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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

Can I be happy married to dh if I don't love him?

29 replies

startouchedtrinity · 15/07/2007 09:55

My dh and I have grown so far apart. I used to adore him but I did push him out when we had dd2. Since then we've had ds and dh has just regressed back to how he was when he was a teenager - out drinking with his mates, staying up all night playing poker etc. Our dd2 was very ill last yr when ds was born and I came close to a breakdown. Dh was so horrible to me, drinking and getting abusive. It's better now but I have told him I don't want to be married to him if he still drinks. He goes out about 2-3 times a week and gets in betqween 12.30 and 2 am. He doesn't believe I will leave and tbh I don't want to, not for my sake but for our dcs esp. dd1 who adores him. I've told dh I don't want to be married to him any more but he thinks it is just me getting angry and I don't mean it. I do; my love for him is gone, totally. We lead separate lives and I don't want to be a part of the things he enjoys.

Strangely I think he means it when he says he loves me.

What can I do? How can I distance myself enough to live with a man I don't love in order to keep my family together?

If dh was like he was for the first ten yrs of our marriage then I wouldn't feel this way.

OP posts:
startouchedtrinity · 17/07/2007 07:05

I hear you, expat. But I also think there is a certain amount of truth in the cliche that you hurt those you love the most. Dh and I have been through such a lot since having the dcs and I think we take it out on one another, because that is where we feel safe to do so.

Romantic love doesn't interest me. I'm hoping I'm going to find a better way of living and if he follows, all well and good - if not, I can do nothing about it, but my life will be in order. And I do respect dh in many ways, and I believe he respects me deep down, as a mother and as a woman, but we have got caught up in negative patterns of behaviour. I am certainly not behaving in a way that is true to my beliefs about him - look how I started this thread!

OP posts:
flightattendant · 17/07/2007 08:15

It sound as if you have lost respect for him, perhaps more than the love? It's possible there is a way back, I hope you find it

flightattendant · 17/07/2007 08:18

Sorry only read op

startouchedtrinity · 17/07/2007 09:06

Don't be sorry, you are spot on! You have just underlined what I need to do - focus on the good and let him know it.

OP posts:
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