Are you the other woman?
In light of the recent scandals…I wanted to repost this with a few extras. Please, I beg you if you know someone caught up in this, please forward. The saddest thing about all these women coming forward to kiss(lie) and tell, is their complete lack of understanding of what they are doing to themselves and how they are trying to glamorize their poor choices…So I dey ask?
Before you all jump to shout loudly no, let’s be real, many of us are choosing this path, or at least find ourselves on it and at that moment are faced with whether to jump right off or continue along. Quite recently some notable women have admitted to being the other woman. Barbara Walters did, Oprah did and I know some of you did and are.
A while ago, a young woman sat in my living room and proceeded to tell me why she thought wives were the stupidest women. She said and I quote “Majority of the men I know don’t love their wives, they love their girlfriends. The wives are the fools because they clean up after them, take care of them and at the end of the day, he goes to have fun with his girlfriend”
I resisted the urge to slap the stupidity out of her brain. She was sitting in my house telling me, how she thought me and my kind were stupid. Ah…but I have come to learn that in order to gain wisdom, you have to listen to even to the most inane of conversations.
So I poured my drink as I listened to this otherwise educated and smart young woman, justify her choice in a roundabout fashion. The mind is amazing, you can justify anything if you really want to…I mean, Bush justified Iraq and I have just rationalized this chocolate chip cookie, well I am trying to justify it, but the truth us I really can’t justify it without lying to myself.
But I digress.
I think the key thing in her statement was that she was lying to herself. Affairs, adultery exist in a realm of lies. He lies to her, he lies to you, he lies to himself, you lie to the world, you lie to yourself and then you cry to yourself because there will be nobody left to lie to.
There was once a girl who once chased a married man. The wife found out and confronted her. The girl feeling like a hard babe pushed back. She basically told her that if she was handling hers, then he wouldn’t be with her. I expect she felt like she was too much, I expect he told her as much. But here’s the thing all he offered her was a few verbal sweet nothings, maybe a few dollars on top of that…what else…no commitment, no pride, no dignity? And I hate to break it to you, most of the time, cheating has nothing to do with the wife. With chronic cheats or sex addicts, you are nothing more than a fix. Would you reduce yourself to a baggie of cocaine?
I don’t know when we as women started to believe the lie that we have to settle for less!
Now here is my two kobo as far as being with a married man is concerned. Please know that this comes from a place of love and also I have a deep understanding of what I am saying, trust me.
1. If a man is married and has you on the side, then you are only a side piece. You are simply there because you agree to be there. Occasionally he may become so besotted that he will contemplate or maybe even leave his wife, but even in that circumstance, most of the time, it’s more about his needing to leave anyway and you providing a convenient safety net.
2. Men lie. Well, we all lie. We lie to get what we want. We lie to ourselves, so what makes you think that Mr. Man is not lying to you? He told you he doesn’t love her? What line do you think he used on his wife, when she found out about your last tryst? The same one. Verbatim.
3. The wives of men who cheat, have agendas. They stay for a myriad of reasons. Don’t assume stupidity is one of them.
4. Don’t believe the “it’s not where he is, it’s where he wants to be” myth. Where he is, is where he wants to be period. Trust me, don’t fall into that trap.
I know a woman, who was a man’s mistress for at least twenty years. She was and is a beautiful, elegant, educated woman. I don’t know what he told her to keep her hanging on in there for all those years, it must have been good. Long and short, this man had a heart attack and left everything to his wife and kids. His mistress and her child were left nothing. Their names weren’t even penciled into the will. She couldn’t see the body. She couldn’t mourn him publicly. She was a shadow widow, just like she was a shadow wife. She went to the memorial alone, her friends refused to go, and she sat at the back like a nobody. As she sat their crying about his death, she began to realize that in his real life, she was nobody to him. His friends that knew her, pretended otherwise. She was a strictly after midnight, no status. I think about her a lot. I wonder how a woman like that could have fallen prey.
I wrote the book, the Mrs club, because I wanted to talk about how people feel when pressured to marry, but there is a secondary pressure. The desire to find love. When time starts racing by, you start to become afraid. The question of whether you’ll ever find love begins to ring in your head, like and unwanted bell. You start to panic. You think deep inside even though you might proclaim otherwise that maybe you won’t find that perfect love. So sometimes when a counterfeit comes around, showing you all the romance you felt would come with that perfect love but none of the commitment, you think that you have to settle for less. Don’t feel bad, so many of us have fallen for their verse. It is practiced so it’s convincing, but it’s no more real than the world they are promising you. Any man that is serious will close one door before opening another. This is fact, simple and true.
Tell yourself what you like…but find a little time to tell yourself the truth. These so called hard babes and senior chicks that self medicate with gucci and prada are sometimes dying inside. They don’t tell you that sometimes, he doesn’t take their calls for days or weeks. They don’t tell you that they have to beg sometimes for the money that they flash around like lottery winners. They don’t tell you that sometimes, they get lonely. They don’t tell you that sometimes they hate who they have become.
I guess that is what gets to me the most. I told that girl in my living room and I am telling you. If you are on the verge of making this choice. Don’t choose him. Choose you. Don’t give up everything you believe for a person that has made no commitment to you. Don’t give up the right to dignity for a little bit of intimacy, don’t give up being alone and end up lonely. You are worth more. You deserve to live and walk in the light. You deserve to subsist on more than crumbs, you deserve the cake.
I understand that fear, believe me I do. I think that sometimes that books and movies set us up. They are about romance, not love. When the screen gets blurry and the music starts, what is happening is not love, its romance. Love is commitment, pure and simple. It is not necessarily sexy. It doesn’t necessarily come with perfect words. It simply is.
And if you stop looking for the lies, you will see the truth and say it.
Yes O! Anyone reading this, I am begging you…it is as the Bible says, God is not mocked. It is the principle of the world even, what you sow, you will reap. I tell you, any tears you cause any woman to shed over your affairs with her husband, you will weep double in your life.
I posted this here because so many “good” girls are falling for the lie and before you know it, they leave their morals and their faith behind because of shame.
My darlings, I don’t speak because I am perfect, I speak because I know all too well. No matter how lonely you are, no matter how fine he is, or how lonely he claims to be, you deserve more. You are worth more.
And if you have fallen, if you are there, maybe he is sleeping right beside you right now…it is not too late to get up and say no more. Never mind the lies that float around in your head saying you are ruined. Hmm, who is ruined, what was Mary Magdalene, what about Rahab, no one is ruined before God. He is watching you and wanting you to come back to Him. He will receive you with open arms.
You are loved. By the most High. Now tell me what man made from dust can compete with that?
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Earlier this evening dressed in a black silky camisole an epiphany hit me when I seen my reflection in the hallway mirror. I looked, and felt like a mistress. My married boyfriend was sitting on the couch waiting for me. His visit would be all of 45 minutes, then he’d be off to work his midnight shift. Not that I’ve not been aware for 2.5 years that he was married and not to me, but tonight I tasted the ugliness in my soul.
On and off over the 2.5 years we’ve broken up so he can figure out his marriage and I could get on with my life, but like a yo yo that is outstretched, and returns to it’s center, we would fall back in each others arms.
Yes I am a Christian, yes I’ve been convicted, Yes I’ve cried out for help, and still I run back.
Tonight after he left I sat alone with my emotions and dirty truths and turned to the internet for help (as if that is always the answer!) but tonight I found this site. Tonight with these key stroked words I had enough strength to break it off once again. I didn’t wait or set a date, or arrange a last time sex party, I just broke up.
He asked could he call me in the morning… I said no. He asked if I could call or e-mail. I said no.
I turn to God for strength. Should you think of women breaking up - please remember me. I am trying desperately to walk the right path once and for all.
Thank you for your site.
Cheryl, my darling! Thanks for sharing. And may He that loves us, give us all the strength to walk the right path. I am praying for you and with you.
God bless you.
Dear Cheryl,
Know that you have been delivered. Hold on to 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. His Grace is sufficient for you and His power is made perfect in your weakness….for when you are weak, you are strong. God His holding you right now and He is saying you can do this for you are strong in your weakness as His perfect power is there with you. Confess it every day you will see His power move in your life. Congrats!
i almost had an affair with a very married man of over 55, not withstanding he is hot and sexy…but reading this helped me make up my mind..i really don’t need a married man in my life…its not worth the stress cuz in the end(95%) of the time they all go back to their wives…..am a twenty year old with wealthy parents and don’t have a boo not really searching for either but the thrill of going out with a married man was “exciting” but now i know its really not worth it…thank you for this write up…
Tam-Tam…
I can just imagine the sizzle…come o…You dey Lagos…I know quite a few men that fit this description…lol! However, you made the best choice ever! You chose you. That thrill you describe is like a rollercoaster ride that goes nowhere good and at the end you have wobbly legs and look a mess because you threw up on yourself. You are worth so much more and I am so glad you saw it. Brava to you.
Be well.
I really like this perspective and it is very encouraging for married women. God bless you.
@Cheryl, May God be your strength.
I have a bad breath, even when am not talking people cover their nose. I have have seen a dentist and he checked me and said my mouth and breathe is ok. My problem now is I don’t know why people keep covering their nose each time I speak and even when am not speaking. I have observed and practiced all the Do(s) and Don’t(s) of keeping a fresh breath. or is it a spiritual problem. Am beginning to loose confident in myself as a result. Please help me.
I need help
Thank you.
Its amazing how many women lie to ourselves and contrary to popular belief many men these days don’t even bother to lie the will tell you up front what they want from the relation ship what they give i guess is the illusion that they are respecting you by giving you this choice. I think its worse than lying.
For many of us its about a lack of self worth and self esteem. I can identify with that and i know a lot of women who are single moms like my self who can as well. In my culture being a single mom is the height of shame and married men will use that as an in saying that you probably won’t get married so its better to be the “other woman”. It has become so chronic that it is accepted as the norm. Wives expect their husbands to cheat or have a shadow wife and single women aspire to be the shadow wife of some rich man. Its ridiculous. I know many women who have sworn never to engage in such relationships but as Ekene said they start feeling the pressure of what if they never find love etc.
I almost went the same road but i kept thinking that i would hate to have that happen to me and the lack of respect and low moral expectation the man showed me was a real wake up call. I loved y self too much!!! God is faithful and he is all knowing. A father a husband a friend a comforter a counselor..Know Him for all that He s and you will feel more drawn towards is ways and less attracted to the ways of the world. Its a lesson that i continue to learn everyday. The ore time you spend in God’s presence he more like him you become and sin most of the time is an indication of a lack on our art to engage with God through prayer and reading His word.
Be brave Cheryl we are in this together. The devil is a liar!
this is so touching and so real, used to be the other woman for a guy who was married with kids, just because i got heart broken over a single guy, i told myself i wouldnt care anymore, but i stopped then, i got into another one, and really letting go for me wasnt so hard, but before i know it again, id be into another one and now i have a single guy that really loves me and i really love him, but i still have this married guy wrapped around my fingers, thou i have told him its time to take a bow and for me its goodbye to him…… am better with my promising single guy, with a real future with marriage, love, bliss and children…..
It is so hard when your heart gets broken. You hurt so much and if you don’t let yourself heal you can get bitter. I am glad you are moving on from married men. You owe it to yourself to want more for yourself and moreover you really don’t need to keep investing in “bad karma” for lack of better term. I pray you find love and peace in a relationship that affirms you. Be well.