One year ago I discovered my husband’s secret life -- a life of
pornography and acting out and betrayal.
It was like peeling away the layers of an onion as I learned more and
more, and the revelation was a complete shock to me. I have been thinking about the things I have
learned and done that have led from a time of despair to a place of great
hope. I realize that I have learned a
great deal about myself and how to find strength in the face of adversity. There are several things that helped me to
not only heal my broken heart but to provide support to my husband.
PERSONAL STRENGTH
For six weeks I didn’t share my story with anyone. I didn’t talk to friends or family, or even a
counselor or church leader. I did turn
to God for strength and guidance. This
is a personal thing for everyone, but I believe I have been greatly blessed
with the ability to love in spite of the pain.
I was surprised to learn that underneath the intense pain was a small
amount of anger, but mostly love. From
the beginning I knew that I wanted to do what I could to repair the damage and
to move forward with a strengthened marriage.
Keeping this goal in mind has helped so many times when I wanted to give
up.
Six weeks after I learned of my husband’s addiction he decided to
move out. I had begged him to stay, to
get in addiction recovery and protect the children from being hurt. His desire to escape was too strong, he was
in love with someone else, and he had reached the breaking point. I found myself wishing him good luck in finding
what he was looking for and encouraging him to get help for his addiction. I am grateful for the strength that helped me
hold myself together.
My husband described the night he moved out as a wake-up
call. He realized that he didn’t want to
leave me and the children and that he needed help. We still had a long and difficult road ahead,
but it was a turning point. Over the
next several months he was sometimes home, sometimes away. He was learning to deal with his emotions and
I did my best to give him the space he needed while maintaining a secure home
for the children.
KNOWLEDGE
In the beginning I turned to books for answers to my
questions. I read everything I could
about addiction, and it was immensely helpful.
Not everything I read applied to my situation, but one big thing I read
over and over is that my husband’s addiction is not my problem to fix. Knowing this has helped me focus on things
that I could do or change, and allow my husband to deal with the addiction on
his own terms.
EMPATHY
One of the most valuable things I gained from my mostly-unused
education is that there are always two sides to every issue. This situation was no exception! Wallowing in self-pity is so easy when you
have been betrayed, especially when your partner has very little to give
emotionally. But looking at life through
my husband’s eyes made me realize how much worse it was for him. He was in the depths of despair, filled with shame
for what he had done, sorrow for his betrayals, grief over the loss of his
ability to love and serve. His desire to
escape was so strong that he felt willing to sacrifice everything to start over
and to dig himself out of the deep pit he had fallen into. Everywhere he turned someone expected him to
behave in a certain way or be a certain person.
He felt controlled and smothered.
Of course, there is no easy escape.
He wanted to believe he could run away and hide from his problems, but
he would always be a father, a son and brother.
His addiction would not magically disappear. His heart would not easily mend. Understanding his pain helped me to put my
own pain into perspective and to work towards a solution.
Considering my husband’s feelings has helped me many times. For example, there were occasions where we
would be away together, and everything was great between us. I would feel like we had made progress and
were moving forward together. When we
returned to our normal routines I found that he would withdraw and I was left
wondering what had happened. The first
time this occurred I felt hurt and sorry for myself and upset with my
husband. The next time it happened I
began to notice the pattern. Imagining
his feelings was a revelation. Of course
returning to the pressures of life and career would make him withdraw -- his
miserable life was waiting for him, and I still represented the things from
which he wanted to escape. Armed with
the vision of what he was feeling allowed me to expect certain responses, and
it gave us something specific to discuss together. Recognizing the pattern allowed us to break
free and truly move forward.
ANALYSIS
One of the most difficult things I had to face was the fact that
my husband was in love with another woman.
Feelings of new love are very intense -- we all remember the overwhelming
pull of infatuation. I understood that
setting boundaries was appropriate and necessary. I wanted to draw the line here, for him to
cut off all contact with other women. He
was not ready to do this. He no longer
intended to leave me to be with her, but his feelings still pulled him towards
her. I discovered that this particular
boundary that I wanted so badly to enforce would have to be flexible for
awhile.
I don’t know, really, which boundaries should be flexible and
which should be firm. I do believe that
stepping back and making an analysis of the situation without being guided by
emotion can be very helpful. I found
that examining the life that would result from enforcing a firm boundary, and
comparing it to living with a flexible boundary, allowed me to make a decision
I was comfortable with. In this case I
knew that enforcing a boundary that my husband wasn’t prepared to live with (no
contact with other women) could lead to him leaving, or to further
deception. On the other hand, if the
boundary became flexible I knew that I would struggle with insecurity and
wonder where his heart was. But, I
reasoned, if he were allowed to reach the point of complete fidelity on his own
he would know for sure that his other relationships were over, and he would not
have cause to resent me in the future for forcing him to act against his
will. I decided that a flexible boundary
was best in this instance.
Betrayal and addiction are by nature emotionally-charged, and
stepping back to view the situation with cool detachment can be very
difficult. However, detached analysis
has often been useful to prevent me from saying or doing something I would
later regret. I came to understand that
my husband’s desire to escape wasn’t about me or even about the other
woman. It was really an overwhelming
desire to run away from his miserable life and addiction.
I also understand that dwelling on the past is not helpful. There are times that I find myself obsessing
over details associated with my husband’s betrayals. Unanswered questions take over my thoughts
and I become miserable. Again, a
detached analysis can rescue me from my turmoil. Details about the past really do not
matter. I have enough information to
understand what happened, and more detail only serves to create pain and suck
me into a cycle of doubt and misery. I
believe that the past should not be used as a barometer for the future, or even
the present. Pushing aside past wrongs
and present worries frees me to embrace our progress and look to a better
future. It really does.
The past year has been very difficult. Along the way I felt impatient, wanting to
know everything would be okay, and wanting it to be okay now. Progress seemed dismally slow. I wondered if I would survive and if I would
ever see my husband emerge from the hell he was in. Looking back I see that we have made great
progress together. One day at a time
really works! I am so grateful for this
progress and I have great hope for our future.
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