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Partner works constantly, avoids discussion, and I feel trapped in marriage

54 replies

Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 14:57

I'm so fed up of it all. My partner's work is so all consuming and with random things appearing at short notice all the time that I never feel able to plan or properly supported. We keep going through cycles where I get to the pinnacle of what I can stand, we argue, he won't discuss anything in any meaningful way, I can't see a way through and it just dissipates until the next time. Nothing is ever resolved. He's been working doing overnighters in his office this weekend, only letting me know last minute he's staying late then walks in at midday and leaves again a couple of hours later with no exact time of return given. I feel that's unreasonable, he feels he's slogging his guts out for his family.

There are so many issues but he won't discuss any of them. We haven't had sex in over 7 years. This wasn't a mutual decision and the sex was good at the beginning. We've only been together 10 years and it just disappeared of a cliff edge almost as soon as we got married. Further to the upset of not having a sex life is that he will not discuss it, any time I've tried he makes a joke of it and that's that. His first wife cheated on him, which he talks about and the pain of it still almost 20 years later. Alongside the refusal to dicuss our own sex life. So we don't do it, we don't talk about why we don't do it but I'm constantly reminded about what an awful experience it was for him to be cheated on. So basically, don't do it elsewhere.

He works endlessly, making it hard to plan. I feel isolated as it's hard to maintain friendships when we have a child to look after. Parenting defaults to me to the degree I only arrange meet ups in nursery time (not that many friendships have survived a weekday lunch meet up once pr twice a year unfortunately). This further impacts, as the nursery time was intended for me to work in but is so consistently taken up by anything I can't do with my son in tow that work output is minimal. Evenings and weekends he is so sporadically around that I can't rely on that time for appointments, exercise, socialising, or unfettered ability to do chores without also having to entertain a child, dog walks, helping elderly parents, and anything else that shouldn't be impinging on my work time, but ultimately does.

I thought things might get better time wise once my son starts school but seeing as it just adds a few extra hours to my time without him I can see that's not going to be the case, at least not for a long time.

It's proving impossible to get my work going again in any meaningful way, so I'm currently financially dependent. I feel utterly trapped. I've got to the point I want to leave because the arguments around the same issues are never solved, never even addressed from his side. It's torturous to be unheard all the time. Life is continuous tedium with nothing to look forward to.

Something that happened a couple of years ago when I was ill has also made me look at him in a completely different light. When I married him, obviously I thought we were meant for each other and loved him, but the way he acts especially in the light of what happened, means I no longer believe that and am starting to completely resent him.

We haven't had a night out together for us as a couple in over 5 years. It feels absurd even typing that but he will not even discuss it, let alone rectify it when it comes up. However he'll pepper conversations with ideas of exciting things, both in terms of my career and our social life, but they never materialise and it's gone from feeling hopeful to feeling hollow and manipulative because it's happened so often over the years.

I swing between feeling hopeless and feeling furious. I worry about my son and the impact of such a terrible relationship template on him, but also the impact splitting up would have. And of how on earth I would navigate a split in financial terms. I'm getting low and don't know how to navigate this.

OP posts:
Youshouldbestrongerthanme · 03/05/2026 14:59

@Pissedoffwithitall1 Sounds like a miserable life for you 😞 Why can't you return to work?

Mostlywilliow · 03/05/2026 15:02

Lawyer up. You’re already single, you just need to make it official.

Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 15:03

Youshouldbestrongerthanme · 03/05/2026 14:59

@Pissedoffwithitall1 Sounds like a miserable life for you 😞 Why can't you return to work?

My most recent work has been self employed. The work is creative so I need time to build what I'm doing before it gains income. I can't get momentum going in these circumstances. But when I've said that to him recently he's blamed me for not being able to organise myself...I mean if he could do his job in a fixed 20 hour window a week ( holidays excluded) he might have a point. But of course he doesn't and absolutely can't make it fit even a normal full time schedule that I'm aware of in advance.

OP posts:
Haffway · 03/05/2026 15:03

Have you considered that he’s having an affair?

Dalmationday · 03/05/2026 15:04

How old is your son? Can you do a proper FT job

Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 15:07

Haffway · 03/05/2026 15:03

Have you considered that he’s having an affair?

Yes but it doesn't seem so. I could be wrong but I think he's a workaholic to be honest. Since meeting him I've found out from someone who knows an ex everything was about his work then too and that's why she ended it.

OP posts:
Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 15:10

Dalmationday · 03/05/2026 15:04

How old is your son? Can you do a proper FT job

He starts school this year. I haven't been in a job in that sense for over 8 years so I'm not sure with the gaps and my age that I'd just walk into something. I have thought about it but my confidence isn't the greatest at the moment. Once he goes to school, if self employment still isn't working I'll start looking.

OP posts:
crossedlines · 03/05/2026 15:12

Why do you need to work within a 20 hour a week fixed window? If you use a childminder/ wrap around care when school age then you can work sensible hours. Honestly it’s the only way out of this trap, it sounds bloody miserable.

C152 · 03/05/2026 15:19

It's a hard life, OP. Start making plans as to how you can divorce him and thrive. It may take you a few years, but you can do it. Find reliable childcare - test out multiple babysitters and use at least 2 regularly, so your child gets used to them and you have a backup when one is unavailable. What sort of creative work do you do? Can you join one of those co-working spaces that also offer onsite childcare? If I were you, I'd be looking for paid employment, even if it's lunchtime support at a school, so at least you have a small but steady amount coming in whilst also freelancing. If freelancing isn't earning you a proper salary within a year, give it up. By all means, do a bit on the side in the evenings, but you need a proper paying job. People don't like to admit it, but money is freedom, opportunity and power.

Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 15:21

crossedlines · 03/05/2026 15:12

Why do you need to work within a 20 hour a week fixed window? If you use a childminder/ wrap around care when school age then you can work sensible hours. Honestly it’s the only way out of this trap, it sounds bloody miserable.

Yes, I can get more time once he starts school, that's true. I wanted to get a run up this year to be ready to take on paid work in September but circumstances just haven't been favourable.

To be honest, I've struggled with the idea of paid childcare in the past. I'm an older mum, he's my only child that I didn't think I'd have and I don't want to hand him over to just anyone. But the fact is we don't have grandparents as an option. His nursery has been fantastic and I think school and after school club will provide similar safe, nurturing care for him.

OP posts:
AttilaTheMeerkat · 03/05/2026 15:24

I would think your child hardly knows his dad and his dad is himself a workaholic.

I would seek legal advice re all aspects of separation and divorce. Knowledge is power.

FettchYeSandbagges · 03/05/2026 15:26

he feels he's slogging his guts out for his family

What family?

There is no family life here, and he has no interest in anything other than doing exactly what he wants. What's the point in it when he's never with his family? He has no consideration for you whatsoever.

Sundaynightterrors · 03/05/2026 15:28

If you haven’t had sex in 7 years how have you got a 3 or 4 year old DS?

PoppinjayPolly · 03/05/2026 15:28

if he didn’t work these hours, would your life style be sustainable?

WallaceinAnderland · 03/05/2026 15:29

If he is a workaholic then he was like this when you met him. How did you manage to have a relationship with him if he was never there?

Sundaynightterrors · 03/05/2026 15:30

Why can’t you find a child minder / day care nursery and work? My ExDH worked terrible hours (shifts etc) so I used childcare facilities so I could work.

Thatsthebottomline · 03/05/2026 15:32

If you do divorce him its very important that you get the house, and, let's by honest here, all of his money.

If you state in the courts that hes made threats this should be simple enough. It doesnt need to be true si dont worry there.. Let's be honest, its not important where he lives, the most important thing is that he keeps paying those bills.

Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 15:44

C152 · 03/05/2026 15:19

It's a hard life, OP. Start making plans as to how you can divorce him and thrive. It may take you a few years, but you can do it. Find reliable childcare - test out multiple babysitters and use at least 2 regularly, so your child gets used to them and you have a backup when one is unavailable. What sort of creative work do you do? Can you join one of those co-working spaces that also offer onsite childcare? If I were you, I'd be looking for paid employment, even if it's lunchtime support at a school, so at least you have a small but steady amount coming in whilst also freelancing. If freelancing isn't earning you a proper salary within a year, give it up. By all means, do a bit on the side in the evenings, but you need a proper paying job. People don't like to admit it, but money is freedom, opportunity and power.

It's concrete advice like this that makes me feel more hopeful. The isolation has been awful, and it's not like I'm an extrovert. I feel once I can connect to people vistas will open up and things will seem possible, as your reply demonstrates.

I write and so I have to do the work first to get anywhere near getting paid. As you say, getting a job, for the contact with the outside world as well as the money, will help.

OP posts:
honeylulu · 03/05/2026 15:45

FettchYeSandbagges · 03/05/2026 15:26

he feels he's slogging his guts out for his family

What family?

There is no family life here, and he has no interest in anything other than doing exactly what he wants. What's the point in it when he's never with his family? He has no consideration for you whatsoever.

Yes. Workaholic men who come out with this sort of bollocks would be workaholics with or without a family. It's just another way of saying "shut up woman".

PoppinjayPolly · 03/05/2026 15:48

Thatsthebottomline · 03/05/2026 15:32

If you do divorce him its very important that you get the house, and, let's by honest here, all of his money.

If you state in the courts that hes made threats this should be simple enough. It doesnt need to be true si dont worry there.. Let's be honest, its not important where he lives, the most important thing is that he keeps paying those bills.

Edited

batshit or pisstake of similar nonsense quoted on these threads?

Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 16:10

Sundaynightterrors · 03/05/2026 15:30

Why can’t you find a child minder / day care nursery and work? My ExDH worked terrible hours (shifts etc) so I used childcare facilities so I could work.

My son is in nursery so I have those hours. It seemed like that would do but I've found it really difficult to protect those as working hours because of the way my husband works and how that impacts on my life overall.

It's hard to organise around someone who tells you they'll be home for dinner when they leave in the morning but at 5pm tell you they'll have to go to London overnight. It's difficult emotionally to cope with that and the knock-on to my son. I'm exhausted as much by the unpredictability as the actual hours. Yes, I could get my son 60 hours of care a week if needed, but I feel like one of his parents should be there for him for at drop off and pick up each day, at the very least. Even if depressed, I'm there consistently, largely because I worry about the impact of his dad not being.

OP posts:
Delphiniumandlupins · 03/05/2026 16:11

Sundaynightterrors · 03/05/2026 15:28

If you haven’t had sex in 7 years how have you got a 3 or 4 year old DS?

I was distracted by this too. Even in Scotland where child could be 5 starting school.

PoppinjayPolly · 03/05/2026 16:21

It's hard to organise around someone who tells you they'll be home for dinner when they leave in the morning but at 5pm tell you they'll have to go to London overnight.
but you’re a writer, self employed who works from home?
why can’t you stop what you’re doing and go and pick him up? What times does nursery operate?

S0j0urn4r · 03/05/2026 17:19

Stop planning your life around this man. Plan around yourself and your child.

Pissedoffwithitall1 · 03/05/2026 17:30

PoppinjayPolly · 03/05/2026 16:21

It's hard to organise around someone who tells you they'll be home for dinner when they leave in the morning but at 5pm tell you they'll have to go to London overnight.
but you’re a writer, self employed who works from home?
why can’t you stop what you’re doing and go and pick him up? What times does nursery operate?

That's exactly what I do. I stop what I'm doing and pick him up by 3pm, having dropped him at 9am, 4 days a week.

In-between is not pure writing time because his unpredictable hours impinge on what I do and when. Those hours have become the time I book appointments in for, help eldelry parents, do admin and a significant amount of chores. Because over time I've found I can't do them otherwise.

I need to organise more childcare, because I can't rely on him to be here and it's not working as is. I feel sad that on top of limited and unpredictable time with his dad, which clearly impacts on him, my son will have less time with me. I'm angry at my husband because he wanted a family but isn't here for us as often or predictably as we need. If he were here most evenings or weekends I could use time then to write or do the other jobs. I can't because he's not. The mental load is always on me, the timer is always ticking on my time, I always have to bend to his schedule. When he sees our son, he can enjoy it then go back to work and forget about everything other than work. I can't.

OP posts:
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