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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

My husband and I love each other very much but our marriage is terrible!

34 replies

pgwispa · 08/03/2014 14:07

As the title says we both really do love and care for each other an awful lot but we can't carry on like this. We have been married for 5 years and have no children. We desperately want them but it hasn't happened yet and I'm glad as we couldn't bring children into this. We argue and bicker often, usually over nothing but ooften over our families. There was a falling out between them before we got married which still causes major tension between us. Whenwe row we shout and scream and call each other horrible names. Occasionally we physically hurt each other, more often him hurting me I have to say. We have got much better at not letting things get that bad recently. We have very little in common and spend very little time together; I work a million hours a week and that isn't likely to change. We are very tense around each other and worry that anything we say could spark the next row so we don't really communicate. I know that you will all say that we should split up but I really don't want that and am looking for some practical advice to improve things.

OP posts:
monkeynuts123 · 08/03/2014 17:27

This is a crap relationship. Leave. Relate will be a waste of time. Leave.

Superworm · 08/03/2014 18:01

Yrs physically hurting someone is abuse. Just because you both do it doesn't make it less so.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 08/03/2014 18:07

What do you get from this relationship now?.

Why on earth are you together at all?.

Re this part your comment from earlier
"my belief that we can make it better"

Why is that?. It may well not be his belief.

You cannot act as a rescuer or saviour in a relationship and you're trying to revive what is really a dead in the water relationship. Why is that?. Do you really have a need to rescue, save or people please all the time at your own emotional expense?.

KeatsiePie · 08/03/2014 19:27

Couples' counseling. And research it carefully. I have heard some not-great stuff about Relate before on here but don't know anything about it myself. Get recommendations, ask any counselor you go see what his/her approach is before you unload everything -- so that you don't wear yourselves out explaining and reliving the emotional backlog only to find that that particular counselor's approach is "oh just go see a movie together!!" And keep trying if you don't like the first counselor.

I think you're right to wait on kids until things are stable and happy between you.

I have been where you are, kind of, and ime. couples' counseling really works. If you both really want to break the cycle, and you're both willing to really try to change your behaviors and mentalities, it does. I hope it will work for you Thanks

pgwispa · 09/03/2014 07:49

Well, if nothing else, you have all put into perspective just how bad it really is and that if I am going to stay (which I am for now at least) changes have to be made. Thanks to all who took the time to post and gave advice and recommendations and glimmers of hope that improvements are possible.

OP posts:
Thistledew · 09/03/2014 08:34

You don't love each other. Love is an action, not just a feeling, and it is not something you are showing or experiencing here.

Having in the past been in a similar relationship, and being in a great one now, I would put money on your 'very good times' being about on par with what people in good relationships see as their minimum expectations.

MadBusLady · 09/03/2014 11:01

What does he think about all this? Is he as committed to sorting this out as you are or are you just assuming he is? What have his suggestions been?

TBH it sounds like you actually don't like or love each other much and you may not have much of a relationship outside this terrible fight/make-it-up dynamic, so be prepared for that if it comes out in counselling and don't bullshit yourself by shying away from it.

MrsBennetsEldest · 09/03/2014 11:09

Sounds a very dark, destructive Heathcliffe & Cathy kind of love. Look what happened there.

somedizzywhore1804 · 09/03/2014 12:22

Agree with thistle that I bet the "good times" are just normal times in a decent relationships.

I've been in a dynamic like the one you are describing and our whole life was just rollercoastering from breaking up, screaming fights and arguments to making up, promising each other the earth and then doing it all again.

I'm now married and my relationship is normal and healthy. I can't believe that I thought those "good times" in my previous, unhealthy relationship were the best I could hope for. Now I have good times 99% of the time and we aren't destroying each other for the sake of a "high".

You're addicted to the drama.

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