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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To divorce him?

76 replies

Verah · 01/01/2024 11:57

He refuses to move forward with our life in any sort of meaningful way. I say “What shall we do? What do you want to do?” He shrugs “Dunno”. “Can we discuss it and make some plans?”. “No”.

Then he says he needs to do some thinking and planning, he tells everyone that’s what he’s going to do, and I say “Great! Let’s do it!”. But another free period over Christmas goes by and every single day he refuses to actually do it. It’s January yet again and we’re still no further forward. We have no plans, no future. Then I push him and he gets angry and says “Why is it all on me? Why do I have to make a plan? Why can’t you do it?”. So then I say “Fine! Fuck you - I’ll live my own life without you”.

This hasn’t just gone on for a few weeks or months. He’s been refusing to make plans to move forward for over three years now. It’s making me depressed. Time is ticking and our lives are being wasted. The only way for me to move forward and build a future is without him. I feel a bit unreasonable asking for a divorce because he’s stagnant, but it’s making me resentful and angry and depressed because he’s holding me back.

OP posts:
Bleakmidwinter1977 · 14/02/2024 13:25

Verah · 01/01/2024 13:22

Only you can know whether he’s just a person who struggles to make changes and is content to stick in a rut or is depressed. Was he ever good at planning and doing?
We’ve had this problem before. We dated for years and he refused to make any plans or take any action to move forward. He didn’t ask me to move in with him, I waited years and in the end I had to push him. Then he didn’t propose. I waited another few years and gave him an ultimatum and he still didn’t propose. I was packing my suitcase to leave him when he finally proposed, and he made pretty much zero effort. He put very little effort in to organise the wedding, he didn’t even order a single brochure. Then we had kids and he didn’t read a single parenting book or do any research on pregnancy and what to expect. He’s all talk but no action.

Now I’m starting to get sick of the talk - the broken promises which are never backed up by action. He would talk about being married but never actually proposed. Now he talks about our future but refuses to actually make any concrete plans or take any steps. And then he blames me, saying it’s my fault because I don’t support him enough. He’s whinging that I’m not taking any steps to move forward so why should he? Completely failing to understand that we’re like people in a three legged race who have our ankles tied together, so I can’t walk forward unless he does too. I don’t want to be tied to him any more.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem like a "phase", this seems more likd his personality, and it doesn't seem particularly compatible with yours.
I'm all for making a go of marriage and working through problems, but if the burden is entirely on you to make all the decisions (and bear the burden if everything doesn't go according to the plans you made alone), then its time to consider the effects on your children. Will your children be better, or worse off, if you separated? If the impact will be to their advantage, then don't waste the best years of your life with a man who has no intention of working on his personality and the ways in which he is clearly set.

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