

{"id":37571,"date":"2019-05-08T04:34:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-08T04:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/?p=37571"},"modified":"2022-11-27T05:47:07","modified_gmt":"2022-11-27T05:47:07","slug":"cheat-in-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/infidelity\/cheat-in-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Do We Cheat in Love? 4 Top Reasons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-37573 size-full\" title=\"Why Do We Cheat in Love? 4 Top Reasons\" src=\"https:\/\/image.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Why-Do-We-Cheat-in-Love-4-Top-Reasons.jpg\" alt=\"Why Do We Cheat in Love? 4 Top Reasons\" width=\"804\" height=\"350\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We all know the statistics, in regards to first-time marriages, over 55% will end in divorce.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The statistics in &ldquo;cheating&rdquo; are a little bit more difficult to define, but on average, most experts believe that about 50% of men will cheat during their lifetime and up to 30% of women will do the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But why, why do we cheat in love?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the last 29 years, number one best-selling author, counselor and Life Coach David Essel has been helping individuals to get to the bottom of why they do things in life that sabotage their own personal relationships and success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below, David talks about the four key reasons why we stray in love and have physical affairs with others. Read on to know why do we cheat in love.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why-infidelity-happens-even-in-happy-relationships\"><\/span>Why infidelity happens even in happy relationships<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is true that approximately 50% of men will cheat in their relationships, and up to 30% of women will do the same thing. Does a happy man cheat? Totally.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a common assumption that affairs only when people or relationships are broken. With passion bearing a finite shelf life, people often get bug by the &ldquo;wanderlust&rdquo; whether they are in a miserable marriage or otherwise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In fact, one of the scientific reasons we cheat in happy relationships could be attributed to phone snubbing or phubbing. When one spouse seemingly abandons the other spouse and engages more in their phone or other digital devices, it can make an already clingy or an insecure partner fear total abandonment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Often in a bid to combat the abandonment that never occurred, they could pursue an affair to decrease the likelihood of them being cheated first.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why-do-we-cheat-in-love-and-jeopardize-our-relationship\"><\/span>Why do we cheat in love and jeopardize our relationship?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is nothing new, it&rsquo;s been going on since the beginning of time but why, why do we put ourselves in this situation?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This may or may not come as a shock to many, but even myself, with all that I know and have learned in the last 40 years in the world of personal growth, up until 1997 I often had affairs in my relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This isn&rsquo;t anything I&rsquo;m proud of, but I&rsquo;m not ashamed of it either because of what I&rsquo;ve learned over the past 20 years regarding my own behavior and the behavior of my clients from around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am human, and in 1997 I devoted an entire year to work with a friend of mine, another counselor, to get to the bottom of why I did what I did in intimate relationships.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After understanding the reasons why I used to stray, I made a decision 20 years ago to never walk that path again, and I haven&rsquo;t.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have I been tempted? Actually, not at all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I realized the downside of my actions were so much larger than the upside that I was able to take that part of my past and leave it in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I want the same for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why-do-we-cheat-in-love-The-four-top-reasons\"><\/span>Why do we cheat in love? The four top reasons<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am free of shame, and I&rsquo;m excited to write this article so that I can help millions of people around the world get to the bottom reasons of why they stray in love.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1-Codependency\"><\/span>1. Codependency<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-37517 size-full\" title=\"Codependency\" src=\"https:\/\/image.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Guilt.jpg\" alt=\"Codependency\" width=\"804\" height=\"350\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a shocker for many but it&rsquo;s the number one reason why we have physical affairs in life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And what does that mean?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The independent person would go to their partner, even if it took 10 or 20 attempts to get to the bottom of why the relationship was starting to fail, or why our needs weren&rsquo;t getting met.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The independent person would consistently go back to their partner to try to find a solution, and they would also more than likely reach out to a professional counselor to get help to understand why the relationship is in trouble.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, the codependent person hates to rock the boat, doesn&rsquo;t want to upset the apple cart, may attempt one or two times to talk to their partner but if they don&rsquo;t get the feedback they want, they will submerge their frustrations in the relationship and eventually whatever you submerge must come out in another way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Individuals who struggle with codependency, as I did until 1997, will start to find every reason in the book why they&rsquo;re not going to push the issue with their partner, even though they&rsquo;re unhappy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They may or may not attempt to get their partner to go to counseling, but if their partner says no, they don&rsquo;t go either.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you see the crazy making this could create in any relationship?<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The codependent person is so sensitive to their own emotions as well as their partners, that they shy away from anything that might be looked at as conflict oriented.<\/span><\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If this isn&rsquo;t healed, if the addiction of codependency isn&rsquo;t healed, then actions like physical affairs will just stay a part of our existence possibly forever.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2-Resentments\"><\/span>2. Resentments<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A close second to codependency, when we have unresolved resentments at our partner for whatever reason in the world, we may stray into another person&rsquo;s bed as a way to &ldquo;get back&ldquo; at our current partner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a very normal, very unhealthy, response system to stress and resentments.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Individuals who are willing to voice their resentments with the intention of the solution will decrease their chances of having an affair. It&rsquo;s not easy work, but taking care of our resentments is a key to a long-lasting and healthy love affair.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3-Self-centeredness\"><\/span>3. Self-centeredness<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why do we cheat in love?&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Entitlement and self-centeredness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a person has these two personality characteristics, they will rationalize, justify, and defend their right to have sex outside of their relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our number one best-selling book &ldquo;FOCUS! Slay your goals&ldquo;, I tell the story of a man who came to me for help, he wanted me to be his counselor, and in actuality he wanted me to say that it was OK, to validate the fact that he had been having affairs in his marriage for 20 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His statement was &ldquo;since I give my wife a lifestyle of luxury, she doesn&rsquo;t have to work, I feel I should be able to do anything outside of the marriage that I want to get my needs met that she won&rsquo;t do.&ldquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Incredible entitlement. Incredible self-centeredness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But once again we can justify, rationalize and defend any decision we make in life when we come from this place of entitlement.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4-We-are-bored\"><\/span>4. We are bored<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why do we cheat in love? Well, because of boredom. Sounds callous?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now, this can fall underneath codependency as well, where we get bored in a relationship of six months or 60 years, and feel the need for more excitement outside of our marriage or committed monogamous relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead of dealing with boredom, and working with our partners, and going in and getting professional help to figure out a way we can be more creative in love, people just put their head in the sand and go and get their thrills outside of the relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A woman recently told me that because she was so bored in her marriage, and was so unhappy with the way that her husband had sex with her, that she shut her husband out completely of any sexual activity whatsoever, but continued to get her needs met outside of the relationship.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">She defended it as her right to be physically satisfied when her husband couldn&rsquo;t do it, even though she admitted she didn&rsquo;t try very hard to get her husband on the same page she was, sexually.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you look at the above four keys as to why do we cheat in love when we are in committed relationships, you can see that any and all of us can be healed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some, like self-centeredness and entitlement, might be more difficult than others because these are the type of people that would probably refuse to go get help.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or to admit that they&rsquo;ve done something incorrect by breaking their partner&rsquo;s trust, and betraying them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Over the past 30 years, I&rsquo;ve worked with several hundred individuals that were consistently having affairs and couldn&rsquo;t figure out why, and for the ones that really wanted to change, change came quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once they understood the reasons that they were going outside of their relationship, it was easier for them to become humble, honest and admit that they are the ones that have to change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the psychological facts about cheating is that when we cheat in love, we have zero integrity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we cheat , we eventually will be taken down by low self-confidence, low self-esteem, shame and or guilt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you need help, and you see a pattern in your love life, please reach out to a professional today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can honestly admit that without my commitment with another counselor in 1997 for 52 straight weeks, I probably would never have gotten to the bottom of why I had affairs, and more importantly, I may never have stopped the insanity and crazy-making that I was bringing it to my own life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can tell you the opposite, is powerful. And I want you to feel that internal power by doing the right thing in life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Essel&lsquo;s work is highly endorsed by individuals like the late Wayne Dyer, and celebrity Jenny Mccarthy says &ldquo;David Essel is the new leader of the positive thinking movement.&ldquo;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He is the author of 10 books, four of which have become number one bestsellers.<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marriage.com<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> calls David one of the top relationship counselors and experts in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We all know the statistics, in regards to first-time marriages, over 55% will end in divorce. The statistics in &ldquo;cheating&rdquo; are a little bit more difficult to define, but on average, most experts believe that about 50% of men will cheat during their lifetime and up to 30% of women will do the same thing. But why, why do we cheat in love? For the last 29 years, number one best-selling author, counselor and Life Coach David Essel has been helping individuals to get to the bottom of why they do things in life that sabotage their own personal relationships <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":37573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[2689],"class_list":["post-37571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-infidelity","tag-understand-the-betrayal","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37571"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59580,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37571\/revisions\/59580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marriage.com\/advice\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}