Can a relationship survive closing up?
My partner and I have been enm for 10 years with no problems. I don’t seek outside relationships, but he does and that is fine by me. I always felt strong compersion and we were always the primary relationship. His relationships are purely sexual, and he is very up front with his other partners that his family is the priority (we have teenage aged kids).
Recently he broke one of our rules and it broke my heart. We have decided to close up the relationship for now, and I am seeing a therapist. Im still panicking every time I think about it, and I can’t imagine that I will ever be ok with opening back up again. He is doing a lot of work to repair trust, and our communication is good. But I’m afraid that if I can’t get back to a place of compersion I will lose this relationship and destroy my family. I don’t want him to resent me if I never want to be enm again, but I also don’t want to feel like I’m being held hostage to his needs. The amount of panic I experience at the thought of him being with someone else right now is deteriorating my health.
Are we truly fucked, or can people come back from this?