My Wife Forgave Me For Cheating – How Do I Forgive Myself?
It’s one thing to know that your wife forgives you for cheating. It’s another thing to look in the mirror and forgive yourself. You’re a good man. You work hard to provide for your family. You love your wife and your children. You only want what’s best for all of them. So, how on earth did you find yourself in this terrible mess?
Put things in Perspective
You’re not the first man to ask that question. You’re also not the worst husband in the world as a result. It’s easy to blame yourself. You feel as though everyone else blames you. The thing is you don’t feel as though you went to bed and suddenly woke up channeling pure evil.
Cheating is wrong but the last time I checked we mortals are all flawed and we all do things, all the time, that are wrong. We try to be good. We struggle to be good. For the most part, we are good. That doesn’t mean that we don’t occasionally slip above the speed limit. It doesn’t mean that we’ve never forgotten to pay the gas bill by it’s due date.
We make mistakes every day. As much as you dislike admitting it, the odds are good that you’ll make a mistake, tell a little white fib, or even have an evil thought about a coworker, boss, or mother-in-law (perhaps all three) tomorrow.
When you put things in perspective it’s easier to see that cheating is a mistake. It’s also a little bit easier to live with the fact that you’ve made a mistake. It’s one of the bigger ones but it doesn’t automatically put you on par with some of the truly evil people throughout history.
Go Forth and Sin no More
It seems a little simplistic and yet it’s all the truth you really need. You can dwell on the past so much that it paralyzes your future or you can promise yourself, and the people you love, that you will do better in the future. One path goes nowhere while the other path confronts the future head on.
You don’t have to revel in the fact that you’ve cheated but the sooner you manage to forgive yourself and stop punishing yourself for cheating, the sooner you can really assess the damage and come up with a plan of action that involves a better future for you and your wife. If nothing else, it shows you trust her judgment and appreciate the faith she placed in you by offering you her forgiveness.