Ask Toi: My husband cheated and now wants to go to counseling after months of asking. I don’t want to go now because I feel like it’s after the point. I also don’t want to sit and hear about how sorry he is now when I don’t believe him….
Well first of all let me say how sorry I am that you have been put in this situation. First of all let me acknowledge that how you feel is real and honest. I am quite sure that was your rated G version that you expressed. Cheating is horrible. It hurt. It cuts. The wound that cheating brings is not easily fixable. My thing is for you is not just not simply not go. I would go ONLY if you really want to. You may not want to hear the sordid details of what happened. That may be just how you feel now. Cheating can and will give you so many emotions at one time and then those emotions will be ever-changing.
I would go just to see what he wants to put on the table. Him not going before now and now wanting to go means that he believes this will save your marriage. If you have a good counselor they will let you both know that simply showing up for the sessions will not fix your marriage. Counseling doesn’t erase pain. It actually takes the band-aid of your relationship off and makes you look at it. You can after you do that decide that cheating is a deal breaker. You may decide that you don’t want your husband back. Cheating changes the person who does it but also the one holding the emotional bags afterwards. That’s why usually the one who cheated wants you to hurry up and process this and move on. It’s easier to say you want to be done with it after you create it. I will tell you one thing if you can’t get over it and after time has gone by and you still feel the need to bring it up due to real unforgiveness you have to do what you have to do. We tell women to forgive. We tell them that they should deal but reality is that NO ONE deserves to be cheated on. To men it’s simply an act, to women it’s an act of betrayal. There are relationships that claim they forgive but bring it up all the time because they think they are in the right to do so because they are hurt. You can forgive and love still and still want to be out of that type of disrespectful relationship.
I can’t say I know his why. He knows his why and maybe he finds a way to communicate that to you. I would say what you feel is real. It’s like having to watch him pour out his heart NOW but didn’t want to do a lot of communicating that could have saved this pain from your life before it began. It feels as if you are being punished. Relationships are hard but the one thing you did when you say you are marrying another person is to find a way to be an adult and communicate and if you can’t stay married for the right reasons, speak up to those sentiments. One thing I can tell you is that counseling can help you heal even if that means healing together is not going to take place. I pray for your healing. I pray that you and your husband can get to a better place together even if you don’t end up together. This journey is yours as much as it is his. Feel what you need to, this too is a part of the process. NO one can tell you how to go through this. You will feel alone, angry, hurt, sad, and sometimes at the same time. You may not even be able to tell those that are closest to you how you feel or what is going on. Be careful in who you confide in. Remember that those who you speak to will push you one way or the other. You hold your own spirit. It doesn’t matter what others think, you ALONE have to stay in this or leave. No one will be there to get you through the way you are going to want them to be. Friends say they will be there but have their own lives. Do not make a decision based upon what your friends say they would do because when they get it in they have no idea how they will really respond. Love on yourself. Regardless of what took place, his cheating was HIS doing. He alone is wrong and you don’t have to take on HIS cheating as your own. He is grown and made a choice. This didn’t happen by accident. He is wrong.
