Latest / The Diva Details / When Trust Breaks: Reclaiming Yourself After Later-Life Heartbreak
Transcript
- 0:01Welcome to the Diva Details. Welcome to the DivaDetails. Where bold,
- 0:06confident women embrace life unapologetically.
- 0:10From love and sex to wellness and reinvention. We keep.
- 0:30Well, hello, this is Diva Mia, and today I wanted to reach out to you and talk
- 0:33to you a little bit about heartbreak.
- 0:35There's something uniquely painful about heartbreak later in life.
- 0:38When you are young, heartbreak kind of feels devastating, but there's often
- 0:42an underlying assumption that you have plenty of time.
- 0:45Plenty of people left to meet, plenty of chapters still unwritten.
- 0:48Your next person could be right around the corner. Later in life,
- 0:51however, can feel a little different.
- 0:53You may have already been married, raised children, built businesses,
- 0:56careers, survived divorce, You might even have some setbacks with your finances
- 1:01or family struggles. And all these things kind of throw adulthood at you and
- 1:05throw heartbreak at you a little differently.
- 1:07You know yourself better. So when you finally decide to trust someone again,
- 1:12you usually aren't doing it casually. You're making a conscious decision to open a door.
- 1:17And that experience taught you to guard yourself. And when you trust someone
- 1:21and that person cheats on you or disrespects you, it isn't simply heartbreak.
- 1:27It's the shock of realizing that the relationship you thought you were living
- 1:31wasn't entirely the relationship that actually existed.
- 1:34And did you actually know that person at all? Today we're talking about what
- 1:37happens when someone blindsides you with betrayal, how to recognize some of
- 1:41the warning signs, why cheating happens, and most importantly,
- 1:45how you recover without allowing somebody else's choice to define the rest of
- 1:50your life and define who you are.
- 1:51So from the beginning, I think that people can be unhappy in relationships. People can feel lonely.
- 1:57Sex might decline. Sometimes it doesn't.
- 2:00A lot of times I think people think that the reason people cheat is because
- 2:03of a lack of sex. But a lot of times that's not the case.
- 2:07Communication could be breaking down. Attraction can change.
- 2:10Couples can grow apart. And then there's also just people that have a habitual
- 2:14way of cheating. They're addicted to it. They may be addicted to porn.
- 2:18They may be addicted to drugs.
- 2:19The chase or that feeling of constant validation.
- 2:24Even if you give them validation, sometimes their ego is so weak or they're
- 2:28so insecure that they have to find it elsewhere.
- 2:31Those things can happen, but none of those things require cheating,
- 2:35but some people do anyway.
- 2:37A mature adult has options. Most mature adults, they'll communicate with you.
- 2:41They can go to counseling, but they also have to establish boundaries,
- 2:44and you need to establish boundaries. If they're unhappy, why don't they just
- 2:49leave instead of cheating?
- 2:51Because cheating is a decision. And what I found is the people that tend to
- 2:55cheat are the most insecure.
- 2:57They're also the people that are lacking in character because they don't care
- 3:03about other people. Because if they did, they would realize that cheating affects them as well.
- 3:08They only care about themselves. They very rarely say, I'm sorry.
- 3:12It requires deciding that instead of cheating, that you should be honest with
- 3:16the person. And if you don't want to be with that person, just let them know. You should be an adult.
- 3:22Because what's going to happen is you have to have two realities.
- 3:25You're going to maintain one reality
- 3:26with your partner and secretly create another one with someone else.
- 3:30Because you have to have a second relationship with someone else.
- 3:33Honestly, I'm too busy to even understand how people manage the two relationships,
- 3:39one relationships. More than enough for me.
- 3:42That is why I believe cheating ultimately becomes an issue of character.
- 3:45Not because every person who has ever cheated is permanently incapable of becoming
- 3:49a better human being. People can change.
- 3:51But real change requires a lot of accountability.
- 3:54The people that cheat have very low character.
- 3:57Very low quality of character. Accountability sounds very different from excuses.
- 4:02And the funny thing is, is every time you catch a cheater, they always deflect
- 4:06and say it's not true. Or they always try to run from it, and they won't address
- 4:10it. It sounds like you weren't giving me enough attention.
- 4:14We didn't have enough sex. You were asking for too much sex. You were always busy.
- 4:19I didn't think you cared anymore. I was drunk when I cheated.
- 4:23I mean, these are some of the excuses that people come up with.
- 4:25It didn't mean anything. It was just sex. Those statements attempt to explain away the behavior.
- 4:31But accountability sounds more like this. I made a selfish decision.
- 4:34I deceived you. I lied to you. You don't have to make me do it.
- 4:38I did it myself. Because that's what accountability is. It's when people take
- 4:42responsibility for their cheating. Honestly, if you're a person that goes back
- 4:46to a person that cheats, just be very, very careful.
- 4:50Because the trust is gone. And it's very difficult to get back.
- 4:53How are you going to trust that person in the future?
- 4:56And there's an enormous difference between accountability and excuses.
- 5:00One of the biggest misconceptions I think about infidelity is that someone must
- 5:05have cheated because their relationship was terrible. And that's not necessarily true.
- 5:10Some people cheat because they like the adrenaline rush. Some people cheat while
- 5:14describing their primary relationship as very happy. They want to see what they can get away with.
- 5:18They feel comfortable that the other person will never leave them.
- 5:21They feel like they have the upper hand, and it can be incredibly difficult
- 5:27for the betrayed person to understand.
- 5:29You start by asking, what the hell was I missing? Or maybe nothing was missing,
- 5:33and they're just flawed.
- 5:35Sometimes the attraction is in a better relationship. Sometimes it's just a
- 5:38novelty, something new.
- 5:40Or they wanted to try something different. Or they need self-validation,
- 5:45because a lot of people need self-validation, especially when they get older.
- 5:49They need their ego boosted by being with a younger person because they're so
- 5:53insecure and weak. Their attention is weak.
- 5:56They want to keep things in secrecy. They want to have flings on the side just to see that they can't.
- 6:03And those aren't the type of people that have strong moral character.
- 6:06Those aren't the type of people that are men.
- 6:08Those aren't the type of people that are women. They're little children disguised
- 6:12in men and women's bodies. Just because they have the opportunity to doesn't
- 6:15mean they should. Men and women are supposed to have boundaries where you're
- 6:18supposed to be able to make conscious decisions.
- 6:22And if you make a conscious decision that to cheat, you deserve all the fallout that comes your way.
- 6:28You deserve all the embarrassment that comes your way. But the funny thing is,
- 6:32is those people that cheat tend to never take accountability.
- 6:35They'll deflect or they'll blame the person that broke up with them.
- 6:39Sometimes people cheat because they want a sexual excitement.
- 6:41They want to try something new or simply the thrill of doing something forbidden
- 6:45is an adrenaline rush for them.
- 6:47For some people, that novelty seeking pattern can become very repetitive and
- 6:51they become habitual cheaters. And then when you break up with them,
- 6:55you wonder, were they cheating before? How many times? Who were they with?
- 7:00And then if they say no one, then you have to really question because cheaters
- 7:04are liars, so you never know.
- 7:06On top of that, you have to worry about STDs.
- 7:09It's so disrespectful to a partner that you're monogamous with to cheat on them
- 7:14because you've put their health at risk as well.
- 7:18They may repeatedly pursue excitement associated with secrecy,
- 7:21conquest, or new attention and lie to you.
- 7:24And they give off signals here and there. It doesn't mean that every person
- 7:28who's cheat is literally addicted to cheating, but addiction has a clinical meaning.
- 7:32And we shouldn't diagnose people from across the kitchen table,
- 7:34but repetitive cheating absolutely can become a behavioral pattern.
- 7:39This is important to know.
- 7:40Because if you're with a person that's cheated and cheated before,
- 7:44then you're going to have to realize that you're going to have to understand
- 7:47the betrayal and realize that they may cheat on you again.
- 7:50And you can drive yourself crazy looking for the things you failed to provide,
- 7:54but a lot of times you were providing exactly what they needed.
- 7:58They were just wanting something different.
- 8:01You may have provided everything that person claimed to want.
- 8:04The problem wasn't necessarily that you weren't enough. The problem may have
- 8:07been that enough wasn't enough for them.
- 8:09So realize that you are enough. When people cheat, that's their decision.
- 8:13That's their choice. The second thing about betrayal is the lying,
- 8:17because they have to lie in order to cheat. Typically, when you call them out
- 8:21on it, they're going to lie to you as well. So make sure, if you can,
- 8:24have some type of documented proof.
- 8:26Because most people, the sexual
- 8:27or romantic betrayal isn't even the most psychological destabilizing part.
- 8:32It's the lying and the deception surrounding it. Because cheating usually requires lying.
- 8:37Sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, sometimes just omissions or half-truths
- 8:43or telling you they're at work when they're not or telling you that they're
- 8:48going to get a call from their boss instead of taking a call from someone else.
- 8:51But anyway, any and all cheating, they have to tell you half-truths and lies.
- 8:56And once you discover one lie, your mind immediately starts investigating the
- 8:59entire relationship. How often were you lied to?
- 9:02Was the whole relationship a lie? Should you have seen the signs earlier?
- 9:07And then it becomes difficult because was that business dinner actually a business dinner?
- 9:12When they were out on Saturday doing something else, were they actually doing
- 9:15something else or were they with someone else? Who were they texting?
- 9:19Why did they disappear for three hours and not come back?
- 9:22And is their explanation true? Who knows? Those affectionate messages that they
- 9:25talked to you about, were they genuine? I have no idea.
- 9:28Like, a lot of people that cheat are very affectionate. They'll tell you they love you.
- 9:33They'll tell you how much they want to see you or they miss you,
- 9:35and they're cheating on the side.
- 9:37Because sometimes they're even more affectionate when they're cheating.
- 9:41But your memories become evidence, and that's exhausting. You're only grieving
- 9:45the relationship. You're trying to determine which part of your own history was real.
- 9:49It's exhausting. What you have to realize is that it doesn't matter.
- 9:53When you find out someone cheated, you've dodged a bullet.
- 9:56It doesn't matter why. It doesn't matter when.
- 9:59And it doesn't matter how often. You dodged a bullet because if you would have
- 10:03gone longer in that relationship, they would have sucked up more of your life,
- 10:07more of your valuable time, more of who you are.
- 10:11And time is one commodity we don't have. So when a person shows you who they are, believe them.
- 10:18If they show you they're a cheater, let them go.
- 10:21Because that's the safest way to maintain your sanity.
- 10:24And that's the safest way to have self-respect.
- 10:27There's no single behavior that proves someone is cheating. You've got to understand
- 10:31that. That's important to note.
- 10:33A hidden phone doesn't automatically mean they're having an affair.
- 10:36Missing a call doesn't mean someone is sleeping with someone else.
- 10:39And changes in sexual behavior can have a dozen explanations.
- 10:42It can be their hormones are off, or it can be they cheat.
- 10:45It can be that they're lying about something or uncomfortable with something,
- 10:48and they're just not interested or having fluctuations in their mood.
- 10:52But patterns do matter. And sometimes you begin to notice things with your instincts
- 10:57and the inconsistencies before your conscious mind puts everything together.
- 11:02It eats at you and it'll feel like a pit in the bottom of your stomach.
- 11:06I'm speaking as someone that has had this experience on a couple occasions. It's nerve wracking.
- 11:12For someone that overthinks, it is exhausting mentally. But you got to let it go.
- 11:17There are certain behaviors worth paying attention to, particularly when several
- 11:21things appear back-to-back or together.
- 11:23But sometimes they're so good at lying and habitually cheating,
- 11:27the better they're going to be at lying. And it's a red flag for you.
- 11:31Because if they're so good at lying, you're going to say, oh my goodness, what the heck.
- 11:36Sometimes there'll be a sudden phone that pops up and it's a sign they might be cheating.
- 11:41But honestly, it's hard. It's very hard to find out.
- 11:44I was in a relationship with a man, and the woman that he was setting up to
- 11:49cheat with was married, and she contacted me and let me know that he told her all about me,
- 11:56and that he just wanted to have a secret fling on the side.
- 12:00It was funny because the intimacy was there.
- 12:02I wanted even more intimacy, but it was there, and I was blindsided.
- 12:08I was shocked, actually, because I was considering that person as a future forever person.
- 12:13But you have to guard your heart so much because you never know what's going to happen.
- 12:19Sometimes their phone used to sit on the counter and they keep it in their pocket
- 12:22and they never want you to see it now. That can be a sign and more or it never
- 12:26leaves their hand and they're always on it even when they're not doing work.
- 12:30They flip it over when you want to walk into the room or suddenly they change
- 12:33all their passwords if you knew their passwords in the first place.
- 12:36Or they take it to the bathroom and notifications disappear quickly.
- 12:41The privacy could be normal, but if it's a sudden changed or a sudden explained
- 12:44secrecy, secrecy, it might be a sign.
- 12:47And the problem is if you're used to trusting people or trusting that person,
- 12:52it might take a few things you notice before you are clued in.
- 12:57And other people that are in a relationship with them to step up and let you know.
- 13:02Or checking out other people's phones is not a guarantee to know.
- 13:06Because I found out there's an app called Telegram where people's texts disappear.
- 13:12So it's a big cheating app where men and women will go on it and people on Telegram.
- 13:17If they have the app, it doesn't mean that they're cheating,
- 13:19but a lot of them are. And there's other places besides dating apps where people
- 13:24meet people. People meet people on Reddit.
- 13:26They have whole organizations or groups of people that just want to cheat on
- 13:31the people they're with.
- 13:32It's kind of disgusting and gross. If you think about it, just the whole concept
- 13:36of it is gross. If you want to have affairs with people, don't get into a relationship.
- 13:42It makes no sense to be in a relationship with someone if you want to just go sleep around.
- 13:46There's no reason to be in a relationship. One of the other warning signs is
- 13:50when men or women are constantly checking out of people while you're with them.
- 13:54Everybody notices attractive people, but openly scanning the room repetitively
- 13:58and staring at other people, flirting in front of you, or constantly seeking
- 14:02out other attentions can tell you something about a person's boundaries and character.
- 14:07So pay attention to how someone behaves when they think you're not paying attention,
- 14:11because it gets to the point where when they check out other people all the
- 14:14time, it's kind of a red flag as well.
- 14:17They also might have unexplained disappearances, like all of a sudden they forgot
- 14:20something and they have to go pick something up, and they go away for two or three hours.
- 14:24They were supposed to arrive at 7 and they don't arrive, or they were supposed
- 14:27to call and they don't call. Then they arrive two or three hours late or they don't arrive at all.
- 14:32No call, no text. Then comes some elaborate explanation of traffic,
- 14:36or they were waiting in line somewhere, but they never texted you and let you
- 14:41know they were taking a long time.
- 14:43Occasionally, life happens repetitively, but not that you need constant check-in,
- 14:47but if it begins to become a repeated pattern, that's something you should take into consideration.
- 14:53And you could have been with a person for three months, six months,
- 14:56a year, five years, and they start cheating. I will say the sooner you find
- 15:00out, the better, because every time that person cheats, they put you in a risk
- 15:05for an STD or a life-changing STD.
- 15:08You have to be careful, and it's so disrespectful for them to do that.
- 15:12The other thing that people do is they over explain, like they may send you a text.
- 15:16I got a text one time by accident and then the person over explained to me and
- 15:19that was like a kind of a red flag to me that something might be going on.
- 15:23But a lot of times we don't want our triggers from previous relationships to
- 15:29affect our current relationships. So we try to tamp down or any thoughts we
- 15:34have try to like say, oh, it's OK, or explain it away ourselves.
- 15:38Sometimes deception comes with far more detail than the situation requires.
- 15:43They're over-explaining stuff, they talk too much, they feel nervous,
- 15:47and some people, when they're cheating, they start showing more affection to
- 15:50you to try to act like nothing's going on.
- 15:53A simple question sometimes will get a five-minute answer, or they're being
- 15:58more loving than they normally are and showing you more affection and intimacy than normal.
- 16:03Suddenly, you're hearing about traffic lights, coworkers, parking spaces,
- 16:06battery percentages, and cashiers at gas stations because they need to tell you all the details.
- 16:12And it doesn't prove dishonesty if they're sharing.
- 16:15But when explanation repeatedly doesn't match their behavior,
- 16:19pay attention. Find out why they are over-explaining.
- 16:23Because when people are in a relationship, there's a companionship that goes along with it.
- 16:28Most people are best friends with the people they're in a relationship with.
- 16:31So when you cheat, you don't just violate that intimacy and companionship,
- 16:36you violate that friendship.
- 16:37There's also sometimes changes in intimacy. Sometimes people become less sexual,
- 16:42interested in their primary partner during an affair, but sometimes they also
- 16:45become more interested.
- 16:47So they'll be having extra sex with you maybe once or twice a day,
- 16:50and yet they're also going out to cheat.
- 16:52There isn't a universal pattern. Some people say, well, if they're not having
- 16:56sex with you, that must mean they're cheating. that doesn't mean so.
- 16:58What matters is an unexplained change combined with other concerning behavior,
- 17:02and it's so hard to predict. And sometimes withholding affection or sex can
- 17:07become manipulative, too.
- 17:09When a partner pulls away, you start to wonder what's going on.
- 17:12You work hard to repair the relationship. You put the fault on you,
- 17:16and it's not your fault. If you're trying to have sex with someone and they
- 17:19don't want to have sex, that might be a red flag. It might be a hormonal issue,
- 17:23or it may be they're cheating on the side.
- 17:25Then they return emotionally and suddenly, and everything feels wonderful again.
- 17:30It's a yo-yo cycle. It's very manipulative.
- 17:33And then they gaslight you and tell you things aren't happening when you call them out on it.
- 17:38This pull-to-pull cycle can leave you constantly trying to regain the relationship
- 17:41and exhausted and cause anxiety.
- 17:43And eventually you can find yourself accepting behavior you never would have.
- 17:47In the very beginning, in the very beginning, it might have been beautiful.
- 17:50It might have been wonderful.
- 17:52And then they get comfortable and they start abusing you by cheating with other people.
- 17:56And it is abuse. Let's not tiptoe around it. It is abuse. It's emotional abuse at the highest level.
- 18:02And when people do this, they don't care.
- 18:06And that's the problem. Later in life, this may be one of the most valuable
- 18:09dating lessons available. One of the things you need to do is stop giving words
- 18:13more credibility than patterns.
- 18:15Anyone can tell you they're loyal. Anyone can tell you they love you.
- 18:19And anyone can tell you they're being honest. They can also say,
- 18:21I never cheated. Or I think it's gross. Or I would never cheat.
- 18:25I heard that so many times. I've never felt like this before.
- 18:28You're amazing. You're the person I want. I want to marry you one day.
- 18:31And then they still cheat. Those statements are absolutely meaningless.
- 18:36But character is demonstrated through repeated behavior.
- 18:38I'm not one that when a person cheats to take people back, because if they've
- 18:43cheated on me and they masked it that well, then they're probably a serial cheater
- 18:49and a really good liar, because I can pick up on a lot.
- 18:52But what happens when nobody is forcing someone to do the right thing?
- 18:55Do they keep their commitments? Do they show up late?
- 18:57Do they tell you the truth? Do they lie about little stuff? Do they tell uncomfortable
- 19:01truths? Sometimes people act like they're vulnerable just to make you feel sympathy
- 19:05for them, or they'll blame their exes for cheating.
- 19:09How do we know? I'm not one for calling and talking to people's exes,
- 19:13but sometimes if you're getting, you know, bad vibes about something, maybe you need to.
- 19:19Do they tell you explanations that make sense? Or do they seem uncomfortable
- 19:23or over-explain things?
- 19:25And do their actions match their words? And here's the problem.
- 19:28Sometimes they do, but they're such good liars that you can't tell.
- 19:32I hope they've respected your boundaries, but sometimes they don't.
- 19:35And when you're not standing beside them, you're not going to know.
- 19:38And hopefully you have friends out there that can let you know or people out there that will step up.
- 19:43And I am happy about there's a lot of communities out there now and people that
- 19:48are reporting people that cheat. There's websites out there that say,
- 19:51are we dating the same guy? There's apps that you can just, you can download,
- 19:55I guess, that you can check to see if someone's cheating.
- 19:58But what happens if you don't know where they're at and where they're logging
- 20:01in? It's a difficult find. And was it just a one-time mistake,
- 20:05or do they own it? Are they going to do it over and over again? That's the question.
- 20:09Somehow, somebody else is at fault when they cheat, or they blame you.
- 20:13And they blame you to their friends and family when they're the cheaters.
- 20:17Character isn't demonstrated by behaving well when it's convenient.
- 20:21Character is demonstrated by behaving well when no one's looking.
- 20:24Character shows itself when someone has the opportunity to behave badly and chooses not to.
- 20:29Just because somebody has the opportunity to, doesn't mean they should.
- 20:32And shame on the people out there that pursue cheating just for the thrill of
- 20:36it. And you can't really find out by asking the question, have you ever cheated?
- 20:40That's the problem with dating.
- 20:42A lot of people don't want to date someone that has a history of repetitive
- 20:44cheating or infidelity.
- 20:46That's a legitimate boundary. I don't date people that cheat.
- 20:50I don't. I refuse to. But if you ask somebody, are they going to tell you the truth?
- 20:54Past behavior shows that if they're a cheater, they typically lie.
- 20:58Past behavior doesn't guarantee future behavior, but it's a pattern.
- 21:02So when you ask somebody, have you ever cheated?
- 21:03The uncomfortable reality is the person willing to hide an affair may also be
- 21:07willing to hide previous affairs.
- 21:09So the question itself isn't enough. You learn someone's character over time,
- 21:14but you have to pay attention to how they describe previous relationships.
- 21:18Every time their ex was crazy, interesting, or their ex didn't treat them well.
- 21:22But did they ever take accountability in the relationship? Every breakup was somebody else's fault.
- 21:27If they have a lot of hatred towards their exes and refuse to let it go,
- 21:32is the hatred really towards their exes or is it about hating themselves?
- 21:35Sometimes repeating that they're the innocent victim in every story,
- 21:39pay attention because no one's always the innocent victim in every story.
- 21:44Emotionally mature people can usually identify their own mistakes.
- 21:48They might say, my ex did things to hurt me, they cheated on me,
- 21:51but I understand maybe I could have done things differently or I handled things
- 21:54poorly or I stayed too long.
- 21:56That's a very different story from someone whose relationship history contains
- 22:0020 villains and one perpetual hero.
- 22:03I have fallen victim to this before, too, since I had a past where I was cheated
- 22:07on. I was more accepting when guys told me that they got cheated on.
- 22:12But when they told me the story that it was, you know, they were always the
- 22:15victim, I should have seen that as a red flag.
- 22:17Because even though I was cheated on, I've taken responsibility for...
- 22:21How my relationship ended and how things were. And I've actually made peace
- 22:26with it and forgiven my ex for his cheating.
- 22:29But the serial cheaters that do it just to manipulate you, shame on them.
- 22:34And sometimes you do everything right. You pay attention. You communicate. You're very intimate.
- 22:39You trust carefully. You take your time. You watch their behavior,
- 22:43and you still don't see it coming.
- 22:45That's why it's called being blindsided when they cheat. When you're blindsided, you had no idea.
- 22:50So don't torture yourself endlessly saying, how did I not know this?
- 22:53Because when you're blindsided, when they're showing you affection and you're
- 22:57still being intimate, and they're reaching out to other people after sex just
- 23:02for the thrill, that's called being blindsided.
- 23:06You're not supposed to conduct surveillance videos on someone you love.
- 23:09Trust requires the ability to be vulnerable. And vulnerability is scary.
- 23:14Because you can't guarantee genuine intimacy while simultaneously operating
- 23:19a private detective agency on them.
- 23:21You have to be able to trust. And that's the scary part of relationships.
- 23:25Your responsibility was to bring integrity into the relationship.
- 23:28And if they don't, that's on them. If they have no integrity.
- 23:31If they have no loyalty, that's on them.
- 23:34Their responsibility was do the same.
- 23:37Their responsibility was to be honest, truthful. And really,
- 23:40honestly, what do people bring to a relationship?
- 23:42I've dated people where they may not have made a lot of money.
- 23:45They were good looking, but not that great. And I was with them because I thought they were loyal.
- 23:51When they take away the loyal and the integrity and the respect aspect out of
- 23:55the relationship and all you have is basic connection that got lost when they
- 24:00disrespected you, you got nothing left.
- 24:03If they didn't know that information was going to hurt you, shame on them.
- 24:07What you do with the information that was up to you.
- 24:09I don't recommend competing with the other person. This is especially important
- 24:13after you discover that there's an infidelity. Frequently, people sometimes
- 24:17become obsessed with the person that they were cheating with.
- 24:20What does she look like? Is she younger? Is she thinner? Does she have more money?
- 24:24Is she smarter? Was she prettier? Was the sex better?
- 24:28You need to stop. Because that road leads you downward into a spiral, and it's awful.
- 24:33Once people cheat with people who are younger, older, richer,
- 24:36poorer, more attractive, and less attractive than the partners.
- 24:39You know what I find? They were never as good as you.
- 24:41When they cheat, they cheat with somebody that's less than, that's easy.
- 24:44Sometimes they cheat older, way older. But infidelity isn't a ranking system.
- 24:49It's a choice. The existence of another person does not establish your value.
- 24:54You have your value, and you know your value.
- 24:56You don't need to defeat the competition. You need to decide whether the person
- 25:00standing beside you still qualifies to be your partner, whether they're worthy of you.
- 25:04And typically when a person cheats, they're not.
- 25:06That's a different question. Are they worthy to be your partner anymore?
- 25:10Are they the person that cheated for no reason just to see if they could get away with it?
- 25:14And I know heartbreak later in life is difficult. I know when you're 45 or 50,
- 25:1950, 55, 60, you're thinking, oh, I don't want to start over again.
- 25:22But you know what? It's better to start over again with the right person than stay with the wrong.
- 25:28They didn't think it was starting over when they started cheating.
- 25:31They just thought they could get away with it.
- 25:32And you're not starting from zero. You're starting from experience.
- 25:35You know more. You've survived more.
- 25:37Your standards should be clear, and you should have bigger and stronger boundaries.
- 25:41And hopefully your tolerance for nonsense is significantly lower.
- 25:45There is freedom in that. There is freedom in letting go.
- 25:48At 25, you may have du-dated many people almost entirely based on chemistry.
- 25:53Later in life, chemistry still matters, but character should be the most important thing.
- 25:58And if a person's a serial cheater, they don't have character.
- 26:01They'll probably end up alone long-term because consistency becomes attractive,
- 26:06and peace becomes attractive. Reliability is attractive. Companionship is attractive.
- 26:12But only if you have companionship with somebody that has loyalty.
- 26:15And if they don't, there was no companionship.
- 26:17Someone saying they'll be there at 7 and actually showing up at 7 becomes strangely sexy.
- 26:23Welcome to adulthood. It's nice when people show up the way they say they're
- 26:26going to and are loyal and trustworthy.
- 26:29First, you have to accept the
- 26:30reality you're dealing with rather than the reality you wanted to have.
- 26:35Because a lot of people will tell you they're going to marry you or make plans
- 26:39for the future and entertain your plans for the future when they don't actually
- 26:43intend to actually fulfill those.
- 26:45You cannot heal until you realize that we're not negotiating with facts,
- 26:50we're negotiating with fiction.
- 26:51So stop demanding an explanation capable of making betrayal seem reasonable,
- 26:55because it was never reasonable. It's never logical.
- 26:58It never makes sense. Second, stop demanding an explanation capable of making
- 27:03your life feel better, because you may never receive one.
- 27:07And even if you receive an explanation, it probably won't satisfy you.
- 27:11And thirdly, protect your dignity, you know, because it's disrespectful so much when they cheat.
- 27:17You do not have to audition for the position you already held.
- 27:20So you have the right to walk away, and you have the right to walk away quickly.
- 27:23You don't need to convince someone to recognize your value. If they don't know
- 27:26your value, shame on them.
- 27:27Someone else will. It's no big deal, because you are valuable.
- 27:31So give yourself time before making the next step in your relationship, because.
- 27:35You will go through some pain. And loneliness can make bad candidates look surprisingly qualified.
- 27:42So let your judgment recover first. And then what happens without blaming yourself
- 27:46for everybody else's choices is that you're going to learn that it's not your fault.
- 27:51Were there warning signs you know? Probably.
- 27:53Were boundaries too flexible? Probably. Will they be better next time? Maybe.
- 27:57Did you repeatedly accept explanations that didn't make sense?
- 28:00Learn from those things.
- 28:02Take that as wisdom. Put up different boundaries this time, but don't rewrite
- 28:07somebody else's deception into your personal failure. And finally,
- 28:10do not allow betrayal to turn discernment into cynicism.
- 28:13Those are not the same thing. Discernment says, I trust slowly and watch carefully.
- 28:18Cynicism says, nobody can be trusted.
- 28:20Discernment protects you, but cynicism can imprison you. Your life hasn't ended
- 28:24with that relationship.
- 28:26One of the most dangerous thoughts after heartbreak later in life is that.
- 28:29That was probably my last chance. Nope. It was just one relationship. Maybe an important one.
- 28:35Maybe you healed a little bit from it. Maybe you learned some lessons from it.
- 28:39You might have believed it was going to be your last, but it's not.
- 28:41Because the person that deserves you is still out there.
- 28:44And that you deserve to have better. You might have loved that person very deeply.
- 28:48They may have been your one for a while. And you can acknowledge that.
- 28:52But I'm so happy that you found out. Because now you can move on.
- 28:57And you can acknowledge all of that without turning that person into the final
- 29:00chapter of your life. There are billions of people in this world.
- 29:03And if you're a lady, actually, it's easier to date than throw them in.
- 29:06Because most women have the upper hand.
- 29:09You haven't met everyone you're going to love yet. And perhaps even more importantly,
- 29:13if you stay open and you keep your heart open, you haven't even experienced
- 29:17every version of yourself yet.
- 29:18Heartbreak does change people, but the goal is to become wiser, not to become harder.
- 29:24More selective, more observant, more comfortable walking away when someone's
- 29:28behavior doesn't match their words, and more unwilling to sacrifice your peace
- 29:32simply because you don't want to be alone.
- 29:34I will say peace is a wonderful thing. And one thing I also notice is our body
- 29:39gives us signs when we think something's up.
- 29:41We may have anxiety. We may have more stress. Or we may get angry easier.
- 29:47Maybe it's because you knew something was up. Something they did automatically.
- 29:51Body language or something may have triggered you and you didn't even realize it.
- 29:55If somebody cheats on you, you don't have to spend the rest of your life trying
- 29:58to understand why they were willing to risk losing you. Sometimes the answer is painfully simple.
- 30:03They wanted what they had and they also wanted what they weren't supposed to
- 30:06have. That's about their decision making. That's about their choices.
- 30:09Your decision gets to come next.
- 30:11I want you to choose you because you're more important. Let that person with
- 30:15the poor values and the poor morals and the poor ethics and character go away.
- 30:19You get to decide what kind of behavior has access to your life and what kind
- 30:23of people elevate yourself. I have found people that cheat tend to be trashy.
- 30:28They tend to be low-quality, low-value people.
- 30:31You get to decide what kind of behavior has access to your life.
- 30:33You can decide what loyalty means to you.
- 30:36And I hope you get to decide new boundaries that you need to have in place so
- 30:41it doesn't happen again, but there's never a guarantee.
- 30:43You could decide whether betrayal becomes something that destroys your ability
- 30:46to trust or something that teaches you to trust more intelligently.
- 30:50And I hope you do trust more intelligently because starting over later in life, it's not embarrassing.
- 30:55Walking away from someone that wasn't worthy of you, it's not a weakness,
- 31:00it's a strength. And discovering that someone wasn't who you believed they were
- 31:04doesn't make you foolish or love foolish.
- 31:07It just makes you open and trusting. And that's not a bad way to be.
- 31:11Shame on those people out there that are cheating i think after
- 31:14some of the cheating scenarios that have happened on the news this year that
- 31:17most people should have learned better getting highlighted and spotlighted from
- 31:21married couples at concerts people getting called out by their spouses political
- 31:26people getting humiliated after cheating
- 31:29but they don't learn once you've received this new
- 31:31information you get to act accordingly and you get to choose if you decide to
- 31:35go back to them just be aware that they may cheat again and it's going to be.
- 31:39An anxiety thing for you. It's going to be annoying to constantly have to understand
- 31:43that they may be cheating on you while they're at work or when they're saying they're not around.
- 31:49Because sometimes the most powerful response to heartbreak is not revenge.
- 31:53It isn't exposing them for what they did. It's finding peace.
- 31:56And go back to you first is what I recommend.
- 31:59Because you don't need to find somebody new first. It doesn't matter. Go work on you.
- 32:04Have time for you. It's about building a life so fulfilling that eventually you realize something.
- 32:09You didn't lose your future. You didn't lose yourself. You lost someone that
- 32:12wasn't worthy of you. And you just simply stopped building in the wrong direction.
- 32:16Because if they were worthy of you, they never would have cheated.
- 32:20And that's the truth. You need a person that's as honest and open,
- 32:24loyal, with integrity as you are.
- 32:26And so the journey continues. And I wish you the best in your journey.
- 32:30I hope all the best blessings for you.
- 32:33This is Diva Mia. I hope you have a wonderful day. Take care and stay strong.
- 32:37Thanks for tuning in. Like, subscribe, and drop a comment.
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