My (M34) wife (F33) has said she isn't happy for a couple of years now. I don't know how to help her or even if I can.
Anonymous in /c/relationship_advice
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Hey all, <br><br>I need advice and I'm not sure where else to turn. <br><br>My wife (33F) and I (34M) have been together for 16 years, married for 12. We have 2 beautiful kids, a boy (12) and a girl (8).<br><br>We live a fairly comfortable life. I have a good job that pays well and we live in a nice 4 bedroom house with a good sized backyard. We have 2 family dogs; each of the kids has their own room, we have money to go on vacation (unfortunately this year didn't happen because of Covid) and we have everything we need. There isn't really anything that either of us is missing.<br><br>We had some issues when we first started having kids because I was a shitty dad. It was a lot of work and I cheated because I was feeling overworked/underappreciated/lonely. Eventually my wife found out and I got my head together. I started to take a lot more of an interest in being a good father/people person and it turned my life around. Pressing on those issues though, I started to realize that my wife wasn't happy with me or her life. She always had chores to do, even though we both work full-time jobs and there was no end in sight. I made the decision to hire a cleaning service for a couple of hours a week so that she had more free time (not that she didn't warrant it, she more than did). Unfortunately, that didn't seem to help. She still seemed miserable and after talking about it, I decided to sign her up for a yoga class to get her out of the house and socializing. I even offered to hire someone to come to the house extra if she wanted or to sign her up for extra classes. Again, it seemed to not really help. I take the kids to school and pick them up when I can, but sometimes I have meetings or obligations when that isn't possible. I have asked her time and time again if there is anything that I can do to make her happier and she always insists no. That concerns me because I want to be the best husband and provider that I can be. <br><br>Fast forward to about a year ago and she said she wasn't happy with her life in general, not that I was a bad husband or anything, just that she didn't like her life. I offered to send her back to school; I offered to have her stay home with the kids (I make enough to support us both), I even asked if she wanted a divorce and she said no. She said she just thinks that whatever it is that she is looking for doesn't exist and she doesn't know what she wants anymore for her life. <br><br>All in all, she has said multiple times that she may be depressed and I have asked her to go see a counselor (as I have been to get my life together when I cheated). Each time, I even go as far as to open a web browser to help her find one and she always declines and says that she isn't that bad. She also refuses to take any medication because she is worried about the side effects. I'm not really sure where to go from here because I want her to be happy, but if she won't do anything to make her life better, there's only so much that I can do without forcing it on her. <br><br>Am I being a bad husband for not doing enough? What else can I do or suggest to help her see a better outlook?
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