Is my girlfriend cheating on me? Dealing with a cheating girlfriend in a romantic relationship can be tricky, especially for partners who may are still dating. In a relationship where one partner cheats, mutual trust is violated, and respect and open communication would also be absent in these relationships. Hence, there are different ways to handle these situations.
Is your girlfriend cheating on you? Read this guide to the end to see proven ways of handling the situation.
Possible Reasons Why Your Girlfriend Cheated on You
Like every other life problem, there is the possibility of underlying reasons that may cause the bigger problem —a cheating girlfriend or infidelity, in this case. Hence, significant progress can hardly be made by handling the problem “superficially” and avoiding the underlying causes.
You may also be interested in How to Handle a Cheating Husband.
When it comes to infidelity in relationships, underlying reasons can stem from several reasons like:
Lack of Communication
Sometimes, though, poor communication results from talking incorrectly. Negative communication patterns take the place of the methods used to connect and build closeness, ultimately harming an individual’s general health.
Miscommunication can have detrimental effects on relationships that can lead to cheating. Since companionship is one reason people have relationships, communication is a vital aspect of companionship. Hence, a romantic relationship is prone to infidelity when one party feels confused or underappreciated because of things like not being listened to, passive aggression, lots of fighting, or being left out of the things going on with the other party.
Perhaps, your cheating girlfriend considered someone else because of your poor communication.
Unhappiness
Does your cheating girlfriend look unhappy? Infidelity is imminent in a romantic relationship where one experiences constant unhappiness from several other reasons like conflicts, relationship nature, physical abuse, etc.
Taking the time or making a committed effort to identify the bothering issues that cause unhappiness in the relationship, discussing them with your partner, and working together to reach agreeable solutions can prevent unhappiness from ruining a relationship.
Emotional Dissatisfaction
The emotional needs of a person are another reason behind romantic relationships. Where these emotional needs are not met, respected, or satisfied appropriately, one may resort to cheating or infidelity.
Lack of respect
Every healthy relationship needs respect, but a romantic relationship particularly needs respect to thrive over the long term. Having a great time on dates, having a great sense of humor in common, and being very loving can get a romantic relationship far. However, nothing is more crucial to a relationship than respect. Identifying the warning signals of disrespect from a partner is vital as this can help prevent infidelity.
Disrespect can take many different shapes, but it always leads to the same thing. Studies have indicated that one of the indicators of a split or infidelity is a lack of respect.
When partners have a strong sense of respect among themselves, they feel more valued, seen, and safe in a relationship. Partners can feel apprehensive, furious, and intensely resentful when respect is absent.
Individual prestige is a quality that most people have and hold in high regard. Relationships that compromise this feeling steer individuals into cheating.
Sexual compulsivity
Compulsive sexual behavior is a general term that refers to several sexual activities that society may perceive as abnormal. Infidelity is one of the behaviors that is classified as sexual compulsive behavior.
In these cases, a partner may engage in sexual activities without thought or care for personal and health safety only after feeling a compelling urge to do so.
Most times, this happens when one party has uncontrolled sexual impulses, is sexually-pleasure driven, or has a pattern of cheating in relationships.
When infidelity is the sexually compulsive behavior of a partner in a relationship, the underlying reason for the cheating partner has more to do with the individual personality and psychology than with how their partner treats them in the relationship.
How Can I Handle A Cheating Girlfriend
With the possible underlying issues addressed, you can handle a cheating girlfriend in many ways.
Build a new relationship
This method involves working through a history of cheating or infidelity to build a working and new relationship. This method is usually a potentially hurtful and emotionally damaging way of handling a cheating girlfriend.
With this method, you and your cheating girlfriend must consciously move past bouts of infidelity and cheating. A relationship expert or therapist can help in this regard. That is why seeing a therapist is highly recommended for partners who want to build a new relationship with a history of cheating.
With a therapist, partners can address uncomfortable topics and resolve them amicably and in a way that is comfortable and respectful of everyone’s feelings. Talking to a therapist can also raise questions about previous cheating experiences, and their answers can help move forward and build a new relationship.
End the relationship:
Ending the relationship is the most obvious and popularly recommended way to handle a cheating girlfriend. While this method is usually a difficult pill to swallow for most partners in love, it is the obvious and most logical step for many reasons.
As mentioned earlier in this article, mutual trust, respect, and direct communication are vital elements that maintain a relationship. When partners violate these qualities, they find it typically difficult to repair the relationship.
Working out a relationship with a cheating girlfriend alongside broken trust and disrespect is emotionally draining, and even in situations where both parties are determined to move past stints of infidelity, the subject may still linger in conversations from time to time. This is one reason other methods of handling a cheating girlfriend are not ideal.
Another reason is that a cheating partner can manipulate or capitalize on a partner’s naivety to keep the relationship going.
When it comes to ending a relationship, these are the vital steps to take:
- Confirm suspicions
Though this is not a very elaborate measure, once a partner is suspicious of the partner’s fidelity, they should proceed to confirm suspicions. This step is vital to avoid a false basis for ending a relationship. Carry out this step by asking the suspected cheating partner direct questions concerning their actions or behaviors that raised doubts.
- Make the Hard Decision
Once infidelity suspicions have been confirmed, proceed to end the relationship. It’s that simple!
Express your decision to your partner simply and clearly. Maintaining a distance is vital to following through with this important decision. For most partners, this may involve moving out. Depending on the nature of the relationship, cutting all forms of communication may or may not be possible. So, where possible, limit communications to logistical reasons only. Anything beyond that is counterproductive to the breakup decision.
Get Tested
As a medical and personal health precautionary measure, getting a medical check-up after a breakup is recommended. It does not matter if condoms or other STI prevention methods were used during the relationship because some STIs can only be prevented by abstinence. Don’t wait for symptoms before visiting the hospital; good health is a priority.
Accept that the breakup was inevitable without feeling bad about it: This is where most people falter. Taking the blame for a broken relationship is a counterproductive measure that can reignite a toxic relationship or cause self-loathing. Accepting the breakup was inevitable without feeling bad about it is vital for healing, growing, and building trust with other people again.
Resort to An Open Relationship
Resolving to an open relationship is another method of handling a cheating girlfriend. This method involves being polyamorous. This would mean having a relationship where both partners can seek romance and have sexual activities with other people while still in a relationship. Some people may not be very comfortable with this type of arrangement.
In a polyamorous or open relationship, both partners can decide to okay only sexual relationships and avoid romantic relationships, while some can permit both kinds of external relationships. To resort to an open relationship, both partners would have to agree on the nature of the open relationship.
Uninhibited communication also plays a key role in a successful polyamorous or open relationship. Expectations, boundaries, and respect are hot topics that should always be emphasized. Reassurances may also be necessary for most open relationships to work.
Finally, polyamory is not compulsory. Most people may choose not to accept the idea of polyamory because they are simply not comfortable with it or have doubts about their ability to maintain or handle a polyamorous relationship. Whatever the case, the idea of a polyamorous relationship should not be forced.
Final Thought
In conclusion, cheating in a relationship is a major disrespect, except in an open or polyamorous relationship. To handle this type of situation in the best way possible, it is important to first evaluate if a relationship is worth saving before proceeding to save it
If it doesn’t worth it, it is ideal to communicate openly and moving forward into a more comfortable and respectable relationship.
Perhaps, in the future, you will find someone who will detest cheating as much as you do and work together to build a healthy relationship.
