I think Rick might have talked about how men, unlike women, tend to compartmentalize their behavior and beliefs. Your words ring familiar. My H used the affair as a coping mechanism for his own unhappiness. The OW was like alchohol or drugs. She provided the excitement he needed to get away from his self loathing.
But he now admits that he could separate that world from the real world he was living in. It isn't pretending, it is more just a line between two world that they could cross fairly easily for the time.
I think Rick might have
I think Rick might have talked about how men, unlike women, tend to compartmentalize their behavior and beliefs. Your words ring familiar. My H used the affair as a coping mechanism for his own unhappiness. The OW was like alchohol or drugs. She provided the excitement he needed to get away from his self loathing.
But he now admits that he could separate that world from the real world he was living in. It isn't pretending, it is more just a line between two world that they could cross fairly easily for the time.