Why do we put up with all of this?
As I'm reading through all the posts here, I can't help but think that we are all truly suffering here at the hands of our spouses and their children. Of couse, I know that there is the other side of it, too. There are definitely days where I am truly grateful to be part of this family and really enjoy it and feel like I'm benefitting from it in some way, and if you look at the millions of pictures I've taken over the years, you can see the true joy that I have shared with my family, but of course, there are no pictures of the sadness, lonliness, feelings of betrayal, or the countless times I've literally ran away with my stuff in a bag, knowing that if I left, I'd be homeless, but feeling that that might actually be better than this. And if you read through all these posts, you cannot not feel the true sorrow and pain that we all continue to experience.
So, is it worth it?
Do the good days make up for the bad ones?
Does your spouses conditional love make up for the pain he/she causes you?
Are we just afraid of being lonely? Do we not have anywhere else to turn?
Maybe we just have never-ending hope that this will somehow change, go away, or get better?
What is it?
Good questions. All of
Good questions. All of them.
Answer from MWC: Every relative I had has passed away in the last 6 years.
I did not want to be lonely.
(There, was truthful.) Blind, but honest.
I comes down to one
I comes down to one question, really "would my life be better with out my dh?" Note I said BETTER, not EASIER. Big difference. I love my dh with every ounce of my being. He's been with me through some of the worst moments of my life and he loves me more than anything else. Does his baggage cause me stress? Absolutely, but he brings me great feelings of love, compassion, and brings out the best in me.
"A pessimist complains about the wind, an optimist counts on the wind changing, a realist adjusts his sails"