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Divorce/separation

Here you'll find divorce help and support from other Mners. For legal advice, you may find Advice Now guides useful.

Should I leave a volatile marriage after years of doubt?

2 replies

Saigon41 · 05/04/2026 08:26

My Scottish husband and I have been living in Thailand for the last 15 years. We have a 6-year-old son who has grown up here. A few years ago, we decided we were done with Thailand and ready to move and we decided on spain. In the meantime, we've gone through a lot of trauma, including my mom dying last year, my dad had died a few years before that. We we have a very tumultuous relationship and have pretty volatile arguments. I have been feeling the urge to leave for a long time. But I love him so much. He treats me like a queen so much of the time. But it doesn't cancel out the volatile nature of our relationship, and also the fact that he can be really condescending, rude, and dismissive a lot of the time. He had a alcohol problem, and when I asked for a divorce last year, he decided to quit drinking. Which is huge, but he's also not getting any support, so he is leaning on me so much.

Despite all the time I think about leaving him, I've never actually been able to do it because he's so head over heels for me that I just feel like I will completely and totally ruin his life. Not to mention the possibility of my son hating me for it. And there's a huge part of me that worries that it could be the biggest mistake I'll ever make. But this nagging doubt has been in my mind persistently for over 10 years.

Is it something that I can maybe move past? Or do I need to honour it?

If I leave, it means moving to spain, and having my son only have the year, although I would go and spend part of the year in Thailand to be closer with him as well.

I'm also not sure if maybe we just need to be free for a couple years, and potentially come back together later on. I feel like he needs some time to grow up, we've been together since he was 21.

OP posts:
ThisSiteIsAGlitchyShitShow · 06/04/2026 16:45

If you both make the move to Spain as planned, you could separate then. that way you could co parent in the same country.

My marriage sounds like it was very much like yours. Very volatile, lots of stressful, life changing, events but DH worshipped me. There were a number of times I considered asking for divorce, struggled with my choice and how it would affect our DC, worried about DH, because I did love him, and he always promised to change when I told him how much I hated his explosive temper. He even went to an anger management course. Ultimately I stayed.

he's so head over heels for me that I just feel like I will completely and totally ruin his life.. What about your life? When does that start?

You say you worry about DS hating you but my DC have unfortunately, due to learned behaviour, taken after their father, so I feel it wasn’t really the best choice to stay. If you stay, that’s the future for your DS too.

give me the child until he is seven and I will show you the man -childhood role models really do shape adult character.

Sadly DH died of Covid, long after lockdowns ended and everyone went about their lives as normal. I do miss him dreadfully, I miss just how much he loved me, I miss his constant reassurance, his strong arms holding me at night, his taking care of thing, I hate that DC have lost their DF, I hate that this strong, caring man withered and died and I wish he was still here but the peace I feel is unbelievable.

Saigon41 · 07/04/2026 00:55

I'm so very sorry for your loss, and your children's loss. Thank you for sharing your story with me, it's really helpful to hear how someone else navigated a similar situation. I'm glad to hear you're at peace. ❤️

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