Shortcomings are natural in a relationship and are often reasoned with unless there is betrayal. Some women who get cheated forgive their partners out of love, while some move away. But in both scenarios, women break down mentally and start questioning their self-worth. Thus, men should know what cheating does to a woman’s self-esteem.
Cheating completely disrupts a woman’s ability to trust again. A woman might be either sensitive or bold, but it still impacts her self-esteem to an extent where she stops believing in herself. Self-loathing takes over her psyche, and sometimes her existing insecurities get a negative boost, which often results in depression or suicidal thoughts.
It depends on how a woman decides to take the betrayal of their partner- does she dwell on it, or does she move on from her cheating partner? Nevertheless, a woman’s self-esteem gets hurt, and other possible outcomes follow. To have a closer look at what damage cheating causes to a person, keep reading!
Effects of Cheating on a Woman’s Self Esteem
When women get cheated on, some break down immediately, while some get angry and fight for it. Either way, there comes a time when they start to point fingers at themselves. Cheating pushes some women into asking herself what she might have done wrong. The first way, unknowingly, their self-esteem and self-worth get belittled by themselves.
She begins to question whether she is even worth the love and if she is the reason he might have cheated. She keeps thinking of things she could have done differently to prevent this from occurring. The lowering self-esteem then makes her fear whether she will ever be loved again or be enough for anybody in their life. She starts to consider herself unworthy of loyalty.
Even if she is a strong, bold woman who has a great personality and is opinionated, she will still be hurt. It gets worse this way as her confidence shatters and she doubts herself. She demolishes all her achievements for the time being, which contributes to her mental disruption. She hides her pain from her loved ones, scared of being pitied by them.
Even being so capable of various things, she feels that her life partner did not consider her feelings. It pushes a woman into putting herself down so notably, resulting in her physical and mental turmoil. The self-esteem getting hampered thus gives access to other kinds of mental impacts as well.
These women do not realize that cheating is the fault of the one doing it. It cannot be justified or reasoned with in any way, especially if your partner was fully conscious of what he was doing.
Other Outcomes of the Low Self-Esteem
As the self-esteem gets hampered, the pain then generates other kinds of mental issues followed by physical impacts. From lowering self-esteem, emerges the self-loathing attitude and hate. Women start hating on their looks, bodies and thus stop taking care of themselves. Some other known outcomes of lowering self-esteem-
Physical Health Fluctuations
As self-esteem goes through a crude situation, women stop taking care of themselves. Some stop eating as they lose their appetite and stay occupied worrying about their failure. Physical health starts to fall rapidly and might result in illness and weight loss.
Some women may also suffer from an eating disorder, which results in extreme weight gain. The weight gain lowers their self-esteem further as they start to hate their bodies, making the path to recovery harder.
Depression and Anxiety
One of the worst outcomes of lowering self-esteem is a woman falling into depression because of a cheating partner. Her sleeping pattern changes, she loses her appetite, and she lets go of herself as depression does not allow her to think of anything else but the betrayal.
She might even develop suicidal thoughts and give in to self-harm. Her absent-minded nature will likely result in small accidents in her daily life, like forgetting to turn off the stove, walking on the road during a green light, or even the inability to hear when called upon.
The daily life routine gets disturbed and ignored as well in some cases. When trust gets broken, a woman who takes time to build it considers herself useless to have even tried all that in the first place. Thus, her job and ambitions also seem least important, and she thinks she will fail in those too.
Anxiety is a partnering outcome of depression that makes a woman fear if she will be enough for anyone in life. Even if she forgives her partner after he has cheated on her, she will forever be anxious and fearful of the whole thing getting repeated.
Even if she leaves her partner, she will still be anxious about getting involved with a new man. And if involved, the memories of a cheating boyfriend/ husband will keep her antsy with her new partner. She will become oversensitive, nagging, and often get jealous.
Seclusion from Any Social Interaction
The lowering of self-esteem also makes a woman avoid social gatherings, even if it is with her loved ones. She stays away to avoid questions about her visibly deteriorating health. Because, even if she is well at pretending and an introvert, she will try to keep herself composed and then break down terribly as she leaves the social events.
If she is an extrovert in general, she might still try to hide the entire issue from her friends and family. Even if her family is supportive by nature, she will fear being perceived as a failed woman who could not save her relationship. She becomes so doubtful of everyone that she prefers being distant and lonely.
Sudden Rage
As self-worth gets disrupted, women who get cheated on often vent their anger on other people. If they are weak for their partner, they are likely to be emotional rather than fight for their right. This might result in sudden anger bursts with children or people they meet regularly.
Even if a woman is strong, the build-up of the pain because of the cheating partner is bound to come out as rage when she fails to remain strong any longer.
Sensitivity and Mood Swings
If not rage, some women become susceptible to mood swings. They get sensitive about every issue, cry out loud all of a sudden, and become fragile mentally. They start to develop a bipolar approach towards life by being overly happy to extremely upset.
Mood swings also hamper the career of a working woman. She might be annoyed at her colleagues and clients. The lowered self-esteem makes them hate the superiors at their jobs, as it reminds them of their husbands, who made them feel inferior.
How to Recover from Being Cheated On?
Women who are cheated on have to realize that the problem is with the person who cheated. They need to stop blaming themselves because of their partner’s shortcomings. The self-loathing and self-hate resulting in lowered self-esteem has to stop too.
She needs to start with leaving her cheating partner, and only then will she be stepping on the path to recovery. Then onwards, the anguish of the past relationship will have to be dealt with through counseling, staying with family and friends, or doing what her heart wants. She can even take a vacation to her favorite destination.
Conclusion
What cheating does to a woman’s self-esteem cannot be kept limited to the outcomes listed in this article. The effects are sometimes even worse. However, it will all fall into place as soon as a woman stops thinking of herself as the failure who could not keep a man happy but starts to consider it his loss.
Thanks for reading and I hope this article has helped you move on from a toxic relationship.
