Archives for October 2008

The Impact of an Affair

An affair dramatically alters one’s world. Thoughts, feelings, expectations and the issue of trust become paramount.

Read what some describe as the changes the affair has made in their life:

1. Preoccupation with comparing myself with others.
2. Spend time watching a computer tracking system looking for activities 3. Insecurity of being myself.
4. Fear of not doing what activities spouse wants to do worrying about what he’ll get into with my presence.
5. My husband had an affair with a woman who lives out of state, so much of their communication was via email and phone. Although he assures me that he has not heard from her since June, I still catch myself wondering about things when his cell phone rings or when he spends too much time on the computer.
6. Since the affair, I now feel that I am somehow in competition with “her” and with other women in general. I am sure most of it is in my head, but I hate feeling this way.
7. Because my husband told so many lies during the affair, I find myself constantly wondering if he is telling the truth now. Although I have no reason to think he is lying now, I guess once bitten twice shy. I really didn’t think I had anything to worry about back then either!
8. Since the affair, I have noticed one positive thing. Because I did spend 6 months on my own in an apartment, I know that I am more than capable of providing for myself and my two-year-old son. I no longer have that “dependency” on my husband that I felt just prior to our break-up.

Surviving infidelity: The Empathy Challenged Cheating Spouse

I receive emails daily from spouses whose partner is cheating and having an affair.

A Common complaint is, bottom line, they don’t seem to care or they just don get it (me.)

This, I observe is the result of being with a partner who who lacks empathy and the capacity to enter the world of another person.

After all, this is a primary reason for someone having an affair… they lack this capacity, are truly looking for intimacy, but believe it can only be found “out there” after failing to have the necessary resources, skills, aptitude, insight to get it in relationship with their spouse.

(This is not a put-down. We ALL are challenged in ways in creating intimacy! But, some of us choose not to use an affair to mend our problem.)

Here are some common complaints from the cheated upon spouse about the cut-off and distance:

>>>>>He thinks because the affair has supposedly stopped, I should immediately believe him and never challenge his word.
>>>>>He treats my likes and dislikes as bad, if they differ from his, instead of just different.
>>>>>It is always his way or the highway, never any compromise.
>>>>>He criticizes me “for my own good.”
>>>>>He refuses to give me valid reasons for why I cannot go with him on “business” trips.
>>>>>Talks on cell in car with the other person
>>>>>Comes home late
>>>>>Shares business Emails daily with the other person
>>>>>Gives me his bad side
>>>>>Them working together Their continued “friendship”
>>>>>His confrontation that I perpetuate the anguish because I continue to receive e-mails from self-help

Infidelity Dilemma: Why Doesn’t He Leave?

Love has not much to do with infidelity or extramarital affairs. Infidelity and affairs have much to do with powerful personal needs over which the cheating spouse seemingly has little awareness or control.

So, a common theme for the cheating spouse is: “I won’t make any decision.” S/he tries to maintain a broken, fragmented world of secrecy and deception.

His/her sense of personal control and power may be so limited he waits for others to make decisions for him/her.

And so his/her spouse waits for him/her to decide or act decisively when s/he has little capacity to decide.

Here’s a case study:

The question: List 3 or 4 meanings that your partner’s affair has for you. That is to say, what impact is the infidelity having upon YOU? For example, how has is changed what you think about? how you spend your time? how you think of yourself? etc? Tell a story or give examples of how your life is now different.

Before my husband starting having the affair our marriage was already on rocky ground. He even let me know during one of our marriage counseling sessions that he was looking for someone else. Not soon after that he found someone else. I thought he would soon leave and that would be the end of that. But that was 7 months ago and he is still having the affair and has not left yet. He stays home some nights and with her some nights. This is all I think about. Is he coming home tonight or will he go over there. I feel like he has no respect for my feeling what so ever. I’m not sure how much more of this i can take, but every time I try to leave and go live somewhere else he makes all sorts of threats to me. I just don’t understand why he keeps coming home, why doesn’t he move in with her. Does that mean he still loves me or just doesn’t care enough about her to give me up?