Am I crazy? Or is it wrong?

I will start by admitting I am not a great wife or mom. I wavered in my relationship and seeked attention from other men, but I finally put a stop to that bad behaviour and told myself I'd commit myself to my husband. We'd fight a lot about communication and our sex life, I'm awful at communicating, I literally shut down mentally in confrontation. My husband was fairly good at being open to other ways for me to communicate and I'd do it for a while and then stop and fall into old patterns of not talking about our conflicts. Sex, I stopped initiating after a years and then it became painful, I went to therapy and found that I carried stress in my pelvic area and it would tighten the muscles. My therapist also said there was probably some safety issues I wasn't addressing with my husband (then boyfriend). I didn't understand it at the time but have come to realize as much as I felt safe with him, I didn't truly feel safe because I was always the one to have to change or was the one who was wrong or bad. I told him since the beginning I wasn't sure I wanted kids, but after we got engaged we started talking more seriously about having kids, although I didn't express that I still kind of struggled with the finalization of it. We got pregnant a couple years after getting married, I was happy but I don't think I fully connected to it. I internally struggled after her birth, I expressed it once and didn't again. I became crazy insecure in myself. My husband thought I was being selfish or told me I should realize what being a mom is and became increasingly critical. I understand his side, he thought I wanted kids as badly as him and was frustrated that I wasn't doing what I should be. But then it got worse and he became angry, he hit me for the first time about 8 months after she was born. It happened a few times but I couldn't leave. We got pregnant again, I did want another one. He was physically and verbally aggressive during the pregnancy. I confided in a therapist and she called child services on us, he has never forgiven me. He now says he doesn't have a partner and everything falls on his shoulders, taking care of the house, growing vegetable gardens, raising the kids and our finances, and renovates our home by himself. I'll admit I lied about our finances a couple years ago, I used to manage them alone but I got scared to tell him about some debt and it kept snowballing and then he found out. I can admit it's unforgivable but I didn't feel safe to tell him because if I didn't buy enough food to keep our house stocked he'd get angry, if I spent a lot to get what we needed he'd get angry, so I hid it. I do struggle to connect with our kids, I now lack patience. I can't organize our home, it's become too overwhelming. I just can't get myself to do anything I'm supposed to so I can justify his anger. But I also work pretty much full time. He doesn't even seem to comprehend that he hits me (it's not often) and tells me I'll have nothing without him. I agree with him because I can see he points, I don't change even though I say I will. I lie to him often about even little things, mostly because I'm scared of telling him the truth. Am I crazy that it doesn't matter how selfish or an asshole someone is, you don't lay a hand on the person you married. I sometimes think I deserve it but then when my child looks at me and asks why I have a scratch or bruise I want to break down.
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Nothing, I repeat NOTHING gives a person the right to physically harm you. You need to run! Make an exit plan. Stay with family. Get yourself and your kids out of there please.

@Susie thank you for letting me know I'm not crazy. I never thought he would. He deeply loved me at one point, he loved my parents like crazy. But I kept letting him down, I don't think I ever fully let him into my heart and I feel guilty that I never really tried. And I'm failing my family. But I can't forget he hit me, he just hit me last night, he got angry at my lack of self responsibility and for lying. But I feel like I should fight for our marriage, that I don't deserve to give up on this and our family. I also won't get custody of the kids, I work full time and he is the primary caregiver so I'll be leaving them. He adores them, they are his world, I don't worry about them with him. I on the other hand am not mentally fit to take care of them on my own, I understand that so I wouldn't fight for full custody. And that makes me feel like I'm a shit mother, that they're going to think I didn't want them

I think he has manipulated you into thinking you're not good enough. You're trying your best. And he is not a good husband if he lays hands on you. It simply doesn't coexist. A man who truly loves doesn't do that. A man who is mentally stable doesn't do that. Get evidence of the bruises he's left, document everything, and we'll see who gets custody.

@Susie I think sometimes I don't try to change or fight for the marriage because deep down my soul knows it isn't safe. I have documented almost everything, I have even recorded him when he yells at me.

There is nothing to fight for if he's crossed that line. You'll never be able to trust him again unless he maybe admits himself to some hardcore therapy but that can take years

@Susie He won't go to therapy, he didn't want me to go to therapy, he says it's an excuse for someone else to fix my life. I'm in therapy in secret.

BIG red flag. There is nothing you can do but to wait for him to get worse. I'm telling you from the heart, LEAVE 🙏

@Susie thank you for listening and for bringing some sanity to my mind ❤️

Of course ❤️

Okay you may feel you have some issues and the fact you have a therapist shows you are trying to work on things BUT nothing and I mean NOTHING ever gives him the right to lay a finger on you. The fact it’s a repeated action shows he has lost respect for you and he doesn’t deserve you. He may be frustrated that life hasn’t worked out the way he planned in his head but he is as much in the wrong. Definitely speak to a professional but I think the ship has sailed here and it’s time to get out x

@Fiona I try to tell myself by being in therapy I'm working on myself but when I'm around him I feel selfish for being in therapy and that I'm not actually making any personal progress. I was never around physical aggression, that was not part of my childhood. I have come to realize that I may have been sexually assaulted by a family friend but still working through whether that is real (I have a hard time recalling memory). So I can't believe that I allowed it to happen to me, I never stood up to him about it and just take it. I logically understand no one should ever lay a hand on someone but I don't think that way with myself, I just allow it, even if it is infrequently.

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