I wish my husband would just leave me
Title. My husband and I have been married for a few years. We are both Christians, but he is less so. I've always been extremely anti-divorce, but he has a very lax view on it. Any time I do anything that slightly displeases him or goes against his extremely high standards, I just worrying that he will leave me because he has such a lax view of divorce, he views it as something that can just be done on a whim. He doesn't care at all about Jesus saying that what God has joined together let no man separate.
It wasn't always like this. When we met, he was quite progressive, even slightly more than me. But over the years he's gotten far far more conservative. Like, he believes some things that I wouldn't even want to say on this subreddit. But I honestly didn't care because at the end of the day, I will do as Jesus said, I will stay by his side and love and support.
But honestly, I am exhausted. He wants SO much from me. He expects me to be a stepford wife. And I truly don't mind, but I wish he would be a bit more forgiving. He expects intimacy daily and on the weekends, multiple times a day. I am exhausted and worn out. He also wants a lot of kids. It's not that wanting kids is bad, but he tells me he expects me to keep the house spotless and dinner made every night and daily intimacy even with a newborn, or a newborn and a toddler. I know this isn't possible. He tells me women have been doing this for all of history.
I've talked to him before, told him that as much as I love him he expects far too much of me and I want to rest. But he doesn't listen to me, he just says that I should listen to him. I just want to clarify that he isn't abusive (at least not physically) he has never gotten violent with me. He's yelled at me slightly once or twice but it wasn't straight up abusive, just kind of mean. I've begged him to take us to couples counselling but he refused.
It's only a matter of time until he leaves me, because like I said, any small mistake and he starts getting majorly upset with me. If we don't have intimacy for 2 or 3 days he gets upset with me. I can't do anything. Anytime I try to talk to him and tell him I'm tired or I can't handle the things he tells me to do, he just tells me I'm worrying too much and I should just do as he says.
Being married to him is like being married to a prison warden. He expects perfection and when it is not met, he punishes me emotionally. Any type of communication is met with more emotional punishment. It always goes the same way. I tell him I want things to be different. He gets sad. I feel guilty and tell him I will just as he says. There are so, so, so, SO many things he makes me do that I don't want to do. Not through violence, but because he tells me he would be unhappy if I didn't do them, and because I love him I just do it.
He wants me to be like those tradwife influencers. He wants me to wear dresses every single day, bake bread from scratch, manage a homestead, keep the house spotless, have children, take care of the children, and then still manage a business. Now I don't mind doing some of those things. I don't mind cooking for him or doing his laundry or making snacks for him when he comes home. But I can't be expected to do all those things with a newborn or toddler. I tell him this and he tells me "Well every single woman in history has done this so I'm sure you'll manage"
When I imagine my life with him in 15-20 years I feel depressed. I imagine an overworked miserable woman who's body is exhausted from back to back pregnancies, with no hobbies and takes care of the house 24/7 and gets no rest.
Again, I love my husband and I will NEVER initiate a divorce against him. But I know he will against me. When I continuously fail his ridiculous standards he will leave me. He won't consider marital counselling either.
Posted Dec 9, 2025, 9:53 AM UTC