Lauren, thank you.... your post was excellent read, simple- direct and clear, for SO who encountered a cheating partner.
While many women/men are in the dark about their significant others. Many of us will go from one hurtful situation or failed relationship to another without giving any thought whatsoever to why or how our relationships keep failing. May be the answer is in your post.
Originally Posted by Lucky40
I've meditated on this quite a bit.
I think the answer is in the both partners acknowledging the other has the right to change, the right to be an individual outside of their relationship, the right to spend time apart, and most importantly, the right to psychological privacy.
This Hollywood idea of romance, love and marriage will kill a relationship in the long term. I think movie portrayals or romance and relationships is a major problem. Women grow up with stupid expectations, only to be devastated, feel cheated and wronged, feel like the have settled and then deny their partner access to their body as punishment, when they realize that the story book romance isn't a reality and will slowly build a rift.
I've always been fond of foreign movies, because couples scream at each other, throw things, go through angst and conflict, just like in real life.