Originally Posted by
BCJC
My ex (whom I was with for 10 years), had an affair with the guy who played guitar in her band. You know, like the one male in the group, who she spent countless evenings and weekends away with, who I wasn't allowed to feel jealous about... Yeah, she left me and immediately started dating him in our small town of 1600 people.
It was very rough, to say the least.
I didn't handle it well. I kept trying to find some kind of understanding of how this person, who I trusted so much, could betray that trust so fucking terribly. Hindsight being what it is, I now see that I wasted a lot of time and energy on this, and really should have focused on moving forward.
This, for me, entailed accepting that I don't control a whole fucking shit ton of stuff in the world. Also, that not everyone thinks and holds the same moral standards as I do. This last one was a tough pill to swallow, especially when you think you know/relate to someone so much. A good buddy told me "She turned out not to be who you thought she was.", and he was right.
So, imo, you don't have to forgive, you don't have to forget, yada yada yada. But you do have to move on. And for me, changing the focus from "Letting IT go" (ie, forgiveness etc in my mind), to "Letting go OF it" (Calling poison what it is, and purging).
Good luck fella. I will almost guarantee you in one short year you will have grown and changed and learned quite a bit.