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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

I need a talking to - will someone hold my hand

53 replies

justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 00:10

I'm a fucking idiot - I will probably get a well-deserved flaming for this but I need to talk.

My marriage isn't happy - my husband adores me completely but is controlling & angry much of the time (although he recognises this & tries very hard to change) - I don't know if I love him any more.

We have two DCs - I have been a SAHM for six years & feel completely diminished, I don't know who I am any more really.

I recently embroiled myself in a horrible, heady & intoxicating emotional relationship with one of his friends (nothing physical - but I think that's irrelevant really) & have just put a stop to it, because it was never going anywhere, because it couldn't.

But I feel so, so fucking horrible & sad, I feel like my life had some colour & now it's reduced to grey with the walls closing in on me.

I feel squashed & beaten & small.

& very, very fucking sad.

OP posts:
CrockoDuck · 29/02/2012 00:22

You poor thing - you sound very low. No flaming from me, promise.

Reading between the lines, when you say your DH is controlling, does this mean he stops you from having any "you" time out of the house?

darksideofthemooncup · 29/02/2012 00:23

Right. Firstly you don't deserve a flaming - I do understand where you are coming from and although I can't offer any advice I can't let this go by unanswered. I imagine there will be some good advice coming your way but I am happy to hold your hand whilst you wait.

FateLovesTheFearless · 29/02/2012 00:28

Could have been me writing your post, 7 months ago. I was a sahm mum for six years too. I had no social life, didn't love my stbxh anymore and was miserable. I got a part time job and rediscovered myself. I also realised my marriage was well and truly over. I separated from him and have never looked back. I knew we were beyond saving though and there was a few instances of DV.

If you think there is something to be saved, then counselling could be your answer. But I firmly believe noone should spend their lives miserable.

justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 00:28

I just had my first weekend away for six years - part of me didn't want to come back.

But I did (because I love my children - which only makes me feel more trapped).

& I was only 'allowed' because I pushed & pushed & pushed.

God - I sound selfish.

OP posts:
darksideofthemooncup · 29/02/2012 00:31

No you don't. The first time in six years??? I'm not surprised you feel the way you do.

justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 00:39

Thank you all for your kind words.

I feel like an animal caught in a trap & that I would gnaw my leg off to get free - I have never felt like harming myself before but I do now - I feel like cutting myself (I'm not going to & am not being a dramatist) but I feel like I need that release & can see how people do.

I've never felt like this before - I've always been an even traveller & this has thrown me off.

Badly.

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justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 00:59

& am just sobbing.

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Pornyissue · 29/02/2012 01:02

Look, dont carry on with any sort of affair you know that's not right.

But also maybe you need to end your marriage. You don't have to wait to be saved by someone, you can save yourself.

I like marriages to work, but you seem utterly in despair I think you need to set yourself free.

LulaPalooza · 29/02/2012 01:18

No flaming from me, either, justsofs.

You've started to be brutally honest with yourself... but you don't be brutal on yourself. Just be honest.

What do you want to be?
WHO do you want to be?
What do you feel when you picture yourself in 5/ 10/ 20 years time, either still in this relationship... or away from it?

I so wish you could meet and talk to my Mum. I hope you don't mind me telling you her story.

She married my Dad when she was just 20, and my bro came along 4 months after that, then me 3 years later. She was an intelligent, beautiful woman but painfully shy and had difficulties forming friendships. She had lots of acquaintances and was always outwardly the life and soul of the party but had no one she could properly confide in. She was an only child and crippled with a lack of self esteem and self confidence.

My Dad was 5 years older, handsome and hard working but bitter, cynical and old fashioned from a young age due to a pretty sh1tty upbringing. In fact, they both had sh1tty upbringings and that's what brought them together.

Dad wanted a traditional, stay at home wife. He belittled everything she tried to do (she was very creative) although she did end up with a better job and income than him (which just made him more bitter). He was never physically violent to her but was always bad tempered, distant and untrusting.

It took her over 30 years to walk away from this unhealthy, controlling relationship that made her so unhappy. She only stayed for me and my Brother, because she was scared of being alone and scared it would mess us up and that makes me so sad... for both her and my Dad, as it goes. She was a fantastic Mum, but from a very young age I knew she was unhappy. It took her a long time and a short affair to find the courage to leave.

My Mum is really, really happy now with my lovely Step Dad, but it took a bit of learning, growing and adjustment to get to that even after she left Dad. She actually went a bit wild - in her mid-50s! - for a while, experiencing the things she should have experienced as a young woman. She had crazy, fun relationships - some of her stories make me go BlushShockGrin all at the same time and her... ahem... toy drawer is a sight to behold.

She also experienced proper heartbreak, learned that she could paint, learned that she can't really sing or act but loves it anyway... then met my Step Dad who has finally enabled her to become the woman she was meant to be. She's amazing, my Mum... She's 63 now, and looks ten years younger. But she wasted so many years in an unhappy place.

I don't blame her for staying with Dad and fully understand and respect her for why she did, but I think she should have left years and years ago. We would have been ok, and maybe Dad could have experienced new and different things too and perhaps learned to be less of a twat... although I suspect he would have been a curmudgeonly old git come what may.

Sorry for going on a bit.

Keep talking on here, talk to friends IRL if you can, don't be hard on yourself but be strong. If you decide that there is something in your relationship worth working on/ staying for, then maybe counselling would help as someone else suggested.

But don't stay for the sake of the kids.

Take care of yourself

xx

LulaPalooza · 29/02/2012 01:19

Jeez, sorry that was so damn long Blush

justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 01:33

Lula - thank you -your story is lovely & inspiring - it wasn't too long - it was uplifting & happy.

Thanks - it makes me feel better.

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izzyizin · 29/02/2012 01:39

Oh, Lula, honey! What a wonderful story - and what powerful tribute to your remarkable mum - here's to both of you Wine Wine and to your lovely stepdad Wine... and here's mine Wine and one for you too sad Wine

PigletUnrepentant · 29/02/2012 01:42

You know... the main reason people have affairs is because the relationship they are in is not fulfilling.

Try to find out the reasons why you fell in love with this new person and try to take some action to solve the causes within your marriage, but if this doesn't work... leave, it won't be easy but it will be better. You don't want your children to grow up thinking that a loveless controlling relationship is the norm.

I had a horrendous divorce process where people often asked if I had not regretted to leave what looked like a perfectly good marriage. My answer was and continues to be "now I have worries, before I felt dead". I'm much happier, regardless.

ChippingInNeedsCoffee · 29/02/2012 01:54

JustSoFuckingSad :(

Really think hard about what Lula has written. I've heard it and seen it many times and know even more people in shit relationships in their 50's.

Your DH sounds very controlling and I could not live the way you do.

Don't leave your DH for someone else.... leave him for yourself, that way you can take your dignity as well.

justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 01:57

Ohh - Chipping - I would not leave him for someone else - my fantasies revolve around me living alone in a little cottage with the DCs - rather than the huge mausoleum I now inhabit.

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justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 01:59

I just feel so wretched & like a complete self-indulgent twat & thank you all so much for not beating me over the head with a stick.

OP posts:
justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 02:13

& sad, sad, sad

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izzyizin · 29/02/2012 02:21

So what's stopping you making your fantasies reality, honey?

Jnice · 29/02/2012 02:27

Just wanted to echo what everyone else said, don't give yourself a hard time, you deserve a fulfilling life, nothing selfish in that. I hope you find a way out and find the happiness you deserve x

justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 08:35

Thanks everyone, I stay because I know it would completely & utterly destroy him if I left & despite his faults I do care for him & love him in a way & don't know if I could do that to him.

& more prosaically I am financially trapped - I have no money of my own, haven't had a job for six years & in these straightened times I don't think they'll be queuing up to employ me.

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butterflyexperience · 29/02/2012 08:56

I really feel for you.
I'm not going to comment on your marriage but what I can do is recommend you to get a life of your own away from Dh and dc

It is NOT selfish to do so.
It will replenish you
Give you life again
Make you want to live and enjoy life

Can you get a pt job?
Start ur own business
Go to college/university

Ignore any negativity from your Dh

Just do it

butterflyexperience · 29/02/2012 08:59

I want to tell u more about myself and my journey so to inspire you to do the same.

justsofuckingsad · 29/02/2012 09:03

Please do Butteryfly - I could do with some inspiration.

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PostBellumBugsy · 29/02/2012 09:07

justsofuckingsad, what you have described is no way to live. Could you think about getting a job? Reading between the lines, I get the sense that your trapped feeling, is not just about your marriage, but about the whole set up. If money isn't a problem, how about volunteering for something? I get a sense you need to step outside your life for a bit & a job or volunteering might help with that.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 29/02/2012 10:24

Please read "Why does he do that?" written by Lundy Bancroft. You are in an abusive marriage. Controlling you does not equate to adoring you.

You deserve credit for ending it with the OM; after years of being downtrodden it was not surprising you looked elsewhere for love and affection. That is why you had an emotional affair.

Controlling men are often angry men to boot. He has you where he wants you; i.e completely downtrodden. That was his objective all along. He does this because he can as well.

Re your comment:-
"I stay because I know it would completely & utterly destroy him if I left & despite his faults I do care for him & love him in a way & don't know if I could do that to him".

Your H is emotionally destroying you and he does not care about you; he regards you and the children as possessions for him to do as he pleases with.
No it would not destroy him at all if you were to leave but it would be the making of you and your children who do not need this. Codependency as well is unhealthy; why are you so seemingly responsible for him, is this because of guilt re your emotional affair. He drove you into another man's arms by his abusive actions towards you!.

What are your children learning from you both about relationships?. They are being taught by their Dad that it is okay to control someone and that is unhealthy. The kids are all too aware of how you act in front of him and how he acts towards you. Controlling behaviour is abusive behaviour. No-one benefits from being in an abusive relationship.

He does not want you to leave because he does not want to let go of you his victim easily.

Staying for the childrens sake is rarely if ever a good idea; he will start on them soon enough and they are picking up on all the unhappy vibes within your home. You cannot fully protect them from the onslaught of control you are receiving.

You can leave this man and there is help out there for you to do so. The hardest thing for you is to take the first and hardest step out. Please call Womens Aid. There are obstacles yes to leaving but no obstacle is insurmountable.

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