Emotional Affair

Emotional support is one of the most important aspect of a relationship, and when either partner resorts to a third person for this support, he/she intentionally or unintentionally resorts to emotional affair. The fact that there is no physical involvement in an emotional affair makes many people feel that such involvement shouldn't be viewed as infidelity. Not everybody shares the same view though. A large number of people, especially women, consider emotional cheating to be a breach of trust.

What is an Emotional Affair?
Emotional affair, also referred to as emotional infidelity or emotional cheating, is basically an intimate affair lacking physical involvement from either side. In such affairs, an individual puts more emotional energy outside a steady relationship, which in turn affects the relationship in some or the other way. Emotional affairs generally start with simple friendship, and go on to transform into a proper relationship, with no physical intimacy whatsoever. Though neither individual has sexual inclination towards the other, the emotional involvement is so much that people even tend to confine some of the most personal attributes of their life to this so-called friend, something which generally not acceptable to their partner.

A person might not even be aware of the fact that he/she is involved in emotional affair, until they reach to such an extent, that coming to terms with reality becomes difficult. It generally starts with casual friendship, and with time the two friends get closer to each other emotionally. No physical intimacy would mean that the person indulging in this practice will never feel guilty for his/her act. However, in the process of this emotional affair they tend to do several things, like spending more time with this so-called friend or confining some personal matters to him/her, which is more likely to be considered as a breach of trust by the steady partner. The person involved in this may never make any sexual advances towards his/her 'best friend', as the involvement is purely an emotional one.

Emotional Affair Signs
In an emotional affair, friendship tends to grow to something more than 'just friends' in the course of time. Sometimes deliberately, while sometimes subconsciously, an individual tends to avoid talking about this 'friendship' from his/her steady partner. He/she starts spending more time with this so-called 'best friend', and at times even resort to some excuses to do so. Initially, they start confining trivial personal matters, gradually the focus shifts to their own fears, dreams etc, and eventually to the problems in their own relationship with their steady partner. The 'best friend' suddenly becomes so important in life, that the individual tends become more possessive about him/her. At times, these people even tend to sacrifice on the happiness of their steady partner to keep their 'best friend' happy. Though a person involving in emotional infidelity may not have sexual desires towards the third person, it is bound to reflect on the physical relationship with the steady partner.

So, Why Does One Resort to Emotional Cheating in a Relationship?
An emotional affair can start anywhere - at workplace, where you tend to spend more time with colleague; with an ex-lover, with whom you get in touch after a long time or on the Internet, wherein the identities are not revealed and hence there is not much to worry about. The sudden inclination towards some other person can be attributed to a range of factors, the most prominent one being emotional solace. Lack of communication between the parters just fuels this inclination and pushes an individual into emotional cheating. At times, circumstances do arise when an individual feels that his/her partner doesn't understand him/her well enough as the third person does. This doubt is backed by some unruly behavior by the steady partner, and eventually ends up making the third person more understanding and trustworthy. These changes in the behavior come over a course of time as the individual spends more and more time with this 'friend'.

Normally, one resorts to emotional cheating in a relationship owing to some issues that he/she faces with her steady partner. If these issues are resolved with your steady partner in the very first place, you might not even have to look for solace in the third person. Simple measures, like spending more time with your steady partner, having more fun with each other, resolving relationship issues as soon as they crop up or being honest with him/her, can help you in restraining you from getting involved into something like emotional cheating, which can result in some serious complications in your life.

It isn't something like you plan to cheat on your partner emotionally, it just happens gradually. At times, you may not even realize this until you are so much into this relationship, that you keep craving to spend more time with this 'best friend' of yours. At this point of time, you are so involved into it, that emotional affair recovery becomes virtually impossible. The best emotional affair advice anybody can give you is to avoid getting into such an affair in the very first place.