I don’t really know who to talk to right now and posting here seems a good idea.
So, like the title says, I think my marriage is over. For context: Me (F42) and my wife have been married for 9 years. We got married not even a year into our relationship and I had no idea back then that I had ADHD. Did we get married too soon? Yes and no. The problems didn’t really start until around year 5, so even if we had gotten married after, say, three years, the outcome would have been the same.
Around two and a half years ago my wife suggested that I may have ADHD after things had started getting worse and worse. But although I was open to the idea it took me a year to get off my butt and get diagnosed and start treatment. Precious time that I wasted.
Now I’ve been on meds for a year and in therapy for around 9 months. Some things have gotten better but the core problem remains: My wife feels responsible for everything, is shouldering pretty much all the mental load and I seem to be unable to become the reliable adult partner that she needs. ADHD or the way I handle it has completely eroded our marriage and the love we had between us. My wife feels exhausted and trapped and I feel helpless because I feel like I maybe moved up a level or two in my “adulting skills” but I’d need to be a Level 10 to make our marriage work. Or make any marriage work, for that matter.
I feel extremely sad. I feel sad about the suffering I have caused my wife, who really tried to stick it out. Probably longer than she should have for her own good. Sad because I’ve been trying really hard and I see some people who have ADHD but who also seem to have an “overachiever personality” and they have their shit together so much more than I do. Sad because I wasted a whole year doing nothing. Sad because we used to be so happy together and used to love each other so much and now all that seems to be left is bitterness and resentment.
😢
Edit: Thank you so much to everyone who has has already commented and shared kind words with me.
My wife and I have been going over this many many times. I know what she needs and I am trying and a feel fucking sad about the fact that, maybe, we just can’t make it work. But I also realize I’m starting to reach a point where being on my own is beginning to sound liberating. I’ve never had a problem with being single and I feel like at least then there isn’t anyone I can disappoint anymore. It’s just me and if I fuck up the only person having to face the consequences is me.
I just feel really bad because I feel I have cost my wife so much. She would have wanted to have kids and I’ve always been on the fence about it. I used to absolutely not want to have kids when we met, then kinda came around to the idea (when you’re super in love it does become a kinda wonderful idea) but then gradually starting feeling more and more uncertain. And now I’m at a point where, regardless of whether or not I want to have kids (I don’t have a desire to have them but could imagine having them) I don’t think I’m capable of raising kids. If we had broken up sooner my wife might have had a better chance at having kids with someone else.
I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been feeling awful myself. I feel like I’m under constant pressure because I want to “prove myself” and the more I worry about fucking up the more tense I get. The best moment of the day is when I go to bed because then I don’t have to do anything for the next 8 hours, just rest and sleep. Can’t mistakey if not awakey :P
And our relationship has been deteriorating for so long and we’ve both become so fed up with each other. My wife is fed up with me because I’m not who she needs me to be and I’m fed up with her because I feel like even if I try to manage something myself, take care of something myself, I don’t do it the right way. Sometimes it really isn’t (last week I almost set the oven on fire) but sometimes it’s just a minor thing.
Maybe, as sad as it is, we’re better off apart and would be happier on own own / with someone else.
If the problems started 5 years in the relationship, it sounds more that you guys grew apart. Your ADHD might be a factor in that, but it can’t be the only thing, since no one suddenly develops ADHD at the age of 38. Doing the math it also seems the problems started during Covid, so maybe that’s another factor? It was a rough time for everyone. Anyway, I wish you all the best and don’t beat yourself up too much.
Mentioning covid is actually spot on for me. I can only speak of my experience, but I seriously doubt my experience with ADHD becoming dramatically worse during covid lockdown and never really recovering is unique to me.
Our problems actually did start during Covid but I don’t think the pandemic / the lockdown had anything to do with it. But that was when we moved to a new apartment for the second time and my wife started to realize that she was the one taking care of everything.
We definitely also grew apart. I have been really bad at keeping the relationship alive. Like, in the 10 years we’ve been together, I’ve been able to maybe arrange a handful of date nights. I never initiate doing anything fun, like a surprise weekend trip or a special date night, because I’m so bad at planning and arranging things.
I think that at the beginning my wife ignored some of the ADHD red flags that were definitely already there because we were so in love. When we moved to a different city two years into our relationship she took care of everything but it wasn’t an issue then. Eventually she realized that she was taking care of everything all the time.
What are you referring to when you say she takes care of everything? Are you unable to hold down a job, do you participate in household chores, do you engage with her and your friends, etc. Things like finding an apartment and arranging date nights are either one time tasks or not terribly consequential. I’m not saying there’s nothing for you to work on here but the things I’ve specifically seen you describe don’t sound like huge deals unless someone is looking to make them one.
As an example, my wife is usually pretty indecisive when it comes to planning unimportant things like date nights so I generally pick where we go and what we do. I could choose to interpret that as her forcing me to “take care of everything” but why would I choose to frame things in such a way that they make her seem useless? I noticed that she does not enjoy, or for whatever reason is not good at, planning those kinds of things so I step up and handle them for both of us. I view it as an act of service for someone that I love, not as an obstacle to my own happiness. As long as both people are looking to help in their own way then all that’s needed to maintain the system is a generous interpretation of your partners actions. I would hope that attitude would be even more prevalent in our relationship if she had a medical condition that prevented her from doing some of those things, rather than just a personal preference. That’s how relationships are supposed to work imo.
So much of relationships comes down to how we’ve conditioned ourselves to think about them. I get the impression that both of you are stuck in the idea that everything is your fault and my experience says that things are never that simple when both partners are decent people, which it sounds like is the case for you. It’s theoretically possible but incredibly unlikely. Again, that doesn’t mean that there’s no work for you to do to improve things. All I’m saying is that from the limited information I have about the situation it seems to me that her tendency to blame all of your relationship problems on you is just as much a factor in your perceived struggles as your ADHD. Maybe I’m way off base here but it’s something to consider at least.