Our relationships can be really difficult at times, but that's no reason to cheat on the person you love and care about.
Wondering what signs to look out for if you suspect a man is cheating on you and are there certain things men say or do when they cheat? Couples therapist Marcelina Hardy shared with Shymagazine 10 things men say when they cheat. It's amazing how many men say the same phrases - as if there was a manual for it!
"She's just my friend."
Is his cell phone ringing all the time? Are there new messages that he responds to immediately? Of course, you immediately realize that he is corresponding with another. He also didn't tell you anything about her before you figured it out for yourself, and when you ask him if you can meet her, he objects. This is because she is not really his friend but his lover.
"Respect my privacy. Don't touch my phone.”
He doesn't want you to touch his phone because he's afraid you'll see her inappropriate text that she might send just as you pick up his phone. Maybe he even has photos of her on his phone or is expecting one. Is correspondence with another woman considered cheating?
"You're cheating on me, aren't you?"
Yes, men who cheat will often accuse their partner of cheating. Why? That's because they started thinking: "Well, if I can do it, so can she."
"You're doing it all wrong."
He's suddenly complaining about all the things you're doing, and you're scratching your head wondering where the problem is all of a sudden. He won't cheat on you if he loves you or thinks he won't find someone better. He obviously believes that you are not good enough for him and that is why he set out to find something better. Don't worry, you are actually more than good enough.
"I will do my own laundry."
If you usually split the housework and his job isn't the laundry, you might think it's great that he's helping out at first. Unfortunately, he does this so that he can hide a trace of lipstick, the smell of perfume or some other evidence of a connection with a "girlfriend".
"I have to stay at work to make up for the work."
Maybe he suddenly has more work and comes home later than usual. That's because he's not actually at work, but dating another woman, without any remorse or concern about getting caught.
"I still love you and I want to be with you."
He says he still loves you and wants to be with you, but he also said those words to someone else. But he cheated on you not because he no longer loves you, but because he needed a change. When reality caught up with him, he finally realized what he had to lose - you.
"I didn't mean to hurt you."
He's right, when he cheated on you, he didn't think: "I'm going to sleep with that other woman because I want to hurt my current partner incredibly." Instead, he did it for his own selfish reasons without even considering how much it might hurt you.
"I don't want to lose you."
In a last ditch effort to save his relationship with you, he will definitely try everything and tell you that he does not want to lose you at all. You might think: “What did he think was going to happen when he decided to cheat on me? That I will forgive him so easily?" But he didn't immediately make the connection that cheating means losing. So it might come as a complete shock to him that you're actually leaving.
"It means nothing to me."
Maybe it really doesn't mean anything to him, or maybe he's lying. Usually men who cheat don't want to get emotionally involved, but after sleeping with someone a few times, feelings start to develop. So in most cases they lie that "she" means nothing to them. In fact, he wants to tell you that he still wants a relationship with you.
If you're already in a bad and strained relationship and your man starts saying things like this, he might really - unfortunately - be cheating on you. On the other hand, if you're in a great, healthy relationship and your man does things like leave work late or suddenly starts hiding his phone, hopefully it's just a coincidence. But if you catch him saying these things and discover that he's cheating on you, it's probably time to leave the relationship and start realizing that you deserve more!
