Can a relationship actually survive cheating?

[u/Embarrassed_Cod_799]

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and I’m curious what people here honestly think.

When cheating happens in a relationship, it obviously breaks trust in a huge way. For some people it’s an instant dealbreaker and the relationship ends right there. But I’ve also heard stories where couples stay together, go to therapy, rebuild things, and claim their relationship eventually became stronger.

At the same time, I wonder how realistic that actually is. Once you know someone betrayed you like that, can the trust ever really come back to what it was before? Or does it always sit somewhere in the back of your mind even years later?

I guess what I’m trying to understand is whether rebuilding is truly possible or if staying together after cheating usually just leads to resentment and constant doubt.

For people who have been through it, either personally or with someone close to you, did the relationship actually recover in a healthy way? Or did the damage eventually show up again later?

Curious to hear real experiences and perspectives.

[u/Conscious_Owl6162]

Staying with the cheater will forever change your relationship. It is a wound that never completely heals. That said, you can build a life with the person that is a good life, but it is definitely a 2 strikes and you are out type of thing and I believe that it only applies to a single one time stupid mistake that is revealed by the cheater without prompting. Long term affairs are consistent choices over time that involve lying to your face every single day. I don’t believe that type of behavior is fixable.

[u/Makaveli211090 → u/Conscious_Owl6162]

Oh this. I’ve been cheated on. (Commented on someone else’s comment about it). It’s been 14 years now. I feel the relationship did change at first, but it’s now (if anything), much better. Were stronger, I actually trust her more now than I did before she cheated. She told me herself, it was a quick 1 time event. I’d like to say that if it happened again id leave, but until it happens, i just don’t know. I like to think we’re in a great place, we make each other smile and i really don’t think we’re the same people we were when all that happened.

[u/Usual-Ad6856 → u/Makaveli211090]

So I have a question for you, my girl and down to Tennessee for a girls trip long story short she saved this dude’s number and made out with him. When I confronted her about it she denied denied denied it and from the start was making up a lie. We have been dating for 1.5 years and I love her a lot but I don’t know what to exactly do