Dear Just Anonymous,

That sounds like pure torture to me… Living with someone you don’t even like and who’s mean to you. You have two choices here and both will be challenging.

1. You can stay and really work on your marriage with your husband, the fact that you had at least one good year might mean there is hope, but this will require effort and dedication on both you and your husband’s part. Marital counseling, individual counseling, and maybe even some time apart. You both will have to be willing to work on your marriage if there is any hope of things getting better.
2. Secondly, you can choose to walk away. It’s hard starting over and also dealing with all the criticism you will no doubt receive, even though you have good reason to end your marriage. No one deserves to live in emotional misery so this might be the best option, but that is for you to decide. I encourage you to be true to yourself and don’t live your life to please others such as his family. You have your life to live and they have their’s. Life is too short to worry about pleasing others all the time.

You really need to decide which decision ultimately will lead to you living a full and happy life as that is important. Some would argue that the marriage commitment is more important than happiness, but I think happiness is a vital part of a healthy marriage, if it’s nonexistent then that speaks volumes concerning the depth and strength of the commitment in the first place. I think when we are living fulfilled and happy lives, then the world is a better place, especially for those that we are close too.

All the best,

Ted