(((Plainpain))))
Just past 2 year mark now and much of your post resonates with me.
The excruciating pain I still feel on a daily basis? I get that. My wife NOT being able to grasp that? I get that too.
Past 2 months have seen me face loneliness unlike anything I have experienced in my life......or has it? Yes, adultery is new to our M. Adultery is NOT a singular stand alone choice....it is the fruit of much work. The work that went into that hurt our M and us long before the A started. IC has opened my eyes to MY choices....and they were hurtful to my wife and M too.
Before you write off years of M as all abusive....consider this.
The pain you NOW see as unacceptable was acceptable before. Why?
For me my coping skills are mostly dead....this is a healthy but scary change.
Couple things....
I mostly "coped" with life while dating my wife and most of my M to her. It was not healthy nor authentic.....my wife did the same. In our sitch....neither did it to hurt or abuse the other. But hurts and abuse did happen. But we coped with it....never processed past them to healthier spots. During this time, many good things happened. Our girls being born are among the best, but many other shared experiences were good!
Without my coping skills the pain that was "acceptable" to the point of NOT dealing with the pain is no longer so. It's EXHAUSTING but necessary. BS often times are the first to have their coping skills broken. WS often fight to keep theirs alive longer (lies, TT, etc) in attempts to keep their pain at bay.
For me that "disconnected" feeling is among the toughest. It was the pre-A but both my wife and I ignored this. We were able to because of some very strong coping skills. My CoD, her ability to totally disengage her emotions.
Our brokenness worked well together. Same isolating feelings exist in both of us....but I would hide them through lots of CoD activities and that would enable my wife to have just enough "evidence" to deny her authentic self. Neither of is meeting the others needs not getting our needs met.
I believe we all marry who we are supposed to.
I also believe we all have free will.
If I were married to an adoring underware model or my wife was married to a sensitive brain surgeon.....I believe our life's journey would resemble what it currently does.
If either of us were more broken or more healthy....would we even have made it past 2 dates?
2 years appears to be a dicy time for couples post-A....particularly with what a BS feels.
I am back to weekly IC because of much of what you post. I am NOT fixed and struggling hard too.
Please just refrain from assuming the entire length of your M was abusive and junk. A therapist is a need for me as I out to the "test" what I think I believe.
Often time what I "believe" turns out to be a cause of pain I don't want to feel, but can't ignore because I have grown past the coping skills that previously would have allowed me to avoid and deny that pain.
In those cases....my belief is disproved. It hurts. But it gives me the "authentic self" I am committed to seeing within.
I believe a M can R when both spouses commit to a real, authentic search of themselves.
It's hard, humbling work.....and I only half of my M.
But for me to chose not to do this would greatly increase my chances of repeating known destructive cycles.
God is with us all.
[This message edited by blakesteele at 1:52 PM, August 23rd (Saturday)]