30 Stories From Married People Who Wish They Were Single But Are Stuck With Spouses They Hate

Health insurance (American checking in).

A lot of time it's about split finances. Like my mother-in-law kinda hates my father-in-law. But she wouldn't be able to afford To live if she wasn't in a relationship with her husband.

Is same with my aunt. If she could realistically afford to leave my uncle and know he wouldn't be destitute. She probably would.

I don't think my dad is loved either of his wives. I think he married my mom or a green card and was just gonna stick it out. Until things got real bad between them because my mom's a psycho.

And I think he married my stepmom cause he got her pregnant. She is also a psycho, But she is at least a 1000 times more competent than my mom at every basic life skill.

He absolutely stays with her because she handles basically everything for them.

I don't think my stepmother is happy. But that's because she has so much childhood truma going on be kinda hard to think anyone could make her happy.

And my dad rather have her handle everything in his life then find happiness.

I was one. A consultant gave me a technical name for my problem. it was you feel responsible for the partner who you think needs you to protect her. I can't remember the technical term. I was living with a demon.

My sister is staying for the kid, but she doesn't delude herself it's for the kid's sake, she knows it's because she doesn't want to give up any time with them and miss out on half their life. She only has the one, and won't be having another.

I think eventually they'll break, neither of them is happy and nothing will change. But I can understand why she doesn't want him out of the house. Even if they split time with the kid weekly and live around the corner from each other, she's still gonna miss stuff.

Her family loves me and they have money, our kids will benefit.

I grew up on a lower economic rung and for me. Financial security > happiness.
Also I'm married to an adult that never learned to support themselves. In my jurisdiction that means alimony. They have some money but it's all from an inheritance, but that wouldn't soften the financial blow on my end and the money probably won't last very long. I was in the hospital for a week once and the only reason why all the money in their accounts wasn't scammed was because they hadn't/couldn't set up Zelle.
TLDR, fear, sense of responsibility, laziness (in that order).

I don’t hate my spouse but I don’t love her like I used to. She has severe anxiety and is very combative about everything. Even something as simple as going out to the store or a walk becomes a debate. Eating “normal” food? Forget about it. Lighting off sparklers for our son and other children at our 4th of July party was a hurdle for her. It’s exhausting and miserable to put up with day after day.

So, I was sortof that person until a few weeks ago. Turns out, my wife is bipolar.

To observers, it would look like "why did this guy marry his spouse if he complains a lot?"

But I now recognize that when you have a bipolar spouse, what happens is you have one face for them that is all smiles and so to the rest of the world you have your negativity spill out uncontrollably.

We're better, and closer than ever (at least momentarily). As predicted, she's evading treatment because she is mainly in the manic area of it. Its like telling a c*****e a****t with a free supply that they need to quit.

I've adjusted my life over the years unintentionally to make up for her shortcomings. I work from home because she can't be trusted to watch the kids (2 ER visits, another almost dead).

Because he’s an unemployed alcoholic and I don’t want to make him homeless.

Wife would take (kidnap) my daughter to Japan, her birth country, and I would have no way to get my kid back because of the wonderful laws and government of Japan.
Happened a lot to french fathers (I'm from France).