Am I in the right or wrong? I need some perspective

For context, I am 32M, married to 29F, for 6 years now.

I look back at 6 years now, and I realize that I have never been truly happy in the relationship, due to various reasons.

* My wife never cared about mental health. Within a year of marriage, I was going through some tough time, and I tried to open up to her and she said things along the line of "you are just overthinking, this is all BS" etc, which made me completely close up and never open up again. As a result, I felt alone all the time even when I was in a relationship.
* When it was Covid, we alterated staying at each of our parents place 15 days each. As I started spending more time at her place, I understood that their dad is not respected at their place, and he is always made fun of. This hit me hard. Over time, I started seeing myself in the image of her dad because she started treating me the same way. (more below on all the criticism I get)
* We moved to a different part of the world from India. I took this step for primarily her benefit, because she worked a very difficult job, 14-16 hours a day, and started getting health issues. I finally asked my workplace to sponsor a visa to the HQ in a different country, and she found a job here. After she came here, I started getting responses like "this country is so great, I wish I hadn't married and came here for studies when I was young. Look at how much freedom the women here enjoy", which I found very demeaning.
* She was raised with criticism at home even for the smallest things, while I was raised with positive reinforcement, and rarely blatantly criticised. Naturally, this lead to friction across every department. Nothing I did was to her level of "excellence", and I was constantly criticized even for the most trivial things that did not really matter. Not to mention, even driving along with her was painful, because she would constantly tell me how to drive.
* Admittedly, I am someone who did not cook before I got married. But after getting married, I have put in the effort to learn to cook, and cook them really well. At this point, I know to cook more dishes than she does. A few months ago, a friend of ours, during a visit asked me "Do you cook?", and before I could even reply, my wife interjected and said "He only learnt it after our wedding". I don't know what the need was to specify that, I think it was just a "yes" or "no" answer.
* She hates that I am considered a "good son" at my home. I hardly drink, and after relocating, drinking is more common than before due to social reasons, but even then I drink maybe one beer a month and that's it. My parents never wanted me to drink, so I naturally did not tell them. But my wife wants me to send photographs of me drinking to my parents to prove that "your son is not all that goody goody as you think he is". I don't know why this is necessary. When asked, she said that as a woman she had to break so many barriers at her own home to enjoy her "freedom" and as a man, I had never had to do it, so I should do it now.
* She would go out for office parties and never communicate. I am not someone who is insecure, nor controlling, but I expect basic communication. I would wait until 11:30 with no updates, and if I call for an update, it is a problem. She says that her mother constantly controlled her to come home early before dark, and now she does not want me to do that again. I find no sense in this argument. At least drop a text that "will be home by 12:30" and I will be okay. Not to mention that she was drunk one time and came home in a rented scooter, driving while drunk.
* I used to be a good photographer, and loved taking her pictures. But every time I did that, before posting online, she would send all of the good ones to her sister and ask her which is the best. She does not ask me for an opinion nor upload the ones I like. Sometimes she'd not post anything because her sister said so. I felt neglected, and eventually I stopped taking photos as a hobby.
* When my parents visited us in this country, on the last day, we were dropping them at the airport. I have been raised with showing physical affection very openly, and naturally my dad and mom kissed me at the airport and I kissed them back. It was an emotional scene, like most indian households. But as soon as they left inside the airport, and I turned back, my wife said the words "cringe", pointing fingers on how our show of affection was "cringey". I was devastated. My father has had an attack in the past, and at that moment, out of sheer sadness I said "My father is someone who has had an attack, and if I don't see him after a year, you saying this is "cringe" would be my last memory of him". She immediately flipped all the fault on me saying that "I am stretching it too far, she did not mean it that way and that I am emotionally blackmailing"
* My sister works a work from home job, and earns pretty well. My wife hates that my sister is "ruining her life working from home and not exploring the world" and wants me to nudge my sister to take up an in office job. As a brother, I have always been hands off and has only given advice when she has asked for it. She is an adult (28F), so I told she can take her own decisions, whether they are good or bad and my wife did not like it.
* I am a very "handy" person - I do most things around the house, and there isn't a need to call a plumber or an electrician in most cases. I do ALL of the paperwork, round the year. I do the laundry. I never miss appointments, I schedule travel and logistics. And when I say I don't feel appreciated, she brushes this off as "paperwork that happens once a year", or as "this is bare minimum". When I argue that this is not bare minimum, and ask her to name at least one man that she knows who does more around the house, she has no answer but replies "why do you want to be the best man? It is okay to not be the best and be bare minimum".
* My mother has never caused my wife any trouble, knowingly. My mother herself has gone through a lot of abuse in the hands of her in laws, so she is very particular that none of it is repeated to her DIL. However, my wife says that my mother does not cause any trouble only because ours was a love marriage and she does not want to disappoint her son. Not because my mother is a sensible woman who knows it is wrong to cause trouble to DIL.
* It is very hard for her to be agreeable in any topic. As an example, I could say that "the food in the restaurant was nice", and she would go "yeah, but what about kids in Africa? they are starving". Of course, this is an exaggerated example, but you get the gist. It is very hard to get a "yeah, you are right" out of her mouth, and that level of disagreeing on anything has built so much resentment in me.
* We have a dead bedroom situation. Given all the criticism I get on a daily basis, lack of feeling of partnership, lack of concern for mental health, eventually I started having very low interest in sex. But again, I am a non confrontational person, so I never brought this up myself, but one day the volcano exploded and she said she wants a divorce because there is no physical intimacy. I argued that physical intimacy follows emotional intimacy, but she rebutted saying that "all couples fight, does not mean that sex is not happening between them". I don't know how I can have sex when I don't feel emotionally safe.
* On the above topic, I have told her my preferences time and again - that I would love it if body hair was shaved and she put on something exciting to spice things up. But she always has a problem saying that "I am demanding things and body hair is natural", but she has no trouble shaving when she has to go on swimming trips, or if there is an office event. It's like she does not want to dress up to impress me, while she'd happily do it for the rest of the society. And I am someone who is happy to do things to impress my partner, or do things just to give them the idea that "I listen to your needs"
* She thinks happy marriages do not exist. Most of her friends are divorcing. The ones who are not divorcing, always have fights at home. As expats, we find it really hard to make friends, but the ones we end up making are of this kind. I told her that who we spent time with matters a lot, and we should find people in happy marriages and she says nothing like that exists and it is a myth.
* She passes the "why do I need a man?" comment when she is with her "feminist" friends, and I find it to be very demeaning. I already feel that she just needs needs me as a roommate who cooks, cleans and can have sex with.

What do you think? I also admit that I've had my fair share of problems (specifically, silent treatment because when I am wronged, I just find it easy to not talk to her rather than fighting). This is now moving towards a divorce. We tried couples counselling, but I hardly see any tangible change. It feels like our love languages are totally different. She accusess that I am very sensitive, but I just feel that she over criticizes, while I always give positive reinforcement, I need physical touch for emotional bonding, and a general sense of agreeableness.

Advice request: What should I do here? I am in a lot of stress because of such a relationship. Is divorce the way out here?

Tl;dr: Wife and I have very different upbringing and values and it's causing issues between us, heading to divorce

Posted Aug 21, 2026, 2:26 AM UTC

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