hearthealth.....I think with those who have been raised with that belief...especially, the generations of women before us....there often wasn't any choice...if the woman didn't have some kind of independent means....staying in such marriages was usually a matter of sheer survival for women. Marriage gave them their "place" in the world. They really didn't have much reproductive choice, either.
I am quite sure that many of those women were not happy in their marriages....but, they tried as hard as they could to just accept their "fate".
Even so...there were some women who did balk at it....as divorce has been legal for a very long time....
But, fortunately, today, women have more choice over their lives....
We are not just machines....we all want to see "seen" and "heard"....want to know that we matter....the authentic self inside of us craves expression...and, when our environment and/or the people in it obstruct that for us....it brings enormous stress and unhappiness...even to the point of illness....that kind of stress is terribly destructive.....
Hearthealth...I hope that you will listen carefully to the words of the song, in my thread, that I suggested for you....
One of the lines is---"You are more than a wife"....
I so wish that you had more support, in your life, of people that understood exactly how you feel....and there are plenty, out there! I feel like that would m ake a world of difference for you....