#145: How Do I Hold My Partner's Pain While Maintaining Safety For Myself?

Caller Cody's Question: "Unique situation; my wife had a couple of affairs that she disclosed, about 2 years later, she discovered my porn and sex addiction. It's been 10 months of sobriety and we have decided to divorce. More minutia to the story. When she is sharing her feelings, I feel stuck with no good choices for trying to empathize. If I stay silent, it's the avoider coming through. If I respond “I know what that feels like” It comes across as me trying to turn the narrative on her. I do have empathy for the hurt I have caused her, how can I express it in a healthy way that does not minimize, deflect, project, etc?" Tyler Patrick, "The Wandering Therapist", is co-founder of Love Strong (lovestrong.com), a Christian-based Recovery + WHOLEHEARTED living therapy practice. If you'd like to work with Love Strong via telehealth or in-person, reach out to us at [email protected] or go to our website: https://lovestrong.com. We have a great online Foundations Of Recovery Class starting soon. This class is for sex addiction recovery and healing from betrayal trauma. Go to https://lovestrong.com/services/foundations-group/ to learn more and sign up. Brannon Patrick, "The Expert", is co-founder of Therapy Utah (therapyutah.org). You can follow Brannon on Instagram @brannon_patrick. He has some really great online courses available at brannonpatrick.com like his Boundary Bootcamp course. Brannon has a program called L.I.F.T. for betrayal trauma and addiction recovery available online starting soon. Go to https://www.liftforrecovery.com/ for more info! Join us for one of our "Life-Changing" retreats. therapybros.com/events Radiant Dawn Women's Conference: https://radiantdawnconference.com Rising Son Men's Conference: https://risingson.org Couple's Conference TBA We would love to have you as a guest on the podcast. Go to realtalkrecovery.com to submit your question and schedule your call!