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#1390556 05/26/05 09:08 AM
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The end is upon me. My W finally asked for a divorce, after a 3 month seperation. She said she is all done and wants out. I don't understand it and can't comprehend it. I have strong suspicion ther is OM. She swears no. But I don't really believe her. I guess it doesn't matter any more. How do you stop caring and loving someone who you adore? We have 2yr old son. Married 3.5 years together 10. I can't believe this is happeing to me and I don't see how it can get better. Everyone tells me it will but I don't know how I can ever love someone else or move on. This woman was the love of my life and expected to spend the rest of mine with her. Now all gone! I still love her like the day we married. It's amazind how much pain you can have without physical wounds. My God does it ever end?

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It will end... in time. "Moving on" is not something you do, it's something that happens to you after time. Give yourself time to grieve. Also, I think having no contact with your wife may help cut down on the pain. I'm sorry Widget.


Divorced.
2 Girls
Remarried 10/11/08
Widowed 11/5/08
Remarrying 12/17/15
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Yes ... it will end. What you need to do at the moment is ask yourself "How do I make this horrible situation as good as it can be?" That means asking:

(1) Is there anything that can be done with the relationship with your W? If she is really adamant about divorce then the answer is probably, No. But you do need, if you can, to try to understand what has led her to this situation where she feels there is no future in your relationship: for your own future good if nothing else.

(2) How do you look after your son? How do you look after your relationship with him? Whatever happens, he needs you and you need him ... and that means establishing a working agreement with your W about parenting him. Presumably the separation has helped with this, but you need to keep it in focus.

(3) How do you look after yourself, in the short term? It's not a question of looking after your long term romantic/erotic needs: that will take time, and it would be surprising if you felt now that you wanted to start dating other women. You have to grieve. But you need support in your grief; you need supportive friends, things to do, a way of life that suits you and supports you. You are entitled to be a little selfish about this: your W wants you to lead separate lives; if that is what is going to happen, you can at least make your life as good as it can be. There's no call for being vindictive, but you are entitled to look after yourself. If part of the deal of marriage is that you look out for each other's emotional needs, part of the deal of divorce is that you dont.

(4) How do you look after yourself in the long term? That means, I think, trying to work out what you can learn from this failed relationship, what you take out of it (the positive, the years of happiness, your son) and the negative. It means above all forgiveness and reconciliation.

Just a word about that. You are going to have a lot of forgiveness to do: forgiving your wife, but also (I suspect) forgiving yourself for your failure. And reconciling yourself: to your own character, to what has happened to you, and to your wife. I don't mean "reconciliation" in the sense of "getting back together", I mean it in the sense of learning to accept yourself and her and what has happened to you for who you are, avoiding a bitterness that will sour your whole life.

Don't expect forgiveness and reconciliation to be quick. You have to feel them, not say them. That means acknowledging your hurt, your anger, your incomprehension, maybe your disgust. Weirdly, it probably means letting go of the love you feel for your wife, but which you have to accept she doesn't feel for you (and, I know only too well, that is a hard, hard, feeling: I've been there). It means naming and facing these demons, because we cannot forgive what we cannot acknowledge.

A few practical suggestions. If you are religious, consider seeing a priest or a pastor, asking to talk with him or her, and asking to pray together for reconciliation and forgiveness with God. If you are protestant, you might find this a rather alien idea, but the protestant tradition like all religious traditions acknowledges the cleansing value of openly acknowledging our sins. If you are not religious, consider talking to a counsellor, but try also to find some concrete and symbolic way to "let go" of the things that trouble you: write them on a piece of paper and burn it, for instance, when you feel you are ready to let these things go.

God give you grace to change the things you can, to accept the things you can't, and to know the difference.

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Thanks for the advice. I have noticed the less I see her the better I am. But everytime I do see her I can't believe it is happening. I'm still so in love with her. I have started seing another woman but that has just made me miss her even more. To top it off this week she has been making little coments to make me think she is second guessing herself.

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ok....right now you are probably too confused to do much with that other relationship. Your wife has been gone for 3 months and you are already seeing someone else - and you claim to be in all this pain.....

I see all sorts of red flags....

How can you be healthy?

How can you heal?

How can you be available to either woman?

What are you gonna do if the wife wants to work on the marriage? Tell the girlfriend to take a hike? You know how special either woman would feel if you said, "Oh, honey, I can't see you tonight. I am having dinner with my wife/ or girlfriend."

I bet most of your pain is caused by your conflict.

You have this wife who you say is the woman you want to spend your life with. And you are so busy working on your marriage <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> that you are seeing another woman after a 3 month separation. And now your wife is making sounds like she is second guessing herself. And you have a girlfriend.

So, are you willing to fight for your marriage or do you want to romp between the sheets with a woman who has so much personal integrity that she would date a married man who has only been separated for 3 months?

You are medicating with that woman. Using her to hide from reality.


Last edited by cinderella; 06/12/05 10:07 PM.
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I have not dated since d day 11/03. Wow that was fast.


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