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[This message edited by SI Staff at 8:02 PM, Tuesday, September 8th]

Get your wife to sit down and ask her directly; do you want to divorce (OR state clearly "I want a divorce") and then the two of you can possibly decide the next steps and how to proceed. That could be an agreement to seek mediation, decide to do as much as you can yourselves under the supervision and revision of an attorney,

I do not disagree, whatsoever, with that sentiment and advice. I just don't think I'm (or we together. are) ready to have that discussion b/c there's a ton of unresolved/swept under the rug issues that we are currently talking through (or trying to) at the moment. I do believe that the "discussion" is inevitable and will happen, just not sure when. Could be tomorrow, the next day, next week. I don't know. I wish I did, but I do not. I have been trying to leave this in God's hands, or to have him guide me in the right direction. I was 100% about to file this morning after an argument/disagreement that ensued last night. Yet, this morning, she showed empathy and remorse about it in a way that she never has before. This could all be an illusion or her way of taking back control; I don't know. But, it felt good - to finally see some accountability for a change. Needless to say, I did not file today and we went to my oldest son's first ever tackle football (Junior High) game. I stood next to her, awkwardly, but did not get too close. I wanted to. I so wanted to, but couldn't. I'm very confused w/myself right now and the situation we find ourselves in. I love my kids, but hate how I feel at times. My heart still aches, I still want to vomit when I think of my WW and her A partner. It drives me insane thinking about it. But here I am. Still living under the same roof and hating myself for not putting an "end" to everything we had/have.

You sound like you are about to get sucked into the pick me dance. Please do not let her do this. She is not even love bombing you. Just the smallest even sliver of empathy or accountability had you ready to fold. This is not healthy nor good in the long run.

1. She asked for divorce prior.

2. She cheated on you god knows how many times

3. She acted cruel and petty after you found out.

4. She sort of lashed out with more cruelty when you talked to other betrayed spouse.

5. She has been cold and uncaring for most of this episode only now giving you the briefest glimpses of hope.

I can't tell you what to do I can only tell you that in all probability she is going to cheat again and eventually treat you even worse than she already has if you demand actual accountability.

[This message edited by TheGhost at 5:48 AM, Wednesday, September 9th]

I have been trying to leave this in God's hands

My favorite sermon is the one about the pious man living at the mouth of a valley threatened by heavy rain and flash floods. The media is constantly issuing warnings, suggesting residents seek safety. The man states that he is a devout Christian and God will protect him. Then evacuation orders are posted, yet he stays in his house stating his status with God. Then the starts raining heavily and the flooding begins. He must move to the upper floor where SAR in a boat offers to save him. No – my God will save me. Rains more, and he’s on the roof where the Coast Guard hovers over him in a helicopter offering rescue. No – God will save me. Then the flashflood, washing him off the roof and drowning him…

Being a pious religious man he goes directly to Heaven where he’s granted an audience to God. He’s still a bit peeved and asks God - Why didn’t you save me?
To which God replies:
I put all those warnings in media, I posted an evacuation notice on your door, I sent SAR on a boat to go get you. I even sent a helicopter to save you…. WHY DIDN’T YOU LISTEN TO ME?

Not claiming to be God or pretending to speak on his behalf. SI is a non-religious site per se, although there are a lot of people of faith here. But if you are a person of faith and placing the outcome in God’s hand… consider if maybe he directed you to this site?

I love Bigger’s analogy. As a Christian, I believe we don’t have to suffer or be a martyr to live a Christian life.

I fought against a D too - as my H was at times pretty much throwing it in my face. He had no remorse, he didn’t care he was hurting me, I was crying 24-7 - you get the idea. Anxiety through the roof. Can’t eat or sleep. Completely beaten down (add in a highly toxic workplace) and you can tell my life was pretty much a living nightmare.

When I decided I had enough and I decided to put myself, my health, my sanity and my kids well being (cuz they needed a mom, not a shell of a mom) first, it was the most freeing moment. I didn’t want to D - but I had no choice.

It changes the game.

Have faith you will be fine. Have faith your kids will be fine. Have faith you will never regret standing up for yourself. Have faith you will be thankful one day that you stopped living under a cloud of infidelity.

Believe in yourself.

Beetrain,

It’s completely normal to feel conflicted. You don’t need to apologize about it. Sometimes there are posters who come here, get the same advice you got, and then try to reconcile and vanish forever. Please don’t do that (vanish). If you change your mind, you won’t be judged and you can still benefit from the advice of people who have walked that path.

All that said, as a gentle reminder, her affair is not over. They still work together. It’s possible OM ‘ended things’ with her to try to save his marriage, but as long as they work together and have not gone no-contact, you have to consider her affair as active.

I’m glad that she’s starting to show empathy and remorse, but go back to the first couple of pages in this thread - those are the kind of things that you would talk about if you were working on your marriage. But since she hasn’t ended the affair, what’s the point? If you start walking your path out of infidelity, you will find out quickly whether that empathy and remorse is real.

But here I am. Still living under the same roof and hating myself for not putting an "end" to everything we had/have.

There are some immutable truths about having to work through the utter cesspool that is marital treason. One of them is that ever faithful-yet-betrayed spouse works through it at their own pace.

That pace is determined by many factors with just a few being:

• Upbringing, as in what behaviors did the parents emulate at home? Was there an imbalance? Abuse/neglect? Infidelity? Constant conflict? An over all happy and balanced home? Where else do you learn how to deal with conflict, trauma and other high impact events?

• Emotional quotient. This is huge imo. Everyone feels the terrible turmoil and hurt of betrayal in sone measure but the emotiinal depth and over all impactact varies wildly.

• Self confidence. Ill tread a bit lightly here but again, even the most self assured can have their confidence rocked by spousal treason. That said, if the betrayed goes into this alresdy struggling with self confidence/worth, the impact can be catastrophic.

There are many other things that feed into how a betrayed moves through the detritus of treason, but these are a few that I have relected on from my own experience and that of others.

What concerns me for you is this phrase:

hating myself

Self hatred is a terrible place to be. It may well be more harmful to you than the betrayal that precipitated it. The question is how to arrest it?

No easy answers but youve been given excellent input here. In you own time and way, you will have to find the will to enact them and stop the internal slide.

Strength to you.