Relationships can heal from infidelity. The process is not without its challenges, but it is possible. A couple typically does best when they are determined to work through the pain to get to the healing on the other side.

How to Make Love Last Forever

• Practice forgiveness. Resentment, anger and blame are normal reactions when your loved one does something hurtful.
• Be realistic. Every long-term relationship will have its share of disappointments.
• Develop rituals.
• Listen actively.
• Be honest.
• Fight fair.
• Get help if you’re stuck.

The 15 Most Important Characteristics Of Healthy Relationships

1. You respect each other.
2. You’re vulnerable with each other.
3. You have total trust in each other.
4. You both maintain unwavering honesty.
5. There’s mutual empathy.
6. You both prioritize kindness.
7. You respect each other’s boundaries.
8. You’re both totally committed.

The researchers put it this way: Cheating is associated with feelings of self-satisfaction, and the boost in positive affect from cheating persists even when prospects for self-deception about unethical behavior are reduced.

Being cheated on can not only affect your self-esteem and self-worth; it can also affect the way you treat those around you. It can unknowingly affect every aspect of your life including how you treat your children and other family members, friends, co-workers and even the most casual of relationships.”

It’s as simple as that – but the feelings that come with it are hardly ever simple. You feel betrayed, angry, embarrassed and completely heartbroken. It can make you question everything about yourself, your relationship and your life.

Though not always the case, infidelity can definitely destroy a marriage. Of course, everyone has their own reasons for wanting to end the marriage after someone cheats, but for many people, they feel as though cheating brings on feelings of pain and betrayal, but more urgently, it undermines the trust.

Infidelity is a common cause of marital stress and can contribute to the decision to end a marriage through divorce. Emotional affairs, meaning infidelity without a sexual or physical component, can develop when married spouses form close, intimate relationships with others outside of their marriage.

But it turns out that 4 in 10 marriages are challenged by affairs; and it also turns out that more than half of American marriages survive the affair.