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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think I've made a mistake only one year married.

223 replies

ChatterNatters · 04/10/2020 16:12

Because I just find my husband so incredibly miserable.

He started a business up around 3 years ago and it's all he cares about.

He works all the hours in the week and on Saturdays, he never makes time for us (me and two SC). If we ever want to do anything that doesn't involve sitting on the couch at the weekend watching TV it's either a flat out no or he pulls his face.

I don't look forward to the time I spend with him because he's so grumpy. He wakes up on a Sunday (the only day he's home) and you can tell immediately that it's going to be a shit day because he barely talks and acts moody like you've done something wrong. I end up feeling on egg shells.

I do so much to support his business. I go after my full time 9-5 job in the evenings and help him, I spend my evenings messaging customers, I look after his children so he can work over time or at the weekends and I just get nothing in return.

He never wants to do anything. 99% of the time we just sit inside all bored out of our skulls. I understand he's tired but surely if you have a family and children there are times where you have to think 'im not the only person in this family' and spend some quality time with them, just a short walk or one day out every couple of months for goodness sake. I find it so selfish. He won't even play a board game with the kids. Everything is about his business. If it's not, he's not interested. I hate our weekends.

It sounds ridiculous now but we were TTC before the business was set up, we hit a lot of problems and it took us a long time. My mind was occupied with that and I was so focused that I kind of just didn't really think too much into it. I am now pregnant and I can't help but think if I hadn't have been so distracted by the fertility issues, would I have even stayed this long?

He acts like I'm asking for too much, just the occasional walk or day out or just doing something that's for us and not him. If I just understood how tired he is from working etc etc... But I feel like that's so selfish. Everyone sacrifices so much so that he can do what he wants to do with this business. We've given up time with him, money, effort, never ending support and he can never in return just put himself out one weekend and spend some actual time with us.

I am so bored and fed up. I feel so unimportant to him. 99% of our lives revolve around him making his business work and he can't even just give us that 1% effort.

I feel like leaving. Like saying he obviously doesn't have time for a family so why bother with one. He just wants us to sit here quietly, bored and lonely whilst he focuses all his efforts elsewhere.

OP posts:
Mummyoflittledragon · 04/10/2020 16:29

Don’t get caught up in the sunk cost fallacy - that’s where you’ve invested and stand to lose. Just get out.

ChatterNatters · 04/10/2020 16:29

@SleepingStandingUp

When's the baby die op? He'll be a million times worse when baby is waking him up in the night, even though you'll be doing it all.
February.

He's already told me (since pregnant) not to expect him to work any less.

OP posts:
june2007 · 04/10/2020 16:30

Is he depresssed? Perhaps it,s stress? I think you do need to discuss things and talk about this together.

forrestgreen · 04/10/2020 16:31

How much parenting do you imagine he'll be doing for the new baby?

JamieLeeCurtains · 04/10/2020 16:32

I think he doesn't get that sometimes when you have a family, especially one involving kids, you have to do shit sometimes you don't necessarily want to do so that they can actually have a nice time.

Absolutely.

@Readr, there are HIS children in the house.

Whataloadof2020 · 04/10/2020 16:33

My god it’s like reading my life.

Been with H for 7 years married for 2.

And we do NOTHING together.

I want to hold on, I have spoken to him of my feelings but he says he is too tired at the weekends to do anything.

We don’t have young children.

He barely wants to be intimate. Admits he is depressed but won’t see dr.

If I don’t see changes I will have to leave our marriage. And it makes me feel like a failure. 🙁

BlueJag · 04/10/2020 16:33

You'll be happier by yourself with the baby. It's a shame that it's coming to this but life sounds miserable for you and his children.
Talk to him and tell him that you can't live like this. Either he perks up or you are not willing to continue.

DressesWithPocketsRockMyWorld · 04/10/2020 16:33

It feels so hard to admit failure though after such a short time

I divorced my idiot ex after a year and it was the best thing ever. He didn't have his own business but did have what he felt was a very important job and had no time for me or our 2 children. I wasn't allowed a full nights sleep because the children were my job. When he got in from work he needed to chill on the sofa for an hour before he had his tea handed to him and then I would bath the children and get up with them in the night even if I was ill.

When we divorced I actually found life easier as I wasn't seething about a big lazy fucking cunt sat on the sofa while I did everything.

Don't end up like me.

Waveysnail · 04/10/2020 16:33

Do you think he regrets strong up the business but feels he doesnt have a choice so its sink or swim

LoopyLaRue · 04/10/2020 16:36

If he's building the business up from scratch, could he be finding it difficult to switch off at the weekends? Does he have control issues or anxiety or something that's got out of hand since he started the business?

If he wasn't like this before then it might be worth exploring that before walking away.

Snaketime · 04/10/2020 16:36

If you do leave OP what will happen to the kids? Will he have to work less then to look after them, or would he just never see them?

ChatterNatters · 04/10/2020 16:36

@june2007

Is he depresssed? Perhaps it,s stress? I think you do need to discuss things and talk about this together.
He won't talk though. Any time I bring it up it's all my fault for just not getting it, not understanding, don't know the meaning of tired etc etc. And then just storms off to work.

The kids even say now that he's boring. It's like a joke with them that daddy is boring. Because he won't ever do anything with them. He won't play a board game, he just wants to 'watch'.

How sad is it that I know those kids would be absolutely over the moon for their dad to play snakes and ladders with them one night. But he won't. Because he doesn't want to and he's the only person who matters.

OP posts:
JunoMara · 04/10/2020 16:36

How far are you along in the pregnancy op?
You have options there too, as it looks like he’ll be no help there either.

user15412486546 · 04/10/2020 16:38

Please don't make your baby live in this toxic environment.

Leaving because you've recognised how toxic and destructive this situation is wouldn't be failing. Staying despite seeing how toxic this is would be failing yourself and your unborn child.

ChatterNatters · 04/10/2020 16:40

Admits he is depressed but won’t see dr

The rare times he's actually had a proper conversation with me he's said this. That he feels depressed at the weekends. He will not though, point blank refuses, to see anyone or speak to anyone about it.

I'm sure part of it is stress of running the business. Definitely. But I don't know what else to do. I do absolutely everything I can to help him with it. I do all his admin, all his emails, I go after my own work to his work and do stuff there. Sometimes when he had the kids on a weeknight I'll even be at his work on my own whilst he goes home with the kids after working all day myself.

I honestly couldn't be more supportive. But I feel like he just wants me to put up and shut up. Like if I'm not satisfied just never doing anything and living with a miserable husband every weekend then I'm not supportive enough.

OP posts:
ChatterNatters · 04/10/2020 16:40

@JunoMara

How far are you along in the pregnancy op? You have options there too, as it looks like he’ll be no help there either.
No this isn't an option for me. I would never, not after how hard I had to try physically and emotionally to be here.
OP posts:
user15412486546 · 04/10/2020 16:41

How sad is it that I know those kids would be absolutely over the moon for their dad to play snakes and ladders with them one night.

Not just because it would be fun, but because it would be letting them know dad cares about them and is interested in them.

Instead he repeatedly rejects them and communicates they're not worth his time and not good enough or likeable enough for them.

Emotional neglect is so damaging.

lockdownalli · 04/10/2020 16:42

@Porcupineinwaiting

Leave. Dont just think about it, do it. This is no life for you.
Totally agree with this.

Sounds like he saw you coming - so sorry Flowers

Insaneinthemembury · 04/10/2020 16:44

With his business has it got to a point he can afford employees? That work rate sounds unsustainable and inefficient.
Also, is he selling it? As in is he building it to sell it?
I run a business and am working silly hours but I want to sell it in 2 years time.
I also make time for my family and don't claim I'm too tired all day Sunday! Thats outraegous

Therollockingrogue · 04/10/2020 16:44

Awful op.
I can barely read this because it’s so relatable.
I’m sure there will be plenty of other women just finding this thread unbearably raw because of how it resonates. Just leave, it’s no life and it never gets better.

mbosnz · 04/10/2020 16:45

OP, please, please, please, consider leaving. This is no life for you, this is no father for your baby. I feel so sorry for his children.

userxx · 04/10/2020 16:45

Op, you need to go this alone but to be honest it sounds like you are already. Life is too short to be living in misery, you need to get a plan b sorted.

FelicityPike · 04/10/2020 16:45

Absolutely leave and before baby arrives too.

JamieLeeCurtains · 04/10/2020 16:47

When we divorced I actually found life easier as I wasn't seething about a big lazy fucking cunt sat on the sofa while I did everything.

Mine was a big arrogant self-absorbed egotist, but yes after the initial blip/shock, it's a hell of a lot easier to live and breathe.

SeasonallySnowyPeasant · 04/10/2020 16:51

He sounds like how I felt when I had PND, a baby and a toddler. I recognised though that hiding in bed or on the sofa and ignoring everyone all day would damage the children and got up and did things that I really didn't want to do. I cried afterwards in the evenings or locked myself in the bathroom for a 5 minute breather but they had happy days and knew nothing about it. That's just what you do when you have children and/or a relationship. Even if he is depressed, he can clearly function well enough to run his own business so he has no reason not to engage with you and his children.