On Reddit's r/confession forum, a user talked about how she cheated on her boyfriend after being emotionally neglected. While several commenters sympathized with her loneliness, many also criticized her choice to stay in the relationship rather than call it quits. According to the poster, what started as casual talks with another man eventually became flirty.
She said her boyfriend had made her feel neither desired nor appreciated for a long time. The two reportedly exchanged private messages, images, and videos before their eventual in-person meeting, which the Redditor described as "crossing a line."
"I am not proud of cheating, and I know it was wrong," she wrote. "But the truth is that being wanted, cared for, and desired by someone else made me realize how neglected I felt in my relationship."
Other Reddit users were concentrating more on the deeper problems in the relationship than the affair itself. "Everyone deserves to feel wanted, but cheating just makes everything way more messy," a commenter wrote, and that the poster should end the relationship.
To that, the original poster responded: "Yeah, I feel very lonely… I still have some feelings for him."
Several commenters said that staying in an unhappy relationship while pursuing someone else only worsens the situation. "I'll never understand why people stay in shitty relationships and cheat. Just leave the (…) relationship and that way no one gets as hurt," one commented. Another added, "They want security in some relationships and joy in others instead of making difficult but honest choices." "Why do you stay with someone who doesn't make you feel desired and appreciated?" another added.
"You didn't have to cheat, just leave," they wrote.
Not everyone saw the issue from a moral standpoint. One commenter wondered whether the event might have made the poster aware of unmet emotional needs. The user stated, "OP never prob realized what she was lacking when she met [the] man."
Some, however, were more skeptical of the other man's intentions. "Basically he wanted to sleep with you so he plied you with attention and gifts. Tale as old as time," one commenter wrote.
