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#3009477 08/16/19 11:56 PM
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I am not ready to share whole story of WH and me. I am collecting evidence, getting ready for exposure and plan A. He has finally admitted multiple infidelities, both EA and with sex. Still outright refuses to tell me who, when, how many, why, the circumstances--anything. I am planning to snoop, but we are talking years here. I will not be able to learn nearly enough from whatever might be currently going on.

He did say multiple As have happened, which is an improvement over only suspicions from the past. I don't want that bit of honesty punished, I want to encourage total honesty. So if he gets more willing to talk--how much is appropriate for me to know to give us the best chance for recovery? What is the best way to respond to truly disgusting revelations? Because he is saying "details would just hurt you more." But I can't be sure he won't have opportunity to continue to cheat and lie unless I know more.




Me BW 60s
Him WH 60s
Married 40+ years, adult children
Multiple affairs
Most recent D Day 8-11-19
Plan A when I figure it out
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Hi Ribbon, welcome to Marriage Builders. I am sorry for the reasons that have brought you here. Since you know he has had multiple affairs, I would give him 24 hours to give you the full truth and commit to a radical plan of extraordinary precautions that ensures he can never cheat again. If he won't do that, you should separate from him and then go into Plan B. [skip Plan A] Your husband is a serial cheater and they are very different from standard affairs in that your husband is actively out looking for action. These affairs didn't happen by accident, but by design.

The first step is complete honesty. Without honesty, recovery is impossible. You need complete honesty about his affairs, names, dates, brief overview of activities.
HE would have to agree to never be out of your sight again. If he is never out of your sight, he can't cheat. Here is the checklist from Surviving an Affair but keep in mind, he is a serial cheater so this will have to be more extreme:

Quote
From Surviving an Affair, pg 66-67

The extraordinary precautions do more than end marriage-threatening affairs; they help a couple form the kind of relationship they always wanted.

These recommendations may seem rigid, unnecessarily confining, and even paranoid to those who have not been the victim of infidelity. But people like Sue and Jon, who have suffered unimaginable pain as a result of an affair that spun out of control, can easily see their value. For the inconvenience of following my advice, Sue would have spared herself and Jon the very worst experience of their lives.


Checklist for How Affairs Should End

_____The unfaithful spouse should reveal information about the affair to the betrayed spouse.

_____The unfaithful spouse should make a commitment to the betrayed spouse to never see or talk to the lover OP again.

_____The unfaithful spouse should write a letter to the lover OP ending the relationship and send it with the approval of the betrayed spouse.

_____The unfaithful spouse should take extraordinary precautions to guarantee total separation from the lover OP:

_____Block potential communication with the lover OP (change e-mail address and home and cell phone numbers, and close all social networking accounts; have voice messages and mail monitored by the betrayed spouse).

_____Account for time (betrayed spouse and wayward spouse give each other a twenty-four-hour daily schedule with locations and telephone numbers).

_____Account for money (betrayed spouse and wayward spouse give each other a complete account of all money spent).

_____Spend leisure time together.

_____Change jobs and relocate if necessary.

_____Avoid overnight separation.

_____Allow technical accountability.

_____ Expose affair to family members, clergy, and/or friends.








"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101


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Originally Posted by Ribbon1976
I know that I cry too much and too hysterically over hurts. (And I am really hurting. )

Dr Harley recommends that women go into Plan B very quickly because this situation can cause nervous breakdowns and psychosomatic illnesses. You are already at a dangerous point.
Originally Posted by Dr Bill Harley
The problem with a continuation of plan A is that it usually leads to severe emotional symptoms, including years of post-traumatic stress disorder, even when the WS eventually returns. Many women that I've counseled actually have nervous breakdowns in their effort to draw their WS back to them. Instead of making the BS attractive to the WS, plan A actually makes these poor women so unattractive that it completely eliminates all hope of reconciliation.


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101


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FWW/BW (me)
WH
2nd M for both
Blended Family with 7 kids between us
Too much hurt and pain on both sides that my brain hurts just thinking about it all.



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Especially this article from Dr. Harley that’s also in the thread.

Originally Posted by SugarCane
The Serial Cheaters article has been put up:

What to Do with a Serial Cheater


FWW/BW (me)
WH
2nd M for both
Blended Family with 7 kids between us
Too much hurt and pain on both sides that my brain hurts just thinking about it all.



Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 92,985
Likes: 1
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Ribbons, from Dr Harley's article on Serial cheaters he writes:

Originally Posted by Dr Bill Harley
"So whenever the spouse of someone with multiple affairs asks me what he or she can do to help save their marriage, I must tell them that the procedures we recommend will work for those who want to stop cheating. Our program will help them achieve that objective. But if they don't want to follow our program, I have to assume that they will continue to have affairs for the rest of their lives. And their spouses should assume the same thing. To avoid the suffering that comes with infidelity, I encourage them to divorce as soon as possible.

In other words, if he won't follow these extraordinary precautions, you should plan to divorce him.


"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena.." Theodore Roosevelt

Exposure 101



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