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Reconciliation :
A year later why do I feel guilty/responsible

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 betrayedhusband (original poster member #38443) posted at 8:46 PM on Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

Why is it that I feel guilt and responsibility? As if this was my fault. Are there other BS's feeling this way? How do you cope with those feelings?

Me BS 48
Her fWW 47
Married 24 yrs
Together 30 yrs
DDay 16 Jan 2013
EA 9 months & PA 1 month
Children 2 young adults
Working through it
"Character is what you are when no one is watching"

posts: 163   ·   registered: Feb. 13th, 2013
id 6672563
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tushnurse ( member #21101) posted at 8:55 PM on Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

I think you need to answer the why's of this. Why do you feel guilt and responsibility.

No THIS IS NOT YOUR FAULT.

That is why I ask the why's. If your WS is telling you it was because you worked too much, or weren't attentive enough, or anything like that it's complete and total horseshit, and you should call it as such.

A BS IS NEVER THE CAUSE OF AN A. I REPEAT A BS IS NEVER THE CAUSE OF AN A. If your WS is not doing everything in the world to convince you otherwise they are not doing enough to heal the relationship.

Me: FBSHim: FWSKids: 23 & 27 Married for 32 years now, was 16 at the time.D-Day Sept 26 2008R'd in about 2 years. Old Vet now.

posts: 20380   ·   registered: Oct. 1st, 2008   ·   location: St. Louis
id 6672586
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sisoon ( Moderator #31240) posted at 10:58 PM on Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

OTOH, it's very hard to really take in what tush says. It's really, really hard not to think your W cheated because of some failure in you - especially since you know your failures better than anyone else does.

Are you doing IC? IM, you're dealing with a self-esteem issue, and face-to-face interaction is the best way to get help solving it.

fBH (me) - on d-day: 66, Married 43, together 45, same sex apDDay - 12/22/2010Recover'd and R'edYou don't have to like your boundaries. You just have to set and enforce them.

posts: 31127   ·   registered: Feb. 18th, 2011   ·   location: Illinois
id 6672791
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 betrayedhusband (original poster member #38443) posted at 12:10 AM on Sunday, February 9th, 2014

by no means is she making me feel guilty or responsible. It is my own thoughts/feelings that lead me to those feelings.

I still think about all of this atleast 5 times a day. just can't shake the thoughts.

Not currently in MC or IC.

Our relationship is very good.

But I still worry. Guess I always will. Not that anything she does makes me think she would ever do this to me again, but I never thought she would in the first place...

Me BS 48
Her fWW 47
Married 24 yrs
Together 30 yrs
DDay 16 Jan 2013
EA 9 months & PA 1 month
Children 2 young adults
Working through it
"Character is what you are when no one is watching"

posts: 163   ·   registered: Feb. 13th, 2013
id 6677125
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itstoomuch ( member #42301) posted at 12:55 AM on Sunday, February 9th, 2014

Yes, all the time. Even though I KNOW it was his choice to do what he did and ultimately had nothing to do with me. Yet it is still hard to shake those thoughts at times. In a marriage, we are one, we are intimately connected to each other & when betrayal happens, it affects us in our minds like this. It's natural that both parties have hurts and stresses and even unmet desires in marriage, but it's our own individual choice how to handle them. We should be working together to deal with them, and if our spouse makes decision to have affair- it's completely their choice regardless of our own failures in a marriage. (Which just about everybody has something we need to work on- but that's people- and not every less than perfect person's spouse has A.) and even the 'perfect' spouses have been betrayed. This doesn't free me from being honest with my own issues I need to work on in our marriage; it just frees me from carrying the issues that are his. And the A is one of them.

I think helps to hear other people remind me it wasn't my fault. ... As simple as that is, it helps. It was not your fault, no matter what happened in past or what you did or didn't do, no matter what, it is NOT your fault. It was their decision.

While I'm "new" to SI, I'm not "new" to "Surviving Infidelity."
4+ yrs post-DDay
17+ M
R is long and hard.
'The cloudiest skies do make the prettiest sunsets'

posts: 130   ·   registered: Feb. 2nd, 2014
id 6677177
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Justgreatnews ( member #41666) posted at 2:25 AM on Sunday, February 9th, 2014

So lets say you didn't pay enough attention to her. Common complaint, with often some validity.

What's ignored is there might well have been a reason you withheld something. You spouse may have been moody, harsh, whatever.

She no more gets to go have an affair for those reasons than you do. You find a way to deal with the problem within the marriage. Fight, talk, lock yourself in a room, insist on something, but affairs? That's low class, selfish, mean, and destructive. Never appropriate.

Face it, she fucked you over. Be mad, forgive, talk it out, or something, but don't feel guilty.

posts: 261   ·   registered: Dec. 15th, 2013   ·   location: United States
id 6677246
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FeelingSoMuch ( member #38814) posted at 10:07 PM on Sunday, February 9th, 2014

I felt guilty/responsible at first. Then, as we looked at our marriage in MC I realized that I was actually a very good husband.

And I haven't heard anything that makes me feel like I could've done anything differently. Yes, I make mistakes and I have many flaws. None are anywhere close to cheating. I feel confident this one is on WW.

Me: BH
Her: WW
Together since 2001. Married since 2007. Found out about her affairs in 2013. Now separated, waiting for divorce paperwork and in a wonderful new relationship. Life is good again.

posts: 512   ·   registered: Mar. 26th, 2013   ·   location: Canada
id 6678084
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