To be loyal is one of the hardest and most rewarding things in a relationship, and when a partner cheats the hurt of betrayal feels like the worse pain in the world. Due to a stressful lifestyle, ease of online dating apps, and boredom it is easy to get stray from a long-term relationship. Micro cheating is the latest buzz word in the dating world, which describes “a series of seemingly small actions that indicate a person is emotionally or physically focused on someone outside their relationship.” If your gut feeling is constantly warning you about your partner’s shady behavior then don’t ignore these red flags.
Inexplicable mood swings: When you know your partner for a considerable time, you’d know his habits and predicable behavior around you. Either he is too nice to you, or completely ignoring you without any reason. However, if you notice too many changes in his mannerisms and a sense of detachment from you, it could be a warning sign.
Acting secretive: When you are with him and he is busy checking his phone instead of you, usually texting or disappearing for secret calls that do not look like work/ office matters, it is unusual behavior. His phone is always busy when you ring him at an odd hour; he gets uncomfortable when he has to share passwords for his social accounts, phone, or laptop. If you trust your partner these things shouldn’t be a big deal. While technology plays a big role in connecting people, it could also be a tell-all proof of what’s going on in his life that he doesn’t want you to find out.
Denial: If your partner is cheating, he would be smart enough to hide the possible proofs. If and when you’d try to confront him or raise doubts, his first response would be to deny the allegations. If he is prepared for the cross-examination, he might even try to gaslight you or ignore the subject instead of addressing your concerns.
Too busy for you: When a guy likes you he would pay 100 pc attention to you and notice every small detail even when he is neck-deep in work. However, when his mind is on someone else, he’d look for reasons to avoid seeing you eye-to-eye and constantly pretend to be busy with something. You should particularly notice last-minute plan changes, behaving too stressed around you, and constantly cancelling on you without any valid reason.
Lack of intimacy: For a guy or a girl, physical intimacy plays a very important role in keeping up the relationship alive. You should be concerned, if earlier he was attracted to you physically and held your hands, kissed, or had sex too often, but nothing about you excites him/her anymore. If he doesn’t express his love for you like he used to and doesn’t compliment you even when you make an effort to look sexy for him, then sadly he is not into you anymore.
Our advice — If you have caught him micro cheating, there is no excuse for such callous behaviour. If he is willing to apologise, make satisfactory changes, and work on the relationship, consider therapy for couples to avoid any disputes in the future. As a rule, it is unacceptable to be with someone who tries to de-value your honest feelings and neglects you in a committed partnership. While insecurity, jealousy, and lack of attention are quite common when you love someone, and it can be rectified with couple’s therapy or counselling.
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