Is it wrong?

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  • chubbybunnee
    chubbybunnee Posts: 198 Member
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    Ok I hadn't seen ur other comment when I made my post. I stil belive that but id does sound like ptsd from an outsiders opinion. Does he go to therapy alone too? That may help. I wish you the best and hope it works out but I've seen guys come back from war and it changes who they are. Sometimes its hard to understand. But it still boils down to willingsness to compromise. Obviosuly he is going through some things. Can u try to support this until he gets some therapy and you continue to work on ur relationship? Not cut out ur friends but say ok I will not talk to them until we resolve our issues? Just an idea! Good luck!

    Yes, I would be more then willing to meet him halfway and work this out, I just felt blindsided by all of this.
    He went to therapy while he was getting out of the army and then stopped. I see a counselor on my own and see the same one in marriage counseling. Whe we go to marriage counseling I let him do almost all the talking because I want him to open up more. Most of the time the counselor will let us argue for a minute then take us back and tell us where the communication went wrong. A lot of the time, I will say something simple like " I would be happier if he helped me more around the house" but then he would say "oh, do you are saying I'm a useless piece of crap..." etc.. so he takes things I say to the extreme and out of context. Me asking for more help just mean throwing out his beer can instead of leaving it next to the computer, or maybe just not leaving trash on the coffee table. I am not trying to put him down, it's just something that would make me happier so I get it out in therapy. He started thinking the marriage counselor was on my side and hasn't gone the past 3 sessions. When the couselor told me not to have guy friends it was during one of my one on ones. I have a friend thats a guy who is married with 2 small children and we worked out together one day and he showed me how to use the weights and such and I was telling the counselor how nice it is to have friends to help me and he said having friends of the opposite sex can be dangerous because you bond with them more then your spouse, but honestly, I probably bond more with my counselor with my spouse because he always seems to understand what I am trying to say without judging me. lol. I don't have guy friends I'm attracted to. I don't hang out with guy friends alone in our homes or alone at bars, we are in groups with other people and girls. The only time I hung out with a guy alone was at the gym and like I said, married with 2 kids and no attraction. If hanging out with guys bugged him, I can work with that, but deleting everyone off facebook, it's jsut too extremem for me and I'd feel like I'd be losing a part of myself. I will find out more when we talk. I am begging him to go back to one on one therapy so well see if he decides to go back or not. He doesn't like talking to people so he was never big on it. I wish he had more friends to talk to and connect with so he would open up more. Sometimes I can be super mad at him and a friend will put me in my place and tell me that I'm flat out wrong and that will wake me up and I will go to him and apologise. He doesn't have that. When he gets mad or thinks a certain way, he has nothing to break him out of that way of thinking because he keeps to himself. I am huge on listening to people and forming my own conclusion based on the information provided. I think it makes you a better person to look at all sides and hear everyone out, weather you believe the same thing or not. He doesn't think like me and doesn't want other people's opinions so when we have discussions about things that upset us, I have to almost play therapist for the both of us and find out where his anger came from, what provoked it, what I can change, what can prevent it in the future, etc...He never looks at my point of view so we always end up agreeing to disagree. I am the main giver in the relationship and I have never had a major problem with it until now. I think PTSD may have a lot to do with it, but I just never know. He's not the same guy anymore. I wish he would open up to me and talk to me but sometimes, it just doesn't happen. I am going to try to be nice when he gets home and talk about other things in his life and she if there is something else triggering the feelings he has about my friends. Maybe he's sad that other people share the same lifestyle as me and he doesn't so it makes him insecure and sad? I won't know until I ask him. I don't want to think he's cheating on me...we made a pact when we got married that if we no longer wanted to be together we would get divorced and not cheat on each other. We are both honest when it comes to serious issues like that. Neither of us want to look for other people or give up on this relationship. It's not easy for everyone. The war messes with people. He will never be the same person again and I am trying to evolve everyday and learn how to change and learn how to live with the changes and still not lose myself. If we had met after he had been to war, we would not have gotten married. We probably wouldn't even have met each other. We originally met through a guy friend of mine. He was his best friend. We all hung out all summer and went swimming, hiking, horseback riding, four wheeling, eating out a lot, going to movies, etc...we loved being together. Now he's an introvert. Hates crowds, doesn't like talking on the phone..etc...our lives would be so different....but we took our vows and I am determined to stand by him regardless of his changes, because he stuck with me through back surgery and my flaws. If it ever gets abusive or if he cheats on me, those are the only exceptions where I would leave. I want us to have a happy ending, but he's gotta let me in and let me know what he is feeling and why, not just putting demands out on the table.
  • jalapenos
    jalapenos Posts: 345 Member
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    like Harry told Sally...men and women cant be friends...the sex thing always gets in the way

    love that movie!
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    You should read some Dr. Harley. He has a theory of a "love bank." This is an account with everyone you know-male and female. When your husband makes you upset, you withdrawal love units. When things are good, you deposit them. However, you also deposit love units (sometimes unwittingly) into other men's "accounts." When you are having tough times with your DH and good times with your "friends," sometimes their accounts end up bigger than you're DH's account... this is when affairs tend to happen.

    no. It's best if you do NOT have individual male friends. Mutual friends (that are his chums also) are AOK. Same for him-he shouldn't have his own female friends-only mutual friends. It just isn't appropriate, IMO, and opens the door for affairs.
    Wow, that's good.
    It's common sense, but this puts a psychological twist on what we all just kind of know already.
    I'd be banging my lady friends left and right, and now I know why.
    Same goes for my wife.

    Sometimes it's best to just not put yourself in certain situations.
    It's just foolish.
    And that is why an objective marriage counselor advised against the OP hanging out with male friends.
    It's an obvious prescription for something worse.
  • MaximalLife
    MaximalLife Posts: 2,447 Member
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    So, in a few paragraphs people are convinced he is a controlling a$$hat that doesn't trust her and needs to suck it up and deal?

    I don't get that. This is a marriage, not choosing whether or not to goodwill a handbag.

    We have no clue his side of the story. How often are you out with them? How late? How much time on the Internet? Does your husband know these people? Is he invited out every time with you? Has she ever lied about who she's out with? How often does she choose to spend time with her husband over her friends when he asks?

    OP: My point is simply that no one here knows the story... So it's unlikely this thread can help your marriage any. If you're just venting knock yourself out, but I hope you take it with a grain of salt.

    Let's see....He stays home 24/7 and works on guns all day with chemicals in the house even knowing that I have breathing problems and he's a smoker and refuses to quit even though I had a pulmonary embolism 6 months ago and can't be around smoke. I invite him out everywhere I go and he always has a headache and never wants to go. I am out fo the house from 9am when I go to the gym until 5p.m. when I get finished running errands, working out, and finally come home to cook dinner. Never lied about who I was with. I am totally against lying about things like that because that is what causes trust issues. I will flat out tell him, Sarah, Zach, and Chloe are going to the bar and I'm meeting them there, then coming home...etc.... I always ask him if he wants to do anything before I ask my friends and he always has excuses why he doesn't like going out and being around "crowds" of people and can;t stand "noise". So sometimes I stay home with him, and other times, I go out if he has a headache and just wants to go to bed early. And oh yeah, I bought him his vehicle he drives now, put the down payment on our house, and was the one to suggest marriage counseling when we were filing for divorce. As far as I'm concerned, I am doing everything I can to keep him AND me happy. The fact that he still uses chemicals in the house and smokes around me makes me angry and yes, I vent, but with all those faults, I was still trying to work through it.

    Here is an example of why he is mad at me today:

    I post a photo of me on facebook. It is the same one as my profile pic. My before and after.
    I get 18 comments from friends. about half were from guys. Single, married, gay...the whole enchilada.
    Here were some of the comments: "Good Job"," Looking Good", "I Dig It", "Proud of you!"
    He was mad that I have males as friends on facebook! None of the ones who commented even live in our state. Some are old collegues, some are my siblings friends, some are my old friends...it doesn't matter. He does not want me to talk to boys!
    Oh boy.....
    I now see more of the real picture.
    In a nutshell, your marriage is over.
    It's time for you to just move on with your life.
    Your husband knows with you losing weight, it's just a matter of time. And you know it as well.

    Yep, this marriage is DONE. No offense; you posted all this dirty laundry here, and that is what I see.
    It'll hurt for a season, and then all will be well once you're with somebody else more compatible.
    That is just life sometimes.

    Again, best of luck to you.
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
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    OP - why do you need to see your friends? Is it literally to just chat with them or do you gain approval on the way you look? Are you looking to be made feel more attractive again (that feeling may have gone from the marriage?) by the comments or are you simply looking to relax?
  • piezoeyjune
    piezoeyjune Posts: 186 Member
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    A man that wants to separate you from your friends, male or female, will then take the next step to separate you from your family. That is the first indication of a potential abuse problems.

    On that note, have you invited him out with your friends? So he can see exactly what the relationship is? The softball team restriction is just plain stupid and I again note my first thought here.

    So, honestly, make sure there are other reasons to want to save the marriage. B/c this guy would make me nervous.
    (Oh, and as a child of divorce I would like to say that saving it "for the kids" is a load of bs b/c your kids WILL be adversely affected in the future b/c of your relationship.)

    Sorry.
  • FionaAnne22
    FionaAnne22 Posts: 178 Member
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    There is nothing wrong with having friends of the opposite sex...I do, my partner does...I trust him, he trusts me...can't really say any more than that. And also, whoever said males and females can't be friends because of sex, that isn't true, and I'm sure lots of people would agree with me.
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
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    There is nothing wrong with having friends of the opposite sex...I do, my partner does...I trust him, he trusts me...can't really say any more than that. And also, whoever said males and females can't be friends because of sex, that isn't true, and I'm sure lots of people would agree with me.

    Surely it depends on the reasoning of why she wants to? To hang out and chat, flat out utterly agree.

    If its because it makes her feel young, free and attractive then she needs to ask questions of what she actually wants and if its marriage?
  • KimmieBrie
    KimmieBrie Posts: 825 Member
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    Seems like a control issue.... but that's just from the little I've read that you've posted.

    The fact that you are in counseling screams there are other issues as well, not just this.

    I work with mostly men - therefore, I have male friends. I text them, talk to them, hang out with them at work things... or after work sometimes. My husband has friends all over the country - male and female.I've met many of his single female friends. I like them. I would never ask him to give them up. I would never complain there are females on his facebook. I would never care if my husband was on a co-ed sports team. Why? Because I am not threatened by them and I do not feel our relationship is threatened by them.

    It seems like he is trying to isolate you, feels threatened by other men, is insecure, and has trust and control issues. But that's just based on what's posted here.

    Why should anyone be forced to give up friends they've had since before the marriage? Or delete men from facebook? Or not be allowed to play on a co-ed sports team? Why if you love someone would you want to change them and restrict them? If you love and trust them - these are non issues. I do not understand why some are saying it's OK for him to demand this and she should bend over to please her husband. I disagree entirely. HE has issues. He needs to deal with them. I suspect even if she eliminated all contact with men he'd still have them. I'm all for compromise in marriage. I'm all for trying to please your spouse.... but I am not for changing the essence and independence of your life partner. And I'm against emotional blackmail ie: If you love me, you would do it.
  • 10acity
    10acity Posts: 798 Member
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    It sounds like you made your decision. Hanging out with single male friends takes precedence over your husband's desire for you not to do so.

    Agreed. If it is an issue for your husband, whether or not you think it should be, you need to treat it as such. If you want to save your marriage (as your seeing a counselor suggests), I think you need to take this a little more seriously. If you told him something made you uncomfortable, would you want him to respond with "oh well, too bad!" ? You married this person, which means what he thinks and says carries much more weight than what anyone else thinks or says. Your vow to honor him requires that you not treat this so lightly.
  • Lose_It_Leo
    Lose_It_Leo Posts: 91 Member
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    I think you should change marraige councellor. This one obviously is as open-minded as a teaspoon.
  • Ro0kins_Wedding
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    Like others have said, relationships are all about trust. If you don't have that the relationship will fail.

    99% of my friends are female but my partner trusts me and I trust her with her male friends so it isn't a problem.
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
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    He doesn't like me bring on a coed softball team?
    Clearly he has recently-developed issues, it may be that it's not your marriage that needs counselling, it's your husband. Or it may be that something has happened to make him think in terms of friends of the opposite sex becoming sexual partners - perhaps if he's not having an affair himself, he's just learned of someone else who has?
    I just feel like he's trying to cut me off from my friends and they were all there for me when he was not so it's like he's taking away my support system...
    That must be so hard for you, it's important not to feel isolated especially when you're getting so little fun in your day to day married life. Have you tried calmly explaining that to him?

    Yes there are "dangers" in some women having male friends, but personally as someone who has very little in common with the majority of women I meet, I have always had a lot of male friends and never viewed them as potential lovers, nor does my partner who is currently working 3,000 miles away.

    Him wanting you to remove male friends from facebook (especially friends from out of state when you never leave home!) isn't a problem, it's a symptom.

    Good luck getting this sorted, it sounds as if you do want to try and make this work, I hope that letting off some steam on here has helped. :smile:

    EDITED TO ADD: As for him never going out, never wanting to see anyone, until I heard about his suddenly choosing to go away to gun shows for the weekend, it sounded as if he was suffering from depression. Depressed people don't suddenly start going away like that when they've not been in the habit of doing it before, there's else something going on here.

    My guess is that either he's going away to enjoy someone else's company, and all the stuff about jealousy is a smokescreen, or he's had enough of the stresses of the relationship and can't stand being around you any longer and gets away just to avoid having to be in the same house as you.

    Try and discuss this with him, be firm and keep the conversation on track, don't let him use his usual strategies to turn it into an argument.
  • Misiaxcore
    Misiaxcore Posts: 659 Member
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    Six years? How long has this been a problem?

    If it's a recent problem, maybe he senses something, or he has his own issues to deal with.

    When you get married, you absolutely need to put your spouse first, above and beyond your friends. That's what the marriage commitment means.

    The friends issue, there's no one answer. Some spouses are uncomfortable with their husband or wife having friends of the opposite sex, some are not. It's an important issue - if my wife was not comfortable with a good portion of my friends being female, she would not be my wife. But that's a two way street - some of her best friends are male. Which is 100% okay with me. But this won't work for everyone, so people need to talk, and sometimes compromise...

    It started earlier this month, the same time he started going to Houston for his gun shows.

    That sounds fishy. Maybe he's the one hiding something ... that's how this stuff usually works, no? But what do I know, I'm not married :flowerforyou:
  • KimmieBrie
    KimmieBrie Posts: 825 Member
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    It sounds like you made your decision. Hanging out with single male friends takes precedence over your husband's desire for you not to do so.

    Agreed. If it is an issue for your husband, whether or not you think it should be, you need to treat it as such. If you want to save your marriage (as your seeing a counselor suggests), I think you need to take this a little more seriously. If you told him something made you uncomfortable, would you want him to respond with "oh well, too bad!" ? You married this person, which means what he thinks and says carries much more weight than what anyone else thinks or says. Your vow to honor him requires that you not treat this so lightly.

    At the same time - he married her. She had these friends when he did that - yet he did so anyway. Now he wants her to change... I think what needs to be addressed is whatever his issues are that make him feel so insecure now. Marrying someone doesn't suddenly give you the right to demand changes that you didn't have a problem with before. Honoring is not the equivalent of obeying - I had obeying struck from our vows. He isn't honoring who she is or her wants/feelings either. I think the root of the problem isn't going to be solved simply by ditching her male friends.

    Not being "allowed" to play on a co-ed softball team? Getting angry that even married male friends, husbands of her friends, comment on FB? Hello control & insecurity issues....
  • amaion17
    amaion17 Posts: 27 Member
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    right on
  • lostsanity137
    lostsanity137 Posts: 298 Member
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    One of the first things I told my boyfriend 3 years ago, was that my I have four best friends, and two of them were guys. He never had a problem with it then and still doesn't. These guys and I have never had a relationship nor or we even attracted to each other in any way. I treat them as I would any friends.

    Why does having guy friends have to be different than girl friends. I don't find jealousy and distrust very attractive, and just because you are friends with a guy does not mean you are bonking him. :/

    If you are in counseling, then there are probably more issues than just this one, and maybe you should rethink your marriage. I'm all for trying to make your husband happy, but not at the expense of your freedom. Can you choose his friends? No. And he can't choose yours. Sure, making each other happy in a relationship is important, but so is TRUST. If he can't trust you to have guy friends, what else doesn't he trust?

    EDIT: I've seen some of your other posts about your husband now and I really think he is the one that needs the counselor. Not just a marriage counselor either. If he has all of these issues and wants to keep your marriage going, then he has to make an effort to get help too. He needs to work out his own problems with a therapist, and you can get counseling together with the marriage counselor. I really do believe that trust is number one, so I still stand that you should be able to have guy friends, but if you can take more time out for him and to get help for him, then maybe it will get better. If not, and he doesn't want help, and he doesn't want to help you, then maybe it just isn't meant to be anymore.
  • HauteP1nk
    HauteP1nk Posts: 2,139 Member
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    Your husband and his needs should come before your friends needs. He will be the one that you are going to be with for the rest of your life... He should be your guy friend...your best friend. The fact that he is uncomfortable with you hanging out with guys but you are going to continue to do so is a red flag. This might cause a rift in your relationship since your husband will feel like he is being overlooked and that you are choosing your guy friensd over him.

    If you really can't let go of your guy friends though, then maybe consider inviting your husband a long with you. I don't see why your husband can't hang out with you and your guy friends? Maybe he would feel more comfortable once he realizes how innocent the relationship is...
  • Amo_Angelus
    Amo_Angelus Posts: 604 Member
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    I want to know what qualifications that marriage counsiler has to say you shouldn't have male friends because that's aweful advice in any country where women have rights. I'm sorry, but a marriage counsilor should be exploring the actual issue, why is he insecure and what can you do to keep your identity and ease those insecurities of his? Not seeing male friends doesn't resolve anything, it's like wearing jeans that are too small so they rip, then putting a patch over it and expecting it to be fixed. You're still too large for those jeans, they're going to rip again. In your case, his insecurities are still there, they're just going to find something else to latch onto.

    Having firneds that are both male and female is healthy. It's balanced. Don't give up on your friends because your other half is insecure, find out why he feels insecure and work on that because if you had male friends when you met and he married you, I can gurantee you that male friends aren't the actual cause, they're just the outlet for his feelings and if you get rid of them, the next step will be any guy you talk to socially (ie janes brother called around to pick up his bike) and then it will be any guy you talk to at work (ie co-workers, your boss even), then any guy you look at, then any guy who looks at you. Nip it in the bud, find the root and fix that.
  • KimmieBrie
    KimmieBrie Posts: 825 Member
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    Having firneds that are both male and female is healthy. It's balanced. Don't give up on your friends because your other half is insecure, find out why he feels insecure and work on that because if you had male friends when you met and he married you, I can gurantee you that male friends aren't the actual cause, they're just the outlet for his feelings and if you get rid of them, the next step will be any guy you talk to socially (ie janes brother called around to pick up his bike) and then it will be any guy you talk to at work (ie co-workers, your boss even), then any guy you look at, then any guy who looks at you. Nip it in the bud, find the root and fix that.

    This^^^^ and find a new counselor who's willing to help.