Hi Christiebea,

First of all, I am so sorry to hear about your situation here. I know from personal experience that this is a very difficult place to be and to have a relationship with someone that manipulative is a really difficult thing to recover from. Not only do you have the infidelity and all of the harm that brings upon your ego and self-worth, but you also have a man who has made you believe that you will not find anyone else who will love you. We’re all here to tell you that that is false. The fact that you know there is an issue here is the first step towards healing and, I agree with Yue, a great next move would be to separate yourself completely from him. You need to get back in touch with yourself and that can’t happen (as you acknowledged in your post) until he is out of the picture. It will sting at first but you need to grieve. Allow yourself space to be angry and sad but make sure to also make positive efforts to recover – join a new community to meet new people, read inspirational books, pursue a spiritual practice if that’s your thing. So many women (myself included) have stories like yours and my heart bleeds for you. But trust me, beautiful, you WILL recover! It’s just a matter of time and patience. All of the best to you.

Ashley