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Coping with Infidelity Relationship recovery from the destructiveness of infidelity.

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Old 10-06-2010, 07:13 PM   #16 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

NC depends on the cheaters. if they still cant keep away from OM/OW, this will not work. and seems like scalpel wife will not keep away to other guys.
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Old 10-06-2010, 08:02 PM   #17 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

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Originally Posted by lobokies View Post
NC depends on the cheaters. if they still cant keep away from OM/OW, this will not work. and seems like scalpel wife will not keep away to other guys.
Actually, No Contact is dependent upon the desire of both spouses to begin work on the marriage. A person who is willing to write a No Contact letter to their lover, and then give that letter to their spouse, who then reads it for content, and then mails that letter (the cheater does NOT send the letter) is a person who is ending the affair. They are no longer cheating. The purpose of the No Contact letter is to effectively cut off any hope of re-establishing the relationship (it is worded in such a way as to sever ties). That is why we offer sample letters as a guideline.

It is an extremely effective tool.

It is part of three non-negotiable conditions that the loyal spouse offers to the cheater as grounds for re-establishing the marriage.

It cannot effectively be used without the other two conditions.

Moreover, it is no guarantee that cheating may not occur in the future. Nothing can guarantee that - for ANY one. But is is an end to the current affair.

How the problems in the marriage are addressed once that affair ends is the solution to the affair trouble.

Moreover, the problem is NEVER that a person "can't" stay away from the Other Person. The problem is that sometimes people WILL not. Can't is not a possibility. And in nearly every case I've seen, the reason for a repeat is because the original troubles within the marriage have not been solved. As long as the trouble (whatever it is) remains, the possibility of choosing an affair as a solution remains.

So if you've seen No Contact fail - look a little deeper. It is most likely the case that one or two of the OTHER conditions have not been applied (hence the reason we call them 'non-negotiable').

Either that, or the No Contact letter was actually a 'we'd better stop for a while - things are heating up' letter. Hence the reason the Loyal spouse, and not the cheater, mail the letter.

In any event, this does not answer my question: you wrote

Quote:
i read many experiences of affair which showed that NC letter worked beyond expectation.
The expectation of a no contact letter is that it results in 'no' contact. What is beyond 'no' contact - never any contact? I'd be curious to hear of an example of a no contact letter that went beyond ending contact and instead resulted in 'never having been any contact'. Seems completely impossible to me.
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Old 10-06-2010, 08:25 PM   #18 (permalink)
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Thanks for the thoughts.
I revealed her affair to her sister. Basically she said she wants to stay out of it. Frankly I got confused about exactly what role I wanted her sister to play. I really felt like an idiot on the phone with her and basically told her to forget it..
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The sister's reaction isn't surprising. This marriage is you and your wife's business and it's your job to stand up and fix it yourselves, no one can do it for you. It's not the sister's job to affect your wife's thought process, if you want to work it out you'll have to do it on your own merit.

Plus the sister might not want to be placed in an awkward situation. It's not really fair to expect her to. And really, she might have already known about the other guy(s) but felt it was your wife's obligation to tell you about it, not hers.
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Old 10-06-2010, 10:41 PM   #19 (permalink)
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Its been about ten days since I found out she was cheating again. I don't know the extent, or who the other guy is. We have had any meaningful conversation about it since I told her I found a single text that only referenced the "sexy texts" to her friend. The friend she confided in was a good friend of ours. I am angry with her too. Now I think I need to gather more information before proceeding.

It stinks being married to someone who would cheat. I have been dissatisfied with our marriage, but I never cheated.
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Old 10-06-2010, 10:47 PM   #20 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

so what is exactly your next plan...?
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Old 10-06-2010, 11:12 PM   #21 (permalink)
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I don't have a clear plan. What I don't want to do is stew over this and become a miserable mess. Im concerned that I am too passive about this. Im working on reducing my love busters with her. Meanwhile there's this distrust and lack of communication hanging over what's left of this marriage. It's easy to say "improve yourself, make yourself the man she always wanted", but Im over here feeling like I lost an arm. We were moving down the road together and now she has decided to go alone without me.

I read this board to see how others have dealt with this loss. But pulling myself (and her) out of this funk with the reward being staying with her and always wondering if Im good enough for her is not attractive. I can't see that far into the future right now.

Thanks for everyone's constructive comments.

Is it wise to put attacking device on her car?
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Old 10-07-2010, 02:24 AM   #22 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

I assume you mean "a tracking device". An attacking device would attack her car. LOL
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Old 10-07-2010, 08:50 AM   #23 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

just google the words: Spark Nano. They use a sim card inside the device that is from T Mobile. Make sure T Mobile have good coverage in your area. They don't tell you this when you purchase it. It's expensive but most likely you will get your answers in less than 2 weeks.
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Old 10-07-2010, 12:14 PM   #24 (permalink)
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Thanks for the information. They have a gps tracker that doesn't give real-time information, but also doesn't have a monthly fee. I wonder if that would work as well.
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Old 10-07-2010, 01:39 PM   #25 (permalink)
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they would all work except the spark nano gives you live info on the net but you do have to recharge it every 2-3 days. The ones that are not with a real time info you have to take them out of the car physically and check the info on your computer and them put them back. I decided to go with the Spark Nano and I don't regret it.
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Old 10-07-2010, 01:45 PM   #26 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

Why do you want to put a tracking device on her car?

You are already aware of infidelity - the task now has moved beyond needing proof. You have better things you can do with your time! My advice is that you don't get stuck spinning your wheels following her around while she goes about having an affair. You can't stop it that way, nor can you work on recovering your marriage by dwelling on finding some sort of evidence that will make her admit or make her stop. Just won't happen.

Instead, work on you, and on the steps you should be doing to end the affair! Don't chase phantasms while your marriage falls apart around you!
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Old 10-07-2010, 03:51 PM   #27 (permalink)
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Scalpel~

I get the distinct impression that you are casting about, looking for something "to do" but not really wanting to do what you know you NEED to do in order to fix this. So let me remind you of your plan.

There are seven steps to ending an affair. Each step builds upon the other, and you can not skip one. The steps are:

#1--Gather Evidence. This is not so you can show the evidence to your spouse and "make" them confess. One lady here on this forum had dead proof and her ex (now) never did admit it--he divorced her and denied it to the end and is still with OW! I know of another person who's wife was a realtor and she met her lover in an house she was supposed to be showing. He literally caught them IN THE ACT and as she put her clothes on she said, "It's not what it looks like." So you can gather evidence until you are blue in the face, but it won't "make" the disloyal admit it. This evidence is for you--so you know that you can trust your gut instinct. Now scalpel, YOU already know that your wife is cheating again. You've already done this step so you don't need more evidence. Time to move to step #2.

# 2 Confront. Go to the disloyal directly and tell them to their face that you know about the affair and have evidence in a safe place that proves it's real irrefutably. Don't tell them where it is or what it is necessarily, just make the statement that you know about it. Then state right out loud that in order for the marriage to work there can not be infidelity and ask them point blank to end the affair.

So, scalpel, your plan now is not to cast about, doing bit of step #1 and step #5 and some of #7. You can't pick and choose what you "feel like" doing, just as a patient who needs surgery can not pick some of the tests, not the x-rays, pick ether and not more modern anesthetics, and then tell you that you can only operate on their left arm. If the issue is on their right leg, then there are steps that must be taken...in order. They HAVE TO have all the test. They have to have x-rays. They need to use an anesthetic that doesn't make them violently ill afterward. They HAVE TO let you operate on the right side!

Does that make sense. If you want a chance for your marriage to be happy and emotionally healthy for both of you, you need to do the steps, in order. And now you are at step 2. So the plan is to arrange a time as soon as possible to talk to your wife directly, tell her you KNOW she is having an affair again, tell her this is the second time in X years and you will not be with a spouse who will not give you 100% of her affection and loyalty, and ask her point blank if she is willing to end all contact right now and work with you to fix the marriage.

Just for discussion, here are the rest of the steps:

#3 Disclose. If the disloyal either refuses to end the affair, the next step is to disclose the affair to ONE very respected authority whom the disloyal is likely to look up to and listen to...someone who is likely to be pro-marriage and tell the disloyal that having an affair is not acceptable.

#4 Exposure. If the disloyal hardens their heart and refuses to end it, the next step is to expose the affair to those who will likely be affected by a potential divorce. The idea behind exposure is not to drag your disloyal spouse's name and reputation through the mud (their ACTIONS are doing that!) but rather to refuse to keep the affair a "secret." The loyal spouse should contact their own family (parents and siblings), the disloyal's parents and siblings, their church or place of worship, some of the loyal spouse's co-workers, some of the disloyal spouse's co-workers, the loyal spouse's employer, the disloyal spouse's co-workers, and the other person's spouse and inform them that the disloyal spouse is having an affair, that it is serious, that the marriage is in trouble, and ask for help.

#5 Carrot & Stick. In this phase you focus on two things: work on yourself to be the person you once were who attracted your spouse again AND allow your disloyal to experience the natural consequences of their choices.

#6 NO CONTACT. In this step you write the disloyal a letter and explain that you love them, admit the things you did to contribute to the affair, indicate what you're doing to end those things, and then say that unless they end ALL contact with the OP and never, EVER contacts the OP again, you need to end all contact with the disloyal. The idea behind this step is to give them a more realistic taste of what divorce could be like--to not have you in their life to meet ANY needs!

#7 Legal Separation. To be blunt, most affairs die a natural death within two years, so if a loyal spouse can stall for that amount of time, there is a good chance that the disloyal spouse would at least consider returning. Thus, as a tactic that will both stall the legal process of divorce and protect both the family assets and the loyal spouse and children, we would recommend a legal separation and suggest a minimum of one year legal separation.
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Old 10-07-2010, 04:32 PM   #28 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

I think AC is referring to me in Step 1. I admit, I got too long hung around that phase looking for admission from him. But now that is all over I can see that he was REALLY deep into the fog(something similar to Help239's wife).

However listen to her and TP. They have some really good advice on this forum.
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Old 10-07-2010, 05:43 PM   #29 (permalink)
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Yep you're right, notready, I was thinking of you! But I'm glad you can see now that moving onto the next steps (Confront-disclose-expose-Carrot & Stick-No Contact) are the way to cut THROUGH the fog (aka Disloyal Dizziness) and shine a light in there. They still may not come around and they may be too stubborn and prideful to admit they were wrong or face their own issues--but at least you did your part, which is shining that light!
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Old 10-07-2010, 06:05 PM   #30 (permalink)
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Default Re: She did it again

I got sort of past the exposure phase. If only I did not have that visa issue that forced me to leave the US who knows maybe I could have done something more. But I did and still do try to work on myself and I can only assume what were the real reasons he was unhappy(he never really gave me concrete reason, he would not even discuss the affair)

But if it ever came to reconciling with him in the future one of my MUST HAVES will be marriage councelling/coaching what you and Tanelornpete provide or what Marriage Builders offers.

Last edited by notreadytoquit; 10-07-2010 at 08:25 PM.
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