Date:Mar 15, 2021 By Admin
It happens and it really stinks. You've been married for years and suddenly you find yourself attracted to somebody else. Maybe he or she works in your office; maybe you even met them at church. A long conversation turned into a test-flirt that got rewarded and then the touch of a hand and pretty soon you're talking about how to navigate some pretty serious deception. Maybe you never thought it would go this far or you planned on stopping it before it reached this point but … you didn't and now you're cheating on your spouse.
Feelings begin to take hold based on a host of reasons, and some of them are purely biological. Some feelings are as light as the common cold, some as serious as a fatal disease. The problem is, the longer you follow the feeling the more the brain becomes awash with an "insane" logic that seems to make sense. Many feel like their brain has been awakened and their spirit revived, yet while bearing the tsunamis of guilt and shame.
Developing attraction or romantic feelings for someone other than your spouse happens in almost every relationship. Hopefully it's rare, but it's normal. Pursuing those feelings, however is harmful and incredibly destructive to people you care about. The irony is that while trying to bring love to that new person, you actually bring them harm. The pursuit involves hiding, manipulation, and lying; the very things you will later despise in yourself and distrust in the other.
If you have children, you're not present because you're spending every possible moment with the affair partner or obsessing about the next time you can. And then there is the 5 to 6 years of living hell you go through after you're found out, even if you don't get divorced. You may not have gotten into it on purpose but that is how you get out of it; on purpose.
When we begin to develop feelings for somebody else, it's a great indicator some serious attention needs to be paid to our marriage. If you've not acted on anything, shut the inappropriate relationship down and be intentional about finding the spark in your marriage again. If this sounds extreme, imagine your spouse's response if they knew what was going on.
If you're already having an affair, you probably feel terrible but are having trouble stopping and have no idea what to do.
We know this is extremely painful and want you to know some things you can do:
The only thing that can make this situation worse is to heap on more deception. The truth just needs to come out and be dealt with. This is going to cost you and those you love a great deal, but dealing with it now and being honest will be the first step in reestablishing broken trust. Getting caught is going to make it much, much worse. If you walk through this honestly and humbly, you will uncover the meaning of integrity and will find you like yourself better, as will others.