Hi everyone. So on the brink of divorce after 11 years of marriage, in
literally the space of 30 seconds after reading one particular article,
I came to realise, genuinely for the first time, that I've been abusive
to my wife, the woman I love. It sh...
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Hi everyone. So on the brink of divorce after 11 years of marriage, in
literally the space of 30 seconds after reading one particular article,
I came to realise, genuinely for the first time, that I've been abusive
to my wife, the woman I love. It should have been bleeding obvious, but
I couldn't see it, despite my wife trying to tell me for years. In a
moment, the entire way I saw myself and my marriage fell apart. That was
Monday. On Tuesday, I started realising that may not be all of it, and
started digging further into my memories and my behaviours. On
Wednesday, I came to realise it's been all through our marriage. I
wanted her to conform to what I wanted her to be, and would try and
steer her away from things she wanted if they didn't fit into my image
of our life together. Today is Saturday, and I realised during our
separation I've also been very jealous, thinking a lot about where my
wife is and wondering who she's spending time with. My wife is safe now,
but I'm really in peices, totally unsure of anything. That's a good
thing, I need to be questioning everything about me if I'm ever going to
change. I'm scared about one thing above everything else though: I
successfully fooled myself completely for the last 11 years. In my mind,
I was a patient, caring, devoted husband, who went to extraordinary
lengths for my wife as she worked through the pain of her own childhood
trauma, something we had in common. My wife was my first kiss, first
everything. She was, to me, the centre of my life, yet I deluded myself
the entire time. I lied to myself fundamentally about who I was, and the
very core of my behaviour and attitudes towards the most important
person in my life. Why couldn't I see it? How will I ever know if I've
really changed, if I'm safe to be in a relationship again, if I can
deceive myself so well? How will I know I'm not doing it again? Any and
all thoughts are appreciated.