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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

Affair -help me understand what I’m doing? Has anyone been through similar?

7 replies

YouStupidGirl · 14/12/2023 21:45

I’m married with older/teen dcs and am in an EA with a slightly younger man (no dcs) he is married but they’re living apart. It’s only been going on for a few weeks.

I haven’t been very happy with dh for quite a while now. He thinks he is a great guy (has absolutely no self-reflection/modesty) but he’s done some horrible things to me that I know if I listed here you’d all be telling me to ltb. The main reason I haven’t is down to financials. He is (I think) financially abusive. He owns £££ in assets but I have no access to any of this information. He pays all bills. His business is extremely complicated and not straightforward at all and if he died or had an accident I wouldn’t have the first clue where to start. When I voice these fears to him he just wriggles his way out of it saying things like “the solicitors will deal with it” or “you’ll be fine”. The reality is he just doesn’t want to get me involved. We have never been an equal partnership in any way. I stayed home to look after the dcs whilst he has always worked 10-12 hour days. Another thing that really pisses me off is that I was left alone for years bringing up the children whilst he escaped to the office and wouldn’t even take a day off even if I was really ill, yet now this past year (now the dcs are all grown up and flying the nest!)he’s decided he is working from home now and that’s that. I get no say in this (and it’s driving me fucking mad). He is incapable of having a conversation- everything is about him and his interests which are moaning about his work and the economy. I could go on forever.

But, fast forward to now. I can’t stop thinking about this man. I’ve had better conversations with him in the last few weeks than I’ve had in my life with dh. I can tell he is kind and very emotionally aware. He does a lot of charity work and cares about the environment etc. (Dh is a climate denier/brexit voting/very right wing type and moans about anything an everything - he loves the sound of his own voice and has to control/hold court over every conversation). I have come to fear the dcs leaving home and being left alone with him. I feel so lonely even when he’s around. I want to be with someone I can feel secure with and talk to about crap.

Im feeling a bit infatuated with this man which I know is ridiculous. I’ve lost half a stone in 2 weeks - I can’t eat or sleep. What is weird is that despite the problems with dh I’ve never looked at another man or entertained ideas of sleeping with someone else. Then I met this man and it all just flipped on it’s head, I can’t think of anything else. I never fancy anyone - Why am I so attracted to this man?

I don’t really know why I’m even posting except to get it off my chest- I’ve no one to talk to in RL and wouldn’t tell even my closest friend.

Has anyone else been through anything similar? If so, what happened? Is it just hormones?

Im not going to ask or expect anything from this man, I’m letting him take the lead. I feel like I will accept any crumbs he throws my way!

I don’t mind people being honest but please don’t be horrible.

OP posts:
SockPuppet · 14/12/2023 22:03

I have been through this. Different circumstances but essentially the same thing. Troubled marriage but had never really faced issues head on. We were together 20 years. Then I made friends with someone and felt instant attraction and connection and over a few months of being friends I felt like I was falling in love with him. Nothing was said ; we were friends but he was happily married and not attracted to me and I knew it would never be anything, I didn’t want to have an affair/be the ‘other woman’.
What it did for me was illuminate for me the fact that I really wasn’t happy in my marriage. I’d not been attracted like that to anyone while married before. He was totally different to my (now ex) husband and that fact on its own really spoke to me.
Can you use this experience to think about whether you want to stay in the marriage you have, for the rest of your life? Life is short.
This experience is telling you something about yourself, your relationship and your life.
I think it can take meeting someone more compatible to really throw light into the darkness.

EVHead · 14/12/2023 22:08

Forget the other man - he’s not the answer.

See a solicitor and get as much financial info together as you can. Start the process of separating.

YouStupidGirl · 14/12/2023 22:09

Thank you SockPuppet. What you say completely resonates with me. Are you glad you got out of your marriage regardless? I’m so terrified of how it will be and what lengths dh will go to if I try to separate. I’m scared my dcs will hate me.

OP posts:
User69371527 · 14/12/2023 22:15

I’ve had similar. I knew it wasn’t the answer and the infatuation did pass, however it did show me that things could be different and highlighted how unhappy I was. The emotional affair/friendship did give me the courage to leave. Not to be with him but he was a great support. But I knew if I left I had to be prepared to be by myself and single if I left and I absolutely was. I realised that was preferable to being with H and that it was doable. I did leave and the emotional affair with the other person fizzled out (he wanted more but I wasn’t attracted to him physically). I am happily separated now and in the process of divorcing and I have realised there are lovely men out there that I’m much more compatible with (but am also fine on my own).

User69371527 · 14/12/2023 22:16

Another great support during the separation process was a counsellor and I’d recommend that, to help you work out what you want and give you the courage to see it through.

SockPuppet · 14/12/2023 22:20

Yes. I am glad. It was the right thing for me. It was very hard and it took too long to get to actually splitting up, but it was the right thing and our children are adjusting. I am not in contact with the man who unwittingly got me out of my marriage and I miss him but still it was the right thing.
one question I asked myself was: if someone made me choose right now whether I had to stay in the marriage forever or divorce, which would I choose?

YouStupidGirl · 14/12/2023 22:22

User69371527

Thank you so much. That’s really good advice and the counsellor is something I’ve thought about. Do you have any clue on how to find a good one?

OP posts:
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