The impact of infidelity on your career

I am ambitious. I always have been and always will be. I was raised to prize excellence. I am a hard worker...perhaps to hard as my husband as often called me a workoholic. But he never understood the joy that comes from a job well done.

So when I first found out that he was cheating on me, my work ethic was shot to hell. Unable to focus on anything but his infidelity - deadlines went passed unheeded. In meetings I spaced out, unable to keep to stop myself from thinking about whats going to happen or what he was doing at that exact moment. It took me about 5 months to get to a place of almost functioning the way I used to - and now I am thinking about my future.

I always knew I would be a life long learner. I love studying and learning new things - I find meaning in gathering knowledge and implementing it - so now at the point in my life, I am trying to position myself to do whatever I want to do for the next 20 odd years ( I am a bit of a planner:-))...

The thing is though- instead of thinking of what I would love to do...what would bring me happiness, I now think about what I need to do in order to have the best shot at bringing money in, as a single mom.  I would love to be an historian - there are gaps in south african history around coloured culture and for too long we have ingnored it in favour of white or black culture. I would like to part of the movement that brings about coloured pride - this however seems like a pipe dream right now. Nobody wants to pay consistently for this sort of thing - I would need to have a reliable partner to pull it off. A reliable partner that I don't have.

So I find myself, looking at options at how to study more indepth in the field that I am currently in. Maybe I should do my masters in adult education? I can do it and I do it well, virtually all my work experience is in this field and it would be the natural next step...but I long for unchartered territories...perhaps the closet I will ever get is the discovery history channel.

His taken more from me than he probably realises.  His taken away my freedom to choose to something bold and new. I could never risk losing the roof over our heads for a new adventure - my sense of responsibility is to deeply ingrained.

It makes me wonder how many women have compromised their dreams because their partners have let them down? How many women chose to stay in marriages, because on their own - they can't provide a standard of living that they want for their children.

Why couldn't he have loved me more?

I am losing my shit

It was around this time last year that my world was caving in around me and I am currently losing my shit. I am convinced his cheating on me again.

Yesterday, I saw what looked like a long sms on his phone, but I was to far away to see it properly. I checked his phone later and couldn't find it. His coming on to me, when he knows we can't have sex and his distant when its possible (yep, can you believe he did this all this all the time - I took me a while to see the pattern, but I eventually saw it). Yesterday, we went to church - I don't think he sang, but then again I wasn't watching him all the time...

This time last year, I found out about a work colleague and how smitten he apparently was with her. He says he wasn't - but damn you could almost see his words written online dripping with honey, but no, if I ask him to talk to me and he has nothing to say...anways

Am I going crazy? Is this a serious bout of post traumatic stress or what? Is he doing the deed or not. I am suspicious of even his toilet breaks, checking to see where his phone is and I spot it, I wonder if he has two.I can't believe this crap. I never thought this where I would be.

His starting a new course today. 3 nights a week at a college close to Greenpoint ( our red light district, where prostitutes line the side walk). What if he does it again? What if there is some beautiful young thing in his class? What if...

I googled his name for the millionth time and found the same chatrooms I found a year ago. This time, I thought I saw him connect with a guy. My heart jumped into my throat - please don't tell I need to watch out for close male friends too...this time it wasnt a guy, but something tells me that hubby dearest, given the right circumstances, its a possibility.

He emailed me this morning and asked how I am doing after I saw he had a profile on linked in and all the bitterness and poison spewed out. I sent him this:

"We both know that you deleted any incriminating stuff a long time ago, so there are no surprises. I don't know why I even asked - forced habit guess.I need to accept that you are a first rate liar and know how to cover your tracks, so I shouldn't try to control anything or see everything you do, because its pointless. Its hard to embrace that - but I need to. If we stay married, than thats just how it is. The choices you make are really your own. So you want to keep the profile go ahead. You want to delete stuff off your webmail account go ahead. You want to have multiple accounts go ahead...

I won't bother to ask you, to at least have the decency to let me know when try to fuck other people again so I can get on with my life, because we both know thats not going to happen. You like having me around to play happy families to much, while you get a piece of action on the side. You have been such a monumental tool.

I know I sound angry and thats because I am. I am angry, bitter and heartbroken. Its not because of the profile itself - its just a reminder of how fake our marriage is and how fake you have been when you have tried to use every available opportunity to you to screw anything that would open its legs for you and then asking me to blow you afterwards...and me like a retard thought that wow you must be the most amazing husband in the universe and that I was stupid for thinking that something was wrong.

Im going to go for walk...".

He hasn't responded yet. His probably angry, because he thinks his doing all he can and why can't I just get over it. Well, screw that shit. This is how I feel today...


We are creeping ever closer to the abyss and a part of me thinks it will be a relief to finally fall.

He cheated on valentines day

I found his username today...the name his been using for all his online activities. All I had to do was google it and...site after site...post after post came up. At first it really confirmed for me that my husband has a problem. But then I noticed that a couple of posts were made on valentines day last year. Want to know what I was doing last year? I had to travel for work... I publicly sent him messages of love on facebook. I dedicated a love song to him. I stood waiting by the phone, because I didn't want to miss his call. Told him I missed him and that I couldn't wait to get home to him.

I always thought it was dysfunctional to believe, that it is better to be in a relationship where the other person loves you more than you love them. But now...now I see...I have been loving him for so long, when he hasn't loved me the same. Maybe liked...maybe even liked alot...but not love. What kind of love humiliates and degrades like this...what kind of love smiles and holds me,while emailing tons of women looking for sex.

Sometimes when I am feeling gracious I remind myself, that I too have flirted and have had my share of crushes...but its nothing like this. Not the length, width or breadth of it...

He didn't want to celebrate valentines day because our wedding anniversary was the 1st March and he said he didn't have enough money to celebrate both. I understood and wholeheartedly agreed. Now...now it looks like valentines day just didn't mean a damn thing and he simply didn't care.

A long time ago, I asked him to stop telling me he loved me, because he didn't understand the meaning of the word. Lately I thought that perhaps I am to harsh, but after all I have seen- I realise I am right and I am one step closer to divorce. Who wants to be with someone who can only be faithful if you're same room with them? Who wants to be in a marriage, where you love your partner more than they love you? My mother once told me, never to give something precious over to someone who did not understand the value of it. They would merely treat as garbage. "Never throw pearls before swine" was her exact words.Is my heart not precious. Am I not precious? One thing for sure - his a pig and doesn't deserve me.

I am more sure now than ever, that he has had sex with more women than what he has let on. I am not convinced that he has stopped visiting sites. I have no proof. But something told me, something was wrong before. I feel that way now...I could ask him, but he lies straight to my face and sometimes even with a smile - so what would be the point. I am no match for him. Maybe if we got divorced, we could start again...later, when he has done and explored all that he needs to explore.

I feel foolish and stupid. What am I going to do?

Does being fat give him a right to be unfaithful?

Does picking up weight give your partner the right to stray? 


I  met my husband when I was 20 yrs old and a hip hop dancer. I had dropped the weight I had been carrying in high school and weighed in at a cool 65 kgs/143 pounds. I was wearing a bikini and jeans hung off my hips. 9 years later, I am 110.6 kgs. The period during which my husband was unfaithful coincides with my heaviest weight ever - 116/7 kgs. I was virtually twice the girl he met.


 It stings. In my heart I always thought that he should love me and be glad to have me, no matter how much weight I gained. He always told me that he thought I was beautiful and he loved me just the way I was. But we were lying to ourselves I think. I was uncomfortable in my own skin and I never caught him staring the way he used to. Over the last 2 years, I would have been hearing odds and ends that slowly changed the way I see things. 


#1: I was watching a Dr Phil show about cheating and he was speaking to this woman and simply said, He doesn't have the right to cheat, but you need to help him out a little. Fix your hair in the mornings, put on some lipstick. His about to walk into an office with fully made up women, looking for his attention. Help him be faithful by doing your best to look good for him. 


#2: I was reading - Dont sweat the small stuff for women (I think ;-(). Right at the end it talks bluntly about weight gain in marriage. The author talks about expectations in marriage. As women, we expect men to continue striving to be successful in their careers, men expect women to continue striving to look good. This is our unspoken agreement. As different genders, we value different things. We value the provider and men value looks. How would we feel as women, if when we dated someone who was doing amazingly well and then once we got married, they decided they didn't feel like working anymore and sat around the house all day? I wouldn't take it kindly...and although I struggled with what I saw as a shallow and unrealistic expectation, I began to wonder if that is how men truly felt? I would leave a man, who went from a working class guy to someone who wilfully doesn't work. It would feel like a betrayal. Do men feel just as strongly about weight gain? It seems so harsh...


I feel bitter about it, but one day perhaps I will just accept this as part of the difference between men and women. So where does this leave me? To be honest, all I want to do is to hookup with someone from one of the websites that love fat women. They would encourage me to pick up even more weight. Wouldn't it be bliss to hear, that I am to skinny?? LOL. But perhaps if everything goes to shit, than I will go back to that option. But for now.. Well pre-d day, I had already started losing weight because I wanted to help my husband out and then I fell pregnant, during which he continued being unfaithful to me (asshole), but my beautiful son is now here and it is the beginning of a new era. I have decided that I am jumping back onto the wagon. I want to be healthier for my son, so I can be active with him. I want to feel and look sexy again, because it makes me feel good (plus if I get divorced, I want to be market ready:-)). I will try to lose the weight, to give my husband something to work with - but seriously when someone is a porn addict, I could be wondering around in a thong and it wouldn't matter. Women more beautiful than I, have been cheated on - but I will try.


I am sad that weight plays such a huge role for men, but perhaps this is just part of letting go of the Mills and Boon dream of happily ever afters and eternal loyalty and commitment. There is no hero coming to sweep me off my feet. The man of my dreams does not exist. I will need to save myself and I intend to look hot doing it. My short term goal is to weigh 90kgs by December 2012. Mini goal is to weigh under 100 kgs by July 2012. Ultimate goal - weigh 80kgs by December 2013.


Weight at start: 110.6   
Current weight: 109.4
Loss: 1.2 kgs.

Just do it - cheat already

His wearing a shirt today...


In the middle of this week, when he was super busy and meeting people he wore a dirty t-shirt to work because he see why wearing a clean shirt was better and today is traditionally a very slow day, where he literally just sits in his office and plays games...and today his wearing a nice shirt. I wonder who his trying to impress.


I watch him with his laptop, to see if he quickly clicks out of things whenever I am close...


At night, I sometimes watch him while his sleeping to see if he will give anything away. I wonder if his cheating on me again and it makes me sad that this is what my marriage has come to.


They say it takes 3-4 years to truly get over betrayal, but I don't know if I can hang on for that long. The waiting to see if I can catch him out again, the misery when I realise I will never really know for sure. I am so tired of not knowing, not trusting...I miss the warmth of security.

I have constant dreams, where I catch him cheating again. Mostly his having dinner with a female co-worker after he told me he needs to work late.In my dreams I feel sad, but also surprisingly a strong sense of relief. I guess its because if he cheats, the waiting will be over. I can move on with my life and leave him behind knowing that I did the best I could for our son. There will be no more waiting to see if he lets me down again. There will be no more second guessing when he looks nice for work.I won't have the compulsive need to check where his phone is every time he goes to the bathroom in case his texting someone else. It will just be me and I think I could be really am happy with that.


I have deliberately chosen not to remind him that we have agreed that he will be taking a lie detector test. He will assume that I am beginning to trust him again. I have decided to give him enough rope to hang himself. So I will try to not use his laptop any more and I will stop asking him how his "temptations" are going. We are supposed to have relationship Thursdays where we talk about our relationship - but I won't bring it up any more. The sooner he cheats on me, the sooner I can get on with my life instead of wasting more time on someone who loves me, but apparently doesn't love me enough to stop sleeping around.


If I had money I would pay a woman to strike a relationship with him and tempt him. I really would and if she cracks him within a month- there would even be a bonus...mmmmm I need a hug :-(

Sick...reeeaally

Sick huh?

Mmmmm, my first day back at work and my husband has decided that today he is sick and needs to stay home...

Of course the first thought that went through my mind, was whether his actually staying home to either have;

a) Online sex with someone

b) Actual sex with someone

c)  Sex with himself

Before I caught him, I would have been soooo sorry for him. Poor baby! But when I think about the time he actually went to meet someone he met online - I wonder if he told me if he was "sick" then to and had to stay home...or maybe he just pretended to go to work.

I am sad that my first thoughts are now whether or not his actually screwing around. I am sadder still that I then immediately think, that is doesn't matter - with the next lie detector test I'll catch him out.  But you can bet your ass on this -if he has been creeping around, there is not enough meds in the world that will save him from what I got in store!

Dear asshole

There have been some terrible moments over the last couple of months,  that are so painful I can't even bear to say it out loud...

4.Listening to you, while you were having dream sex with someone else. 

3.Last valentines day, I had to work in a different city. I made such an     idiot out of myself dedicating songs to you over facebook, telling everyone who cared to listen how amazing you were. You called me, to say you loved me to. Realising now that when you put the phone down - you had online sex with someone else.

2.Finally embracing the fact that my husband will cheat, manipulate and lie with no remorse.

But you know what the worst was?

1.Lying alone in my hospital bed,tubes sticking of me- unable to move and softly weeping in the dark - wondering whether you were with your mistress. I had never felt so

ALONE 

and so  

 UNLOVED. 

I will never tell you this, because 

I have my pride.

Othello and me...

Everytime I think I am doing better - my heart falters and I despair of where I have found myself.

My husband recently did a very good thing. He tracked down the chick he cheated on me with after we got married (the first one) and told her off in no uncertain terms. Now, I totally believe that what happended was completely his fault. He could have said "no", but he didn't...as a matter fact he wanted to screw this chick, but she turned him down. You would think that because "it" didn't happen, it would hurt less - but it still does. Anyways, so he tracks her down and craps on her from a dizzy height. He told her, he was disgusted with them both, that they were both pathetic- he did it in front of me and I felt..vindicated. I was happy, elated and felt like I got the last laugh. It felt good...

So tell me, why do I feel so sad today? Maybe its because, I should never have had to hear my husband tell another woman how he regrets playing tonsil hockey. My mind wonders through everything he has done, and I bite my tongue lest I ask him useless questions, because infidelity is infidelity no matter how many times he did it, who he did it with and where. His unfaithful heart has cast me in the role of Othello and jealousy,hurt and paranoi has set fire to my dreams. I am convinced, he hasn't told me everything - but what is the point of asking, as surely it would be just more of the same. Whats one or two more women to the many he has betrayed me with...

O thou weed,

Who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet

That the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst ne’er been born.

                                                                                                                 Othello. ACT IV Scene 2.