How to Overcome Infidelity: 9 Tips
Infidelity is a very complicated situation since it breaks the bonds of trust you created with your partner as well as the idealization of the person you love. Whether you decide to continue a relationship with them or not, getting over what happened is an important process and something you should work on.
5-Minute Crafts will show you some tips that might help you.
1. Seek professional assistance.
Being cheated on in a relationship is not a normal thing, nor is it something you have to put up with if you don’t want to. Whether or not to forgive your partner is a decision you must make on your own. If you decide to continue with that relationship, it’s of the utmost importance to regain trust in the other person if you still can. Either way, going to therapy will be useful for you to work on your issues, heal, and move on whichever way you choose to go.
2. Take your time.
Giving yourself some time to think things over clearly can help you change your mindset. This is very important because it will allow you to see the whole situation in a different way. For example, many people tend to idealize their partner. In these cases, at some point, it will be important to face the music and understand that things were not as great as you thought. This time of reflection will help you to have more clarity and ultimately reach a state in which you can forgive yourself and your partner. You can even take some time off from social media to better cope with the situation.
3. Express your emotions.
Express your emotions in whatever way you feel most comfortable with. For example, you could write down everything you feel in a diary, go to your room and cry, or even scream into a pillow if that’s what you need to get all those feelings out. The main goal is to remember that there’s no need to keep all these emotions inside and that there are ways in which you can express them without having to make your feelings public.
4. Don’t be afraid of being sad.
Before you start any sort of healing process, it’s important to understand that things might not be great for a while. However, that doesn’t mean you have to stay in a constant state of pain and suffering. This will pass as long as you also accept that sadness is part of the process of healing. A very simple example of this is that sadness can provoke crying, which can eventually produce relief since it can release endorphins. Keep in mind that sticking to suffering for long periods of time can provoke harmful reactions in your body, like headaches, pains, and muscle spasms.
5. Forgive people to get past the issue.
Forgiving someone that didn’t treat you right is very important and it’s a part of the healing process. After all, what you’re actually doing by forgiving this person is coming to terms with what happened, and that, in turn, will allow you to move on. If you hold a grudge against this person, that can be harder to do. Of course, it’s not something that can or should happen immediately. But just starting to work on it will be a major breakthrough.
6. Accept the situation.
Dealing with infidelity is a process that will vary depending on each person’s emotional resources. Some people will be prone to accept the situation as it is, no matter how painful that can be. Others will try to avoid that pain by ignoring the fact that something bad happened. Experts recommend, however, not procrastinating on the matter or pretending that nothing happened, as it will only cause you to delay your healing.
7. Avoid uncomfortable situations.
If you know the person your partner cheated on you with, it’s best to keep your distance. This is mainly to avoid falling into vicious cycles if you’ve already made progress. Perhaps this includes making some kind of modification to your various routines or your circle of friends, but it’s important to do that anyway.
8. Preserve your self-esteem.
The best way to keep your self-esteem from being affected in a situation like this is not to blame yourself for what happened. That will only make you ask yourself a lot of questions and start comparing yourself to the third person, and in most cases, unnecessarily. You weren’t the one who cheated, so there’s nothing you have to feel guilty about at this point. But this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t analyze what happened in your relationship.
9. Be sincere in order to move forward.
Being honest with yourself, your partner, and others will help you work on the weak points of the relationship in order to improve it and reach mutual agreements. Whether the relationship goes on or not, it’s important to clarify things, as it’s the best way to deal with any situation, not just cheating. Learning this might prevent more drama.