Do you still believe in love?

[sasha1]

...and marriage? If yes, did you have a period following separation where you didn't believe in love anymore, and how did you get past that? If no, do you think you ever will? What is it doing to you/for you to not believe anymore? Just curious as to the 'healing curve' out there... it would be helpful if everyone who posts also says how long he/she were in the relationship, and how long ago it ended.

[Divorcemanagement]

This is a very interesting question and it could conceivably be answered with further questions:

- The person you once loved is now divorcing you (or vice versa) is it because you fell out of love or because there simply wasn't enough love to make it work?

- Is your life, your baggage, your personal demons, one of the reasons that you met and fell in love with the person you are now divorcing?

- If you are now an emotionally healthier and happier person, would you be attracted to and possibly fall in love with someone who shares the same traits as your former spouse - or is there someone with different traits you might be hoping to meet?

I believe (and trust me, I am speaking from personal experience here) that often we meet, seemingly fall in love with, marry and ultimately divorce someone who we loved for all the wrong reasons. The person we were when we met that person might have been a completely different person than the person you are now - for me, I couldn't deal with the possibility of being alone. During my failed marriage, I compromised myself to a point where my fear of being alone (or being abandoned) caused me to literally become someone I am not. Everything I did in that marriage, every decision I made was made from the context of ensuring that I wouldn't be alone, that I wouldn't be abandoned.

Yet the marriage still failed.

So I forced myself to be alone. I had to embrace the fact that I came into this world alone and that I will leave this world alone - I had to make peace with my own vulnerabilities and teach myself that I could be alone and still matter.

And it was painful. It was hard to do. I made tremendous mistakes on that journey.

But I did conquer that demon. I took the experience of divorce and redefined my life based on an acceptance of who I am. I taught myself to never again sacrifice my sense of self for the sake of a relationship and it changed my life - for the better.

My former spouse is a good woman and an exceptional mother. She will probably be an excellent wife for the right person - I was not the right person for her and my divorce taught me that she was definitely not the right person for me.

As my heart and soul have now healed, I can look at love from a healthier and more realistic perspective. I have learned that "it's not what you're doing, it's who you are with" that is important. I have learned to emphasize sharing for the sake of sharing - with no conditions attached. Finally, as Bilbo said in The Fellowship of the Ring, I learned "it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life".

[Grace]

Sean, I pictured you as the guy with the perfect marriage. Sorry to hear that you too have suffered hardships from your own personal experience. I also commend you for speaking highly about your ex as an excellent mother. That will only serve your child/ren well in the future. I hope it is a two way street, and your ex also feel that way about you as a parent.

Mind if I ask what your custody arrangements are??? Or if you are a support payor???

[Divorcemanagement]

Grace:

Will send you a private message.

[alreadydid3]

The question that came to my mind was.... Do your children believe in love? That one bothers me because my daughter's attitude is you can't trust anyone but yourself so don't even try.

[princess_leia]

I come from a family of divorces. My mom and dad divorced when I was 8. Mom got remarried and divorced again and just when I thought no one else was going to get divorced my grandparents split up and eventually divorced. Both my parents are remarried again and have been for 15 years, but things were tough for a while. I think it's normal for kids of divorced parents to be very leary of marriage and love, but they can also learn from it too. I've been married for over 9 years now and still in love. Not to say it hasn't been tough at times, but we have learned that you have to work at a marriage to make it work. For us divorce is not an option.

[scrapmom]

hello to all

What have I learned from being married for almost 9 years and now being separated for the last 6 months is that I can make it on my own that I am still lonely but will not settle for second best. I do agree that you become a different person as your marriage goes on. I feel that I became stronger and more dedicated when my children came along. I had hopes that my husband would grow and change to with time but that didn't happen. He was a very me oriented person and still is. We have gone through alot of struggles, mishaps and just plain bad luck and through it all I felt I was the one to keep things going well when the time came I needed some extra support I didn't get it. I suffered from post partum depression with my second son He is also delayed so it was alot to deal with at once. It didn' matter how many times I asked for help he was so caught up in his own issues that mine and the children came in last. I sought help through counselling. It was a hard decision for me to make but I finally decided that I was better off on my own and so our the children. We are still ironing out all the detail but he blames me for everything. Do I hope to meet someone new? Yes I do but I now have this experience behind me and do know that I want someone who I can lean on as well. Will I ever marry again?I don't know because now I have my children to consider. Here is a question? If you could go back would you do the same thing or something totally different. The way I look at it if i hadn't met My husband then i wouldn't have my boys and right now they are the loves of my life and is what keeps me going. Thanks to the writer of this original post it feels good to get this out and I hope it might help someone else. Thanks

[my2suns]

ahhh yes, and in fact, it's better the 2nd time around. Better yet if it's the 2nd time around for both of you. You live and learn, make mistakes, and learn to live again.

[hairspan]

For me, it seemed like as soon as I took my mind off love for a while and started focusing on other things, it came back 10 times better than before.

[Winter34]

I believe in love but NOT marriage. I have never been married and have never been happier!! I was engaged once but I called it off because I siad I would never share a bed or a bathroom with ANYONE! Words to live by!