Married and single…
“Married, but somehow living single.”
I’m a 46-year-old mother of 3, and on paper, I have a husband but most days, I feel completely alone.
My children are his stepchildren, but he has loved them like his own and has always stepped up for them. He helps when asked, cares for them, and has been a steady presence in their lives. He works incredibly hard 65 hours a week as a truck driver and I know that kind of work is exhausting.
But emotionally… he feels miles away.
We’re in therapy, trying to work through it, yet he continues to keep his distance. There’s always a reason he’s tired, stressed, exhausted… always tired. And while I understand life is heavy, marriage is heavy too especially when one person feels like they’re carrying the emotional weight alone.
No romance.
No intimacy.
No date nights.
No meaningful connection.
No looking into each other’s eyes and feeling seen.
Just the same routine texts every day, the same words on repeat, like communication without real connection.
Meanwhile, I cook, clean, manage the bills, run the household, and spend most of my days alone.
I’m married to a good man in many ways… but I still feel painfully alone.
And that’s the kind of loneliness few people talk about the loneliness of being married, yet feeling single.