Cheating or infidelity is unpardonable. Not an honest mistake. Cheating on your partner is perhaps the worst kind of betrayal in a relationship. The pain is inevitable, the most terrible feeling. While most couples immediately decide to split, others don’t want their relationships to end. They prefer to give it a second chance. However, the situation becomes difficult if you are not at the receiving end and you’re the one to have cheated on your partner. It’s a real task to rebuild the trust, here’s some help.
1. Apologies need to be genuine
First of all, don’t say sorry just to escape the situation and be done with it. Saying sorry is one step in the right direction, so mean every bit of it. Sincerity in your apology matters because the person you are saying it to can read in your eyes and your gestures whether you are earnestly apologetic or not. We can’t take back what we say or do but we can always try to make up by apologizing.
2. Do not blame it on your partner or the situation
To make things worse between the two of you, the biggest blunder would be to blame it on the other person. Accept your fault, own up to it instead of looking for excuses and blaming it on the other person or the situation or circumstances. Take full responsibility for all the wrong you’ve done. Make promises you can keep if you really want your relationship to work out.
3. Don’t react when they vent, give it a patient hearing
Now, since you are the betrayer, you don’t get the leeway to get agitated or react in an aggressive manner every time they vent or accuse you. You need to calm yourself down and listen to everything patiently. Do all of this only if you genuinely want the relationship to sustain. Because, at times, just saying sorry is not enough! Be patient enough with your apology. You have made a huge mistake, you can’t expect your partner to get back to normal in a jiffy, right? If you do, then that’s unfair and inhuman.
4. Give them time and space to heal
If you keep poking them to respond and behave with you as normal as they used to before, it will only act against you. They need time and space to regain faith in you and believe that you are genuinely sorry and never going to repeat the same in the future. You need to give them that assurance and be patient about it. It will take time to heal.
5. Don’t ignore the topic, discuss it
If you think not talking about it is the best way to deal with things, you’re wrong. If you do that, all the grudges will just pile up. Listen to what they have to say, how they feel about the whole thing, whether your partner is okay with continuing the relationship or not. Respect their opinion and come to a common solution. Discuss if things can get back to normal and if your partner can get over the incident and give it a new start altogether.
