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Anonymous.
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March 24, 2021 at 11:35 am #376494
Anonymous
GuestDear Anamika:
You shared that you (35) have been married for 11 years, an arranged marriage. When he was introduced to you by common relatives, “he seemed like a good guy- nice human being, calm and understanding”, appreciative of your “career goals/ education etc.” A courtship of 9 months ensued, you had doubts about the match, there was “lack of conversations”, and the two of you “just killed the courtship time without getting to know each other”. And then, you got married.
During the honeymoon period, the two of you argued a lot, about his drinking and smoking and preference of different activities. Following the honeymoon, you lived with his parents, and “it never felt like we were married.. we just kept going.. never being open or ever communicating with each other… never felt loved by him, not a single compliment in these many years of marriage, not once he sat with me and talk heart to heart”. At one point, after you gave birth to a son, your husband left his job, and you were worried about a huge loan taken in 2010.
In 2012, you “stumbled upon the world of online stranger chatting” and liked it, enjoyed the opportunity to express your feelings with strangers, “chatted with few guys- nothing physical ever happened but emotionally, I was invested.. did some sexting at times”.
Your husband found out about this activity and confronted you about it, seeming “emotional and sentimental”. You apologized to him, but felt no remorse. Later that year, your employer sponsored your visa to work in the U.S., and your son and husband, who was still unemployed, came with you to the U.S. You looked down at your husband, feeling angry at him, for not being like your “other established male colleagues”- for not being “the one financially leading this family”.
At that time, you felt attracted to one of your male colleagues, an accomplished, ambitious man who treated you respectfully. You told him that you liked him and he rejected you. A couple of months later, you told your husband about what happened and he said nothing, “but his anger was shown in other ways- like leaving me and my kid alone.. bashing out at me in front of other people”. At some point, he got a job and left for another state, and out of the 7 years in the U.S., you lived 4 years apart from your husband.
In the last 2-2.5 years, your job and your husband job are in the same place, so you live together but sleep in separate bedrooms. You tried to “break his walls” and let you in, but “he is just not emotionally available for me at all”. When you cried in front of him, “his reaction to it was a blank face”. You suggested going to therapy but “he is of an opinion that he doesn’t need therapy. He is ok with the way things are”.
“Throughout my life, I was always rejected.. I am not a good looking person… I always dreamed of having that perfect married life with my life long companion.. I am not a bad person… I don’t know what love is.. never experienced it and looks like never will”-
– I understand that you shared your story as a confession (title of your thread), to express yourself and feel better for it, and I hope you do feel better having expressed yourself. I am sorry to read about your miserable marriage. Sorry to read that he is not willing to open up to you or to go to therapy, and that he is okay with the way things are.
But you are not okay with the way things are.
You are only 35, and I am sure that you are prettier than you think you are, and that there are a few men out there (you need only one!) who will want to make a life with you, a life of honest, respectful and loving emotional exchange. Why not separate from him and then find a man who is capable of love?
anita
March 24, 2021 at 12:33 pm #376500pink24
ParticipantHi Anamika,
I’m sorry to hear you are going through this. You know, one of the greatest tenets of America is the freedom to live however you wish. You can start over.
I understand that within your culture, an action such as separation or divorce might be frowned upon, to say the least. If that is the case, I encourage you to put that to the side. Make a decision about your marriage. Life is short. You’re only 35! But, the longer you wait to make a decision about how you want to live your life, the harder it will be. Especially now that you have a child.
I know making tough decisions is hard, but if you want to be happy, you really have to give yourself an honest chance.
Good luck.
Sending you good vibes 🙂
Pink
March 24, 2021 at 4:30 pm #376513Anamika
ParticipantThank you so much Anita and Pink24. You have no idea how great it feels to not being judged and have someone understand you!! I wholeheartedly appreciate you guys.
After writing this, I did some soul searching and in my heart I felt that all these mistakes that I did have affected this relationship worse. Relationship was not good earlier but instead of being open about it to him, I also closed down and tried to look for affection elsewhere. Me asking for a divorce would be just another act of my selfishness – again I am not thinking about society and anyone else but just at a deeper level, I feel that I am responsible for this and I need to own it – keeping my happiness aside for a while and be a good mother and a good wife. How long? I don’t know. I am hoping and praying to God every day that my husband will be able to trust me again and be emotionally available for me at some point. May be give it a year or two – work on myself and improve upon my personal issues like anger control, being respectful towards him, supportive towards him. In your opinion, do you guys think this might be the right way to look at it?
Thank you and Best Regards – Anamika.
March 24, 2021 at 4:44 pm #376515Anonymous
GuestDear Anamika:
You are welcome: you deserve non-judgment and empathy! You see your faults in the relationship and you figure if you correct all your faults, all that you did wrong, the marriage might work. But it doesn’t look likely to me because he was emotionally unavailable to you from the very beginning, and all through: “not a single compliment in these many years of marriage, not once he sat with me and talk heart to heart”- from the very beginning!
And he told you that he is fine with the way things are, and he sees no need for therapy/ marriage counseling- this is discouraging
Again, you see your faults, what you did wrong- but from what you described, there is something very wrong with him, unfortunately. Am I wrong in perceiving this?
* I will be away from the computer and back in a few hours.
anita
March 25, 2021 at 8:11 am #376540pink24
ParticipantHi Anamika,
Wow, you are really mature. Love it.
I feel like you know yourself really well, too. Just make sure you’re not punishing yourself by choosing to stay in the marriage, you know? Sometimes we can put ourselves in a kind of purgatory when we feel like we’ve done something “bad” because we think we deserve it, and in doing so we lose so much precious time, rather than reflecting on why we did the “bad” thing in the first place – not saying you are of course! So just remember to forgive yourself first. I mean, you didn’t kill anybody. You’re just figuring things out. We all are.
Feel free to drop a line whenever you like. I’m here.
Good luck girl. Sending you good vibes:)
Pink
March 25, 2021 at 3:12 pm #376563Anonymous
GuestDear Anamika:
After posting to you last, I realized that I didn’t read through your posts attentively enough and therefore I missed a few things:
“When we met for the first time, he seemed like a good guy- nice human being, calm and understanding, appreciative of my career goals/ education etc.”- I am now thinking that he may have really been the nice human being, calm and understanding you perceived him t be when you met him.
But then, that nice, calm human being got to experience your anger and disapproval: you were angry that he wasn’t open enough, that he wasn’t talkative enough (“he never knew what to talk about”), that he drank more than you thought he should, that he smoked, that he quit his job, that he didn’t make as much money as other men made, that he wasn’t as ambitious as other men, etc.
After he quit his job, you were angry at him for quitting, and you started chatting online with strange men, “did some sexting at times. My husband got to know about this… I just apologized at the time but for some reason I was not feeling any remorse”- I think that you didn’t feel any remorse because you were angry at him and you wanted him hurt, so when you saw him hurt, you were satisfied, not remorseful.
Later, in the U.S., you compared him unfavorably to your male colleagues, angry again: “I was feeling that anger that why my husband can’t be like them?” Angry, you flirted with a male colleague, telling him that you liked him.
In your recent post, you wrote regarding trying to make your dysfunctional marriage work: “Maybe give it a year or two- work on myself and improve upon my personal issues like anger control, being respectful towards him, supportive towards him”.
I understand better now. I think your anger pre-existed meeting your husband, and I think it is about what you wrote regarding the male colleague you flirted with: “As always I was rejected and it definitely hurt”, and later, “Throughout my life, I was always rejected… I don’t know what love is… never experienced it and looks like never will”-
– I believe that your anger is about having been rejected, having been unloved, as a child and onward. This anger wore your husband down, brought up the worse of him and ruined a possible loving, functional marriage with your husband. Am I correct?
anita
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