Conflict Avoidance Has To Do With Cheating — What

To build a resilient bond, partners must realize that

True intimacy requires the "productive friction" of disagreement. When couples avoid conflict, they also avoid the vulnerability required to fix deep-seated issues. Cheating, in many cases, is simply the sound of a relationship breaking under the weight of everything that went unsaid.

When a person feels they cannot be their "true" or "messy" self with a partner for fear of a reaction, they naturally look for an outlet elsewhere. An affair often starts as a "safe space" where the avoider doesn't have to manage their partner’s emotions. In this new relationship, they feel a false sense of freedom because there is no shared history or domestic friction to navigate. They aren’t necessarily looking for a new person; they are looking for a version of themselves that isn't suppressed. The Passive-Aggressive Exit