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View Full Version : Help!! I'm so confused!


Sandi Dingo
05-24-2007, 05:58 PM
Hi everyone. I'm new. My husband and I have been together for 7 years and married 5. For 7 years he has lied off an on about other women. Some were women he met online and was only "friends" with, some were ex-girlfriends who still had an interest in him but he saw the need to maintain a friendship with them behind my back. The only reason I forgave him so many times is that he never crossed the line. It was always kept on a friendship level but always a secret. Last year though he created a new email account without me knowing and signed up for a dating website. I found out and again forgave him (STUPID!) but only because he had not contacted anyone and no one had contacted him. He said he was "curious" because we are so different. We went to counselling but it wasn't very good. He said he was happy and everything was good. Then 9 months later he was away working and met someone and again was just friends. But then he started to email her when he returned home and it finally crossed the line. While there was nothing sexual, it was very hurtful because promises of future plans were made. He told her that we were getting divorced which was news to me! When I found out, there still had been nothing physical or sexual but it was clear that he planned to leave me and pursue a relationship with her. We have decided to work things out and are again in counselling! This time the counselling is much better and while it does help I am SOOO confused! He says that the emails were just a fantasy and he knows it wasn't real nor that it would ever be, etc. Part of me wants to work things out and part of me wants to just end it because I don't think he will ever stop lying. The problem is that this time he is REALLY convincing that he has "mended" his ways and that this time he has REALLY learned and doesn't want to screw up again. I don't know what to believe! I have gone from despair to depression to panic to anger and now resolve - i'm just exhausted. Is it really possible for a liar to change or am I just kidding myself?? Some days I'm okay and others I want to choke him because I think he is still communicating with her. Other days I want to call her and tear her a new one. I know that I could find out but it doesn't seem worth the effort because when will it end? When will I stop checking his email, phone, etc? It can make you crazy. The hardest thing this time is that he did cross the line emotionally and I wonder what it will be next time - physically? Please give me some sound advice because I've heard all the expected answers. Also, I forgot to mention that his job REQUIRES him to travel 6 months a year all over the world - talk about a relationship that requires a lot of trust before trust has even been broken!!

betrayed
05-24-2007, 11:59 PM
i am so sorry. i know the craziness of it all. i also know how you get sucked into there insanity. the thing to realize is it's there insanity and not yours. i put my story on introductions. but you can kind of get the idea i can feel what you write. change is very hard to do even for all of us. i can't even change from dr.pepper to something that is good for me. in his case it runs deeper. he can't even change to stop hurting people.

starshimmer
06-05-2007, 08:35 PM
Sandi, he sure puts you through the wringer, doesn't he? I guess, at this point, it's a matter of what you want from this marriage. Can you live this way 5 more years? 10 more? What if you spend the next 20 always wondering what he's doing, and if he's lying to you about yet another woman?

The trust issue looms pretty big in your lives with each other. I can't help but wonder what his reaction would be if it were YOU who were having all the guy friends and keeping them secret from him...

The first thing you've got to ask yourself, Sandi, is if you want to try again with him and where your boundaries will be to how he treats you. If you don't stick to your boundaries, he will not either and you will lose all respect for yourself and he will have none for you. He's not showing much concern or respect for you at the moment as it is.

Take some time and search your heart. Whatever you find that is important to you, stick to that, and make sure your husband knows you intend to make sure he does too.