Wounded Husband’s 2nd Email: Confronting the Other Person

This husband’s wife reconnected with an old boyfriend (someone she was engaged to) after 20 + years of marriage.

You can find his first letter here.

Please leave your comments, questions, insights and concerns below. Remember, we are hear to learn not to be dogmatic. BTW, for those of you who have read Break Free From the Affair, which of the 7 types of affairs do you suppose this is?

Second email:
Hi (OP’s name) ….hope you are well.

It has been almost 4 months since I last communicated with you. However, as a husband, father, and man….I am touching base with you one more time in order to clarify my thoughts, requests and intentions.

I am asking that you keep this between you and me.

As you know (wife’s name) and I have challenges which we are still working through. However, they were complicated by her reconnection with you. The original communications between you and (wife’s name)…even you would have to admit that 37 hours of phone calls, 2200 text messages (30 – 40 a day?), and numerous other emails, etc. in a 9 week time period was more than excessive. If you don’t believe my stats, let me know, I can send you the phone records. I don’t know how (op’s wife’s name) your wife would feel about that, but from any vantage point it was not even close to appropriate. If you think that your connection with (wife’s name) was “just friends”, feel free to Google the term Emotional Affair or Emotional Infidelity for an eye opening experience.

The bottom line…..I am asking you to please do yourself justice and focus on YOUR relationship with YOUR wife and children without involving my wife and family any further. Your personal problems with your job and wife should be dealt with by you and you alone. “Forever and Always” needs to stay in the past….not further tag lines on emails to my wife. Sure….I get it….fond memories of an old flame are normal….but they need to stay in the past as memories. You “let her go” once before and I’m sure that you can do it again.

(OP’s name)… my hope is that you respectfully decline or at the very least severely limit any future communications or pre-planned and “accidental” meetings with my wife. You can do it in a kind, compassionate, yet respectful manner. Keeping things professional and above board. But…further contact with (wife’s name), the sharing of intimate relationship details/problems, and other interactions is not healthy for ANY of us. Focus on your family and their future….they need you now more than ever and I will focus on mine. I respectfully advise you to do this in the hope that (wife’s name) and I can regain trust in one another and recover what any dignity is left in our marriage. I do not know your current relationship with (op’s wife’s name)….but I cannot believe she would not be hurt, upset, and betrayed by your actions, conversations, and involvement with my wife.

This should not be some sort of Romeo and Juliet situation with the allure of forbidden contact. We are not teenagers or college students…..this is real life and the decisions we make….actions we take ….all affect our families and children. It is not a harmless game.

Please take the high road on this.

I ask again that you respect my position on keeping this between us and I will respect the same position with you.

I wish you well with your life. Should you want to respond I will be receptive.

Thank you.

(husband’s name)

P.S. I asked my reader, the wounded husband, to fill me in on what happens. Might be interesting!

Infidelity Q&A #5: Do I Confront the Other Person?

I had over 300 people write me with their stories about confronting the other
person, and to be honest, I was quite surprised by the results.

I thought that confronting the other person would be a disaster in most cases.

That’s not what I found to be true. Many people found confronting the other person
to be very, very helpful. Now maybe those that experienced it as a disaster didn’t
write or didn’t respond to me, but I doubt that that’s true.

So let’s take a look: Should you confront the other person?

I found that when a person who’s very nice, accommodating, a pleasant person to be
around – first discovers infidelity, that person may feel a terrible sense of
victimization and helplessness.

And instead of holding back, which may be typical for them, they confronted the
other person. They let it fly, and let it fly in very powerful ways.

They didn’t say very nice things. They didn’t hold back what they were thinking.
They didn’t break the law and didn’t hurt anybody, but they at least confronted the
other person very strongly.

And most people reported that they walked away from that confrontation feeling
empowered. Not much was accomplished, but they felt better about themselves. And
they moved from this sense of being a victim to: “I have a little influence here,
and it feels good.”

There are those who typically are reactive, are blunt, are bold, and who want to get
in there and confront the other person initially. If that’s a personality trait or
personality pattern – I suggest you hold back.

Be reluctant to use that pattern on the other person. What that may do – if you
confront the other person with your directness and your power – is fuel the flames
of the affair. You become the person that he and she talk about and move them closer
together.

Here’s another tip: Don’t expect help from the other person. The other person is not
probably going to be accommodating or be truthful. Because after all, an affair is
based upon “mis-truth,” so why should you expect the other person to be truthful or
to be helpful? That probably is not going to happen.

The exception to that rule is in the kind of affair I call “I Don’t Want to Say No.”
Now, if you confront the other person in that kind of affair, the other person maybe
shocked and may start sharing stories of how your cheating spouse also conned or
manipulated that person. And in some cases, the other person and the person that’s
been cheated upon become good friends over a period of time.

If there’s an impasse, if the affair has been going on for a long time and there
doesn’t seem to be any movement, sometimes it’s helpful to intervene by confronting
the other person
. The confrontation generates movement.

This is especially true for the Affair #4: “I Fell Out of Love and Just Love Being
in Love.” That kind of affair is based on a lot of juice, and secrets generate the
juice that keeps that relationship sparked.

By confronting the other person in the “I Fell Out of Love and Just Love Being in
Love” kind of affair, you may take away the juice. You take away the secret, and the
power of that affair is diminished at that particular point in time.

So if you face that kind of affair that becomes an option for you. And often, it’s a
helpful option in terms of breaking up the secrecy and the power of that type of
affair.

I highly recommend – with the “I Need to Prove My Desirability” kind of affair -
that you be reluctant to confront the other person. I don’t think it’s that helpful
in that kind of affair. As a matter of fact, it may be harmful, and there are
reasons for that that I don’t want to get into at this moment.

If you want to confront the other person, make it a plan.

Rehearse what you’re going to say in your mind; maybe practice with someone else. Be
prepared. Imagine the different scenarios that might emerge.

Go into the confrontation with an open mind, and be able to hold yourself by using
“charging neutral.” That probably will give you the best results.

Video: http://www.break-free-from-the-affair.com/blog/?s=confront+the+other+person

Infidelity: Taking Away the Juice

Charging neutral takes place when you refuse to play any games. You refuse to buy into the old patterns that created confusion, angst and destruction. This is often what is taught in marriage counseling.
In the case study below, note how charging neutral took away the “juice” that his spouse and the other person were obviously receiving from his participation in the triangle. As well, the man, in attempting to deal with his cheating wife, rediscovered his personal power.

Case Study #2:

I have just had a recent conversation with my wife, and although she currently lives with another man we are trying to get through this infidelity after 24 years of marriage. She filed for Divorce soon after leaving and moving in with her new lover. We are trying to settle our legal matters and I am informed by “him” that they are in love, and plan to get engaged and marry as soon as they get the divorce decree. Instead of ranting or raving or getting excited, I charged neutral and said “Well, that’s nice.”, in a calm tone, “maybe it will work for you.” I felt a silence at the other end that I felt surprisingly seemed to empower me. I said “I let go of her, you can have her now.” This seemed to take some of “his” power away; he didn’t know what to do with this because he thought being with my wife really bothered me, so the more I fussed the more it powered him, so I’ve learned a new technique. When I spoke with her I said, “So we should finish up and sign the Divorce papers so you can move on and get married” in a calm, confident tone. Again, there was a moment of silence. It was although she was expecting something else, for me to make a big fuss about it…..and…I didn’t. Then she tried to tell me what a great sex life they have together, great sex every night! I said, “That’s nice, good for you, maybe it’s what you needed.” So to me this felt more empowering, by taking away their power over me, to think it would tear me apart and hurt me more, but I wouldn’t let that happen. So although this is a work in progress, “Charging Neutral” can be very powerful when used at the right time. It will be interesting to see how long a “re-bound” marriage can last without giving time to heal from a previous one. I like to view it as he will be marrying “Mrs. Sampsonite”, because he’ll be carrying her baggage for a long time.

Charging neutral can be a powerful and empowering tool whether you know of the infidelity or only see signs of infidelity.

And, charging neutral is not a tool only used when facing infidelity or an extramarital affair. It can be used with tremendous benefits in all realms of life that tend to set us on edge.