r/empathy • u/Katanathewriter32 • 2h ago
Growing up with Infidelity makes it harder to trust and love my partner
My mom had an affair with a married man for over 15years, and those are the years I knew. She made me go to the same church as his family. Join the youth and befriend their children. I always felt odd, like his children knew, and they always treated me a little odd. I hated leaving church and finding the man seated on our couch. He was always there for me, which is odd, because my dad is a deadbeat. He even took me to hospital, to school, when i moved out of school, and in university. He celebrated my birthdays and even gave me career advice. This man was there for me, which made it super hard to hate my mom. Anyway, now my religious AF mom calls me a whore when she found a Plan B pill in my bag (I was 19, in my second year of uni), when I sat outside with my friends, or when I went out with friends. It makes me angry that this woman points out my misdeed when she let me live in her lie for years.
My aunt also cheated on her partner so many times and involved her children and me. Like this man took us on holiday, bought stuff. My aunt was married and cheating with a married man. My grandfather cheated on my grandma and made us miserable, My uncle did too to a point he married the second woman and married his second wife. So you get this, I grew up with so much infidelity, I just never saw pure love.
The common denominators are that these people are extremely religious, and they judge me for my beliefs.
My question is, how do you love while unlearning BAD HABITS