Cheating on your partner is one of the most hurtful and distrustful acts that occurs in relationships. Both men and women cheat on their partners. However, they do it for different reasons. Often men want variety, and cheating offers something new and exciting. Women tend to be more emotional, cheating in response to a hurtful act in their relationships or because they feel undervalued.

Survey Says

To find out what people thought about cheating, I created an anonymous online survey of about 100 people, both men and women. Of these people, 88 percent said they know someone who has cheated on their partner.

The top reason for cheating is because people feel unappreciated or that their relationship is rocky or boring. These reasons go hand in hand with wanting to break up, but instead of facing these problems, they turn to cheating. Relationship problems can be easily fixed. If you talk to your partner, you can try to work it out. But if you can’t work it out, have fallen out of love, need your space or just want to break up – break up! Cheating is only prolonging the inevitable and will hurt your partner more.

Break Up or Make Up?

If you are in a situation where you have been cheated on, or maybe you have done the cheating, the question now is what happens to your relationship? The guilty party needs to have an honest conversation with his or her partner and figure out why the cheating occurred. Reasons for cheating can vary from boredom in a relationship and a need for some excitement to anger or being in love with someone else.

The party who was cheated on needs to evaluate how he or she feels about the reasons trust is jeopardized. Is it forgivable? Every situation is different, as are the people involved. Both people should take a few days to understand how this affects them, decide how to react and do what feels best for them.

Secrets

The majority of people who cheat keep their habits a secret from their partner. Their mentality could be “one kiss isn’t cheating,” but to their partners, that could be enough to break trust. Ask yourself how you would feel if your partner had cheated. It’s not fair to your partner to keep a secret that so directly involves emotions. Be honest with your partner. Trust is the foundation of a relationship and keeping secrets can jeopardize that confidence.