Yes I left my husband of 12 years who was and still is a good man. The last 6 yrs of our married had been stale and we were not in love with each other and had very separate lives. Ds was born from me asking to try and having sex for the first time in 6 months which had become the norm.
Our personalities were very different from when we were younger. He was reclusive and antisocial whereas I had lots of friends and loved going out (was in my late 20's). He started to make sniping comments about me and would put me down which I obviously was pissed at.
Leaving him especially with a 2 yr old was the hardest decision of my life. I still feel guilt about it tbh. We had a weepy conversation where I told him that I was not in love with him anymore. We had also been in separate bedrooms for some time at that point. He got a cold and slept in the spare room and just never moved back and was fine with me.
He didn't want anything to change but through fear of change (which was scary) not for losing me.
We agreed joint custody and sold the house and went our separate ways. We still lived fairly close for Ds.
It is 8 years on and life couldn't be better. He remarried very quickly. Met his wife 3 months after we split, proposed quickly and she was pregnant within 8 mo ths of them meeting. They are very happily married with a lovely wee daughter.
I have been with, whom I consider my soulmate, for 7 years now. We were meant to get married this summer and I am now pregnant.
I get on great with my ex wife. She is lovely. DS mainly lives with me but only because he needs to be with me at times but loves seeing them often.
It was a very scary and hard thing to do especially as most people and mainly my family thought I was nuts as he is a lovely guy. I just felt I was sleeping through life and was not prepared to settle when I felt there was so much more out there.
If there was any spark of being in love still there we would have worked on it and I really did for years. Once that had gone and we started to lose respect for each other, it was gone for ever.
Leaving with a child is especially hard but a household where the parents are not in love and stop respecting each other is not a nice place for a child. Ds now has two families who he loves so much.
I was lucky that we can be amicable and adults esp for ds sake. But then he is and always was a nice guy and so am I.
Hope this helps you. What I say to friends in a similar position is that only you knows how you really feel and what is salvageable and what is not. Don't through away things on a whim but life is too short to not be fully happy. X