Hi Jess

What he is doing isn’t moral and my concern is that it is a lie. He didn’t hurt her, he hurt you his wife. Any hurt to an “ex-girlfriend” is minor in comparison to what he has done and continues to do to you.

The moral thing to do is commit to his wife.

Sadly, there is one other reason why people admit to cheating. When they want out of a relationship and he is already hinting at that.

It was never your decision whether you get to save your marriage. What you can decide is if you would like to protect yourself.

Hi Shve

Sorry for the late reply! I was dealing with a lot of stress at home. This is a difficult topic and sometimes I need to take breaks from it to manage my mental health.

I’m glad that you have found happiness in having respectful conversations.

As a result of my traumatic experiences I developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. This may be something that you are experiencing too? This could be the thing holding you back, not letting you move forward. What do you think?

His behaviour and refusal to take responsibility for his actions is disgusting and blaming it on you is gaslighting. Even the rare instance where he “apologised” it was manipulative as it wasn’t sincere and born out of a desire to placate you to get what he wanted.

Sometimes, when there are differences in religion and background, bad people find themselves using it as an excuse to use, disrespect or harm others.

I would agree that how you were raised has a lot to do with the difficulties with boundaries. The way I was raised caused me to have difficulty with boundaries too. I think that society as a whole plays a part too. No one wants to think about when children become adults and start to date. No one wants to think about the potential dangers that might be faced. Society doesn’t want to punish the people who hurt others, this further emboldens this type of bad behaviour.

I welcome you to practice your assertiveness and protect your boundaries here. This is a safe space and I would love to know if there are any things that I can do differently to make you feel more comfortable in our communication.

I just wanted to clarify Shve that it’s good to have awareness of these things now. But as you and Anita have said, you didn’t have awareness of this before. Therefore, you were not able to protect yourself. In no way did I mean to suggest that you bear any responsibility for what happened. It’s just good something to be aware of to help protect yourself in the future.

I know what it feels like to not be able to say no, or defend yourself when you want to. I know what it feels like to be care about someone and to be lead on. Many people do things that they don’t want to because they care about someone. But that doesn’t make what is happening okay.

Your bravery in sharing your experience has been inspirational. Thank you! I wish you all the best on your healing journey.

Regarding tips for overcoming this. You know that feeling that you had at the beginning when you didn’t want to date this man. Learn to pay a lot of attention to your instincts. So any emotions that pop up, if you feel angry or sad it is for a reason and this could mean that boundaries are being crossed. I would encourage you to think about circumstances that trigger these emotions. Emotions tell us a lot of helpful information and can inform our decision making.

Hi David

Thank you for getting in touch with those feelings. A lot of people on this site have been hurt by others. It’s really important for people to understand how you feel about your actions.

I understand it’s very difficult when you start communicating with people to delve into those feelings. But specifically because you have made mistakes that you regret, sharing your emotions helps people empathise with you.

Do you have difficulty trusting or being vulnerable around others?

Do you think therapy helped you end the relationship?

I would add that while you were humiliated and shamed by those experiences, so was your ex. It was not 1 way.

Hi David

Sorry I’m going to have to get back to you in a day or two. Dealing with a lot of stress at the moment. Take care!

Hi David

It’s good that you decided to stop and see a therapist. But I think that might be because the whole situation went so far that you were hurt by it.

A good heartfelt apology details and takes responsibility for individual behaviours. If I say or do something hurtful, I describe the behaviour and I try and show that I understand how it made them feel when I apologise. For example, when apologising to my husband, I shouldn’t have snapped at you earlier, I’m sorry for making you feel hurt or uncomfortable.

Please discuss what happened with your therapist. You don’t seem to have a clear understanding of the impact of your behaviour on your partner or even yourself. I believe this is a defense mechanism, or perhaps you haven’t deeply thought about how other people are affected?

People have had to explain to you simple concepts such as cheating and how bdsm and other behaviours play with emotions such as humiliation, degradation and shame. You struggle to take responsibility for your part in it. I do believe that you want to learn. Because you haven’t disappeared when confronted with these things and after some explanation you do start to understand and take responsibility for parts of it. This and the fact that you are seeking therapy means that you’re trying.

The difficulty of these situations is that often people consent to things that they don’t really want to do, usually because they care about the person and because they have difficulty maintaining boundaries.

As Anita recommended, I suggest you do not participate in any more sexual communication with your ex. In fact, ask her to stop sending it to you. Ask your therapist about developing empathy for others. It will help you make the changes you need.

@anita

I have been less stressed since yesterday. I will probably take breaks from replying as before and leave you a note when things are feeling overwhelming.

You are very deserving of empathy Anita. It’s unfortunate that some parents just see children as possessions or an extension of themselves instead of as individuals with their own needs.

Thank you for clarifying that more original expressions of empathy are suitable for you.

I hated the phrase “It’s okay” for a long time. People would say it in an attempt to “calm” me while they were abusing me.

Ah thank you for explaining that this feeling of empathy was accessible once the relationship ended. I don’t think I have ever relaxed my views regarding my mother. I have difficulty forgiving people that refuse to acknowledge their mistakes. Some things, I believe cannot be forgiven.

I did remember thanks to our conversations that my mother was younger when she had me and my father was at least 10 years her senior, with an abandoned other family. He abandoned us too which is why there is little mention of him. As an adult I find his behaviour very concerning because birth control existed and he didn’t seem to care about the damage he left behind in either situation. When I was younger I fixated on him as an absent figure as a good person somehow because the moments I spent with him he was kind to me. Someone who wasn’t there was somehow better than the person that was there abusing me.

I am comfortable sharing these things with you Anita, as you share many similar experiences, are kind and insightful. I value our conversations, it’s just the topic that can be stressful at times. As long as I take care of myself by taking breaks when other stressors pile on I’m able to continue our conversations. I hope that you will take breaks if needed too? Please let me know if things become too difficult.

Hi Eric

I would agree with you that your past is the source of the issue. I’m sorry that your parents scolded you and shamed you by comparing your grades to others when you got bad grades as a child.

Do you want to work in the family business? What is it that you want to do? Do you have any interests or hobbies that you are passionate about?

When i asked my parents on what is my sister doing right now… she told me that she’s studying now unlike you that time (my sister is really smart, she’s smarter than me at my age)… well they said it with no intention of hurting me… but then i feel really ashamed of myself after hearing those words…

I disagree with you that there was no intention of hurting you. Whilst your parents no longer scold you, this habit of shaming you by comparing you to others has remained. Your parents could have simply said that she was studying and left you out of it.

Perhaps you could try talking to your parents and ask them to stop comparing you to others? Do you think they would be receptive to this?

I think academic performance is very much influenced by our parents. This can certainly follow us into adulthood.

You can’t change your past, but what you can do is forgive yourself and potentially make an effort to learn about interests, hobbies and develop new skills, if this is something that you have an interest in? You could also make an effort to take notice of when you do something intelligent or skillful to build up your confidence in this area.