Many men get tossed into the deadbeat dad category by their wives who are looking to score the package, regardless of the dad's parenting skills, their loving availability for their kids, and often discounting the dads even if they are the ones who hold down the emotional and logistical side of the household.
If you end most workdays with a loss of motivation and deep exhaustion, I'd like to invite you to dig deeper and get to the heart of what keeps you there, and what you could begin to change if you knew where you wanted to go.
Work on the feedback loop in all interactions with your partner. If you can get the core link between the two of you solid and healthy, you can move together towards a jointly-imagined horizon. Don't settle. Don't let things get off track. Always speak your truth.
Truth is a spiritual process. Not settling for half-truths is an acid test. And perhaps this "edge" will give me some insight and relief from burnout and anxiety.
We can hold on, we can fight/struggle/counsel to make things work. We can sacrifice so many aspects of our lives to try and keep the marriage together. And in this sublimation, we can become separated from our own inner truth, our own listening and responding heart, as we try and compromise and grow and hope for the eventual LOVE we believe will heal us.
There is absolutely no hurry. You have all the time you need. Spend time together. Spend time apart. Listen. Learn. And move forward.
Home is inside me. Home with someone else is a horizon I knew I was losing in my divorce. After eleven years of seeking, perhaps I'm getting ready to rebuild a home with someone else.
It will take a long time for me to rebuild my relationship with the kids, but I will. And they will know the story of this angry divorce saga over time. They will ask about "what happened?" They will ask about the lies.