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Forgiving infidelity with my sister

181 replies

Horsey22 · 07/10/2026 19:22

The relationship is over, it was 10+ years ago. I just can’t bring myself to forgive my sister, she’s never apologised and we’ve never spoken about it since. It was my husband and father to my children. Do I leave the past in the past?

OP posts:
CrazyMidget · 08/10/2026 21:29

NewspaperTaxis · 08/10/2026 18:07

I can see @CrazyMidget 's point of view.

One reason why the OP may struggle with 'forgiveness' is that she never of course had it out with her sister or quite found out what she was thinking when she was doing it... Did she get overtaken with lust or love? Was she simply acting out of spite? Or was it a big play for what her sister had, a kind of awful rivalry writ large? I mean, what was she thinking? Then, on top of that, it's not a betrayal by just anyone, you have the fact it's her sister. And the family have suppressed it, in effect.

So it's complex and unresolved. It's not quite like some of the other examples possibly mentioned, where you can so easily move on, with a clear idea of what happened and why.

And ultimately, when you can't effectively police someone else's behaviour or hold them to account either, you have to pull up the drawbridge a bit and mind your own keep, you are responsible for yourself and they have to exist in their own world and be responsible for themselves. But to do that, yes, you do have to jettison the relationship and where love once existed, that is sad.

Totally. The three times that people did unforgiveable things to me (they were a cousin, my exH, and my lifelong best friend of 40 years) I did go absolutely nuclear on them. Said things that can never be forgotten or unsaid. To the extent that now, more than ten years later, I wish I had expressed myself firmly but calmly and then left them to it. The nastiness of my reaction and the things I said make me feel slightly sickened now, after the passage of time.

I think OP should have it out with her sister, yes. It's very hard to move on if you haven't done that. And the way they react gives you a lot of info.

I think most relationships have to be jettisoned after such deep betrayals. I cannot imagine there being any excuses or even that the relationship is worth saving. If they cared about you, they wouldn't have done such dreadful things in the first place.

It does sound like it's time for OP to ask for some answers, and see how sis reacts, before she can move on and eventually find some peace. It took me around 7 years after the confrontations. Now, amazingly, I'm at a place where I can feel gratitude for the many good times of the forty years I had with my friend and my cousin, and the good times with my exH. It's been a long road, though, and I'm certainly not in touch with them.

I agree, what on earth was OP's sister thinking? What are all of these people thinking? Why would you throw away a sister, a cousin, a spouse, a childhood friend so easily? I don't understand, and I don't think I ever will. It's not in my nature to be so destructive.

standandsip · 08/10/2026 23:17

CrazyMidget · 08/10/2026 15:41

I recommend what worked for me - i.e. moving on from the person who hurt us and radical acceptance of what we can't change. For this, I've been told I'm someone who tells widows to pull themselves together and bereaved mothers that God works in mysterious ways. ??? I'm very experienced in bereavement and I would never, ever say such things. Here's what I do say: "I'm so sorry that that happened to you." And I've been told three times that I'm in a cult and selling something, because I recommended a well-known book that's about coming terms with things we can't change. And that I think I sound really wise because I quoted a well-known saying about how not moving on harms only you, not the person who wronged you.

I have been deeply wronged, more than once, and I was very angry at the time and told the three people exactly what I thought of them and then never spoke to them again. It all happened more than ten years ago, though, and I'm not angry anymore. I have peace. I've moved on.

There are some seriously angry people on this thread, so much so that they have to lash out at innocent posters with sensible advice about how not to let things eat you up inside. Recommend the book The Power of Now.

I have to assume you are seriously angry to imagine my post was directed at you. I haven't even read any of your previous comments, in fact I read about three comments on this thread and it was the standard regurgitated mantra chanting these threads always attract, hence my comment.

My post is factual and there's not an angry word in it, I give clear advice and utterly reject the minimising nonsense that is always, without any exception, thrown at suffering people as though it's a pearl of wisdom.

I took a wild stab in the dark and assumed someone would have been wanking on about poisoning and burning - because someone always does and because I couldn't be arsed reading pages of the same stuff that is always chanted.

And if we're going to go down the claim to authority, I worked as a loss, grief and bereavement counsellor for several years and one of the most distressing things for any grieving person was the "it's been a year/two years/whatever amount of time just move on from missing them now" comments in whatever shape or pretence at being well meaning they arrived.

But I don't come to these pages pretending to be an authority figure, because a few comments on a page is not that, and I can't counsel the OP. Face to face, my technique would be entirely different, I would let her talk and then guide her to prioritising what she needs and let her find the answer herself through prompting and all sorts of listening and counselling techniques.

You can't do that on a page, hence being direct. Sometimes being direct and robust gets through to people in a written comment, where endless cliches do not.

The reason I align the "just move on from your grief" people with the forgiveness mantra chanters is the abject lack of empathy and compassion. The only reason to demand someone forgives anyone, or moves on in grief, or otherwise minimise their loss or suffering or abuse or expect them to behave in a way you think they should behave is for the comfort of the person making that demand.

Forgiveness mantra chanters, like grief minimisers, are not trying to help the person in distress at all, they just don't like hearing about true pain, are made uncomfortable sitting with it, or they don't like the person, or they feel their suffering is unimportant - or insert a dozen other personal reasons why people try to jam forgiveness down another person's throat. It's the most incredibly self centred thing to do and shows a deep lack of understanding of how people react to harm.

In most case saying absolutely nothing beyond a sympathetic nod and a murmur is far better than telling someone how to feel and that includes telling them they must forgive, which means all different things to different people. Discarding people is the best way to remove their harm from your life and is far more effective than the vague demand to forgive, which everyone defines in their own way anyway.

If none of this is you, there's no reason for you to identify as one of the mantra chanters. As I said, I haven't even ready any of your comments on this thread.

I just absolutely cannot be arsed with the same mindless pap that is always presented as advice any time forgiveness, loss or grief is mentioned, pretty much anywhere online. It's harmful, it's lazy, it's unhelpful and where I can be bothered to, I will keep pointing that out.

PyongyangKipperbang · 09/10/2026 01:13

standandsip · 08/10/2026 23:17

I have to assume you are seriously angry to imagine my post was directed at you. I haven't even read any of your previous comments, in fact I read about three comments on this thread and it was the standard regurgitated mantra chanting these threads always attract, hence my comment.

My post is factual and there's not an angry word in it, I give clear advice and utterly reject the minimising nonsense that is always, without any exception, thrown at suffering people as though it's a pearl of wisdom.

I took a wild stab in the dark and assumed someone would have been wanking on about poisoning and burning - because someone always does and because I couldn't be arsed reading pages of the same stuff that is always chanted.

And if we're going to go down the claim to authority, I worked as a loss, grief and bereavement counsellor for several years and one of the most distressing things for any grieving person was the "it's been a year/two years/whatever amount of time just move on from missing them now" comments in whatever shape or pretence at being well meaning they arrived.

But I don't come to these pages pretending to be an authority figure, because a few comments on a page is not that, and I can't counsel the OP. Face to face, my technique would be entirely different, I would let her talk and then guide her to prioritising what she needs and let her find the answer herself through prompting and all sorts of listening and counselling techniques.

You can't do that on a page, hence being direct. Sometimes being direct and robust gets through to people in a written comment, where endless cliches do not.

The reason I align the "just move on from your grief" people with the forgiveness mantra chanters is the abject lack of empathy and compassion. The only reason to demand someone forgives anyone, or moves on in grief, or otherwise minimise their loss or suffering or abuse or expect them to behave in a way you think they should behave is for the comfort of the person making that demand.

Forgiveness mantra chanters, like grief minimisers, are not trying to help the person in distress at all, they just don't like hearing about true pain, are made uncomfortable sitting with it, or they don't like the person, or they feel their suffering is unimportant - or insert a dozen other personal reasons why people try to jam forgiveness down another person's throat. It's the most incredibly self centred thing to do and shows a deep lack of understanding of how people react to harm.

In most case saying absolutely nothing beyond a sympathetic nod and a murmur is far better than telling someone how to feel and that includes telling them they must forgive, which means all different things to different people. Discarding people is the best way to remove their harm from your life and is far more effective than the vague demand to forgive, which everyone defines in their own way anyway.

If none of this is you, there's no reason for you to identify as one of the mantra chanters. As I said, I haven't even ready any of your comments on this thread.

I just absolutely cannot be arsed with the same mindless pap that is always presented as advice any time forgiveness, loss or grief is mentioned, pretty much anywhere online. It's harmful, it's lazy, it's unhelpful and where I can be bothered to, I will keep pointing that out.

Edited

Insightful, knowledgable and intelligent. Also, beautifully put.

standandsip · 09/10/2026 02:20

PyongyangKipperbang · 09/10/2026 01:13

Insightful, knowledgable and intelligent. Also, beautifully put.

Thank you. I know sometimes I am a bit blunt, but I think that's the only way to cut through clouds of cliches in comment sections. But as there is no tone in the written word, I should probably work on being a little more persuasive and a bit less exasperated.

PyongyangKipperbang · 09/10/2026 02:22

standandsip · 09/10/2026 02:20

Thank you. I know sometimes I am a bit blunt, but I think that's the only way to cut through clouds of cliches in comment sections. But as there is no tone in the written word, I should probably work on being a little more persuasive and a bit less exasperated.

As someone who is like that with the spoken word (so you can imagine my written word....I once got sent to MN jail!) I think you should stick with how you are!

SumptuousPecanNougat · 09/10/2026 02:53

You don't owe your parents or your sister anything after the way they behaved, expecting you to pretend nothing had happened for their comfort and convenience. If you decided you wanted nothing to do with any of them, that would be okay. If you want to cut off your sister, that's your right, and few would blame you if they knew the truth. She never even apologised! That's appalling.

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