Healthy Relationships Support Group
No relationship is perfect. A long-term relationship requires constant effort to understand each other, fix misunderstandings, solve problems and continue to grow as both individuals change and evolve. How we deal with our misunderstandings is the focus of this community. Join us to find support, get advice, and share your experience with your relationship.
Sadly you have broken her trust, first by looking and then by lying about it. So it is simply going to have to be a lot of hard work and effort to prove by your actions that it was just a stupid mistake.
Good luck with this. I know we can so easily do things that are so stupid, and they can have such far reaching results. Just don't beat yourself up about it, but prove to her your love and devotion to her, without grovelling.
Thanks
BUT
Cheating is a relative term - what some may feel is cheating, others may not. Some people who sleep with someone outside of their relationship will easily claim it was as error in judgement. So she feels you crossed a boundary, whether previously spoken of and agreed upon or not.
You KNOW that you shouldnt have lied, and lying (even over TINY things), is very tough to get past and move forward from.. You will really need to prove your commitment to her, and it can be a lot of work and sometimes not so rewarding. Can you do it?
Sit down with her, discuss clear boundaries and make a plan to stick to them. Talk about your commitment to making the relationship work and find out if shes on the same page. Then follow through on your word and make it work - without behaving as though you are groveling to rid yourself of guilt.
Remember, she has to be willing to forgive in order for the relationship to continue.
Time should tell you either way, if this is going to be a total deal breaker for either of you.
I hope it works out for the best!
I have done the online dating thing on and off for over 2 yrs (mostly off), and this is a very common thing for guys (and girls to do). I've been messaged by many guys with private profiles or no pics (at least 1/4 that end up in my inbox are private or no pic-maybe a hundred), and immediately get suspicious. Most I don't respond back, but a few I respond back, pointedly asking them why their profile is private (or no pic) and they NEVER responded back. The vast majority, I believe are in a LTR or married.
And then there have been the guys who say they're taking their profile down. Act excited about it. But don't. Or they do temporarily, then it pops back up later (either with their original profile, or a new fake one LOL). At first they claim they didn't know it was still on there, it's a mistake!!!
Sure, that may occasionally happen, but it's never happened to me when I take mine down. I double check to make sure mine is down (by doing a search for my screen name, or background/ zip code).
If I were you, be patient, continue to re-assure her you want her, and let your actions speak for you. Yes, you messed up (first not getting your profile down successfully the first time, then when you did finally go private, you kept in lurk mode til she found out). If your gf is like me, has experienced with online dating, has probably encountered this many times, the first few times believed it, then wised up. It gets old very quick.
FWIW, my exh was also involved in online dating websites (the sex hook up ones), and I did not find it innocent at all. A year after I found out, we divorced.
Thanks for the encouraging words. I don't blame you from walking away if he was on a sex hook up site. That's a real bad sign and a tough one to get over, and shows what he really wants.
Thanks again, for reassuring words. I did not feel the need to contact anyone, but window shopping wasn't good, but something I got used to as a habit I guess.
She decided to go on a long trip with me to a wedding with my friends, (like 450 miles in the car) and told me she wouldn't talk to me, and we needed to get separate rooms, which I said ok, since I caused this, however, she talked a lot on the trip etc, and broke her own rules, (I did not coax her because I respected not only her feelings but me being in the wrong) so yes, we shared a room, and more, but I asked a few times are you sure before continuing with anything. I followed her lead, but did ask her if she was positive about it.
So, things are much better, and of course my friends help things but of course they knew nothing about the incident, and now we both will take it day by day I think, as I told her, actions speak louder than words, and as you can guess, I am questionsing myself somewhat since I never done that, so maybe this is all a good thing. Ths Much , and I do think you comments were dead on with your thought and experience, and feeling. You did the right thing and I know sometimes that's so so hard because regardless our hearts want us to be together and complete that lovign picture in our minds.