7 Stages Of Emotional Affairs To Look Out For

Sex is sex, right? But what about the different layers and stages of emotional affairs that slowly draw a person into an emotional bond with someone else?

Yes, when your partner cheats on you sexually, it’s devastating. It’s heartbreaking and you’re not sure if you can ever trust them again. However, when they form an emotional connection with another person, is that harder to overcome?

Most people would agree that yes, it is.When emotions become involved, the entire connection becomes stronger and harder to overcome. You start to wonder what you didn’t give to your partner for them to turn to someone else.

# Stage 1 – They feel unappreciated or not good enough

Remember, emotional affairs aren’t always about the husband cheating. It can be either partner who strays down an emotional path to someone else.

However, the first stage is usually the one where the partner feels somehow unappreciated in the relationship, or they feel like they’re not playing their part or providing as much as they should.

This inadequacy can cause problems to crop up and it can cause them to turn on their partner, perhaps with resentment starting to boil to the surface.

# Stage 2 – The sex goes out of the relationship

Okay, so sex isn’t the be-all and end-all, but it is an important way for a couple to stay connected. Of course, that doesn’t mean you need to drop everything and be available every time your partner wants sex. But, you do need to make sure that as a couple, you’re focusing on your sex life too.

One of the main stages of emotional affairs is that one partner felt that they weren’t getting enough sex within the relationship and they felt deprived.

As a result, they went looking for it somewhere else. Unfortunately, that led them towards an emotional connection at the same time, or instead.

# Stage 3 – You start to feel like best friends rather than romantic partners

It comes to the best of us at some point but it’s vital that you spot the signs and do something about it before problems arise. If your romantic relationship has become boring, if you feel like brother and sister, brother and brother, sister and sister, best friends, etc., then it’s important that you try and spice things up and reconnect.

Another of the main stages of emotional affairs is when the romance goes out of the relationship. You’re left just co-existing in the same space. Try date nights, try spicing things up. Just remember that you’re supposed to be connected on a deeper level.

# Stage 4 – One partner is too busy for the other one

We need to make time for one another. If one partner feels like the other one doesn’t have time for them when they want to talk or they want to do something together, they’re going to become fed up pretty quickly.

Without a doubt, one of the strongest stages of emotional affairs is when a partner wants to talk but they’re not heard. Perhaps they’re going through a hard time, but they can’t find that support from their partner.

When this happens, they seek this support from another person, albeit completely innocently at first, but an emotional connection is formed.

# Stage 5 – One partner is demanding too much of the other

We all go through stressful times in life and it can often lead us to shut off from our partners. If the other partner is complaining about it, making demands and not being understanding of what they might be going through, this can easily lead to a major rift.

It’s vital that you check in with each other occasionally and make time to talk. Avoid placing unnecessary demands on your partner. Instead, work towards achieving things together.

The problem here is that if someone is already in the middle of an emotional affair, this type of behavior is just going to push them towards the other person even more. They start to feel like it’s not worth it anymore, that they’re getting more understanding from the other person.

# Stage 6 – The guilt kicks in

When looking at the stages of emotional affairs, by this point it’s likely that the other partner has a suspicion that something isn’t quite right. This may lead them towards ultimatums or trying to keep their partner with offers of sex or being clingy.

The partner having the emotional affair feels guilty and this eats away at them. That leads them towards more arguments. It’s a vicious circle that unfortunately only ends in tears.

# Stage 7 – Breaking point

The final stage is the point when either the partner breaks things off with the person they’ve been seeing and decides to dedicate themselves to their relationship, or they decide to leave completely.

The problem is the damage has often been done and the road back is extremely long. Can you ever trust your partner again? Can they forgive themselves? You might both wonder whether the entire situation might repeat itself in the future.