the family household things that I did. When I told him that I loved him, I really meant those words. Do we take these little words for granted sometimes? Do we just say them without any real thoughts behind them? Loving someone means that you honor them, respect them and don't want to say or do anything to hurt them. Love means that you are willing to accept that person through the good and the bad times, but I really don't think that loving someone means that you have the right to cheat on them, because if things are not happy in your world, you should let your mate/spouse know how you feel before things get out of hand. I am so sorry that my ex did not communicate his feelings to me.... I always thought that when I heard him say " I love you" that he really meant it.

What Is Becoming Of Marriage These Days?

I don't know but everytime I see in the news, someone is cheating on someone else and it's just gotten to the point that I am wondering what has happened to the vows of marriage. Doesn't a vow mean anything anymore? Do we not care about what we do to our partner, and our family? Or could it be that the news is just telling us more about what we didn't talk about in our grandparents day? To marry someone means that you are giving them a promise, not only to love and honor them, but to be faithful as well. Do we just relax once we get married and forget about what our partners really need?

Is Great Sex Better Than Good Communication?

(blush) right about now because I don't normally bring up too much about sex, but this is a valid question, but I don't know if I will ever find the answer to it.
Sex is a very important part of a relationship, but so is communication. What if you don't get both of them? Would you rather have one over the other? Or could it be possible to ever get both? To me, I would think that communication is the root of the relationship because if you can talk to each other, then you can communicate what you like and don't like, even about sex. What if your partner doesn't like to talk? That's where my problems lied, I think because he did not like to discuss anything. He didn't like talking much. Could that have been our downfall? So, would you rather have a great sex life with your partner even if you don't have good communication? or is having good communication the key to great sex?