If you’re a woman in a loveless marriage, you’re not alone. Wives stay in unhappy relationships for many reasons. Will you see yourself here?

The reasons women stay in loveless marriages range from fear of what people will think to reluctance to lose the time they invested in their husbands.

“It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It is that they can’t see the problem.” ~ G.K. Chesterton.

And I think that’s the main reason women stay in bad relationships or loveless marriages: they don’t see the actual problem. The problem isn’t the relationship or the guy…it’s the woman. I’m not saying it’s the woman’s FAULT that she’s in a loveless relationship. Rather, they can’t or don’t want to see the root of the problem. If you’re stuck in a bad marriage, deciding where to go and whether to keep on helps.

5 Reasons Women Stay in Loveless Marriages

Here are a few reasons why women live without love, staying with men they should’ve left years ago.

Fear of what people will say

The opinions of our friends, neighbors, family members, coworkers, and even our hairdressers and manicurists matter. We’ve pitied couples whose relationships ended in divorce or separation…and we don’t want to be the objects of that pity.

Desire to be the “good girl” – don’t make waves

Girls are often taught not to make waves – to be demure, kind, polite, and avoid confrontation at all costs. Maybe this is the number one reason women stay in loveless marriages: they don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker or a disrupter of the family.

Hope that the relationship will go from bad or loveless to good

That’s one reason I stayed with a jerk: I kept hoping he’d get nicer, want to work on our relationship, and start acting like a normal human being. When I think back on the crap I took from that guy, I cringe! I’m embarrassed to admit how long I stayed in a relationship with someone I didn’t respect and didn’t like introducing to my friends. What kept me with that guy? He had a few good qualities…but mostly, it was my hope that our relationship would get better.

Women stay because they invested too much time in the marriage

I was reluctant to leave my boyfriend because I’d “invested” nine months with him, and thought that was a long time! I can’t imagine how it feels to be thinking about leaving a loveless marriage after 10 years, or even 40 years. Sometimes women stay in unhealthy relationships or loveless marriages because they think all the time they spent on the relationship will be wasted. But it won’t be! For proof, read Was My Marriage a Waste of Time? The Silver Lining of Break Ups.

Staying in a loveless marriage is easier than leaving

Who wants to be alone? Not many women – or men, for that matter. It’s easier to stay in a bad relationship because you don’t have to deal with telling people it’s over, facing your own fears, feeling like the “bad person”, and being the one to rip the family apart. It’s easier to stay in a bad relationship than leave, just like it’s easier to stay in a bad job than uproot your life to find a new one.

culled from adventurous writer

image credits – twicsy