How to Prevent an Emotional Affair

Cheating on your spouse or partner is easy to avoid, but it is more complicated when you want to prevent an emotional affair. These are the affairs of the heart. They can be just as detrimental to any relationship, but they are also completely preventable.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Know what you are up against. Emotional affairs involve opening up to, and bonding emotionally with, someone you could be or are sexually interested in. This doesn't mean you can't form meaningful relationships with the opposite sex, just understand your boundaries and keep them in mind.
2. Extend your friends to include more same-sex friends. The sexual tension in your relationships with the opposite sex can begin to complicate things, and by bonding with your same-sex friends you can still get an emotional bond that doesn't involve the tension of what could happen if you were so inclined.
3. Strengthen your bond and your friendship with your spouse or partner. A strong core relationship can make you feel strong enough to avoid an emotional affair. When you are being fulfilled emotionally at home, you are less likely to wander.
4. Keep your eye open for your co-workers who may fit the profile of an emotional affair seeker. It may seem cute to say you have your work husband or work wife, but the implications of such a relationship are hard to shake. Keep these possible relationships at bay by keeping your personal life to yourself at work, and maintaining only professional relationships on work time.
5. Take heed of your instincts and reign them in. Once you begin feeling like you have to hide certain aspects of a friendship with your spouse, you are on a slippery slope. Instead of hiding anything from your partner, be honest and open and stop what could become an emotional affair in its tracks.
6. Make conversations about your spouse or partner light, fun and not hostile when you are talking to your friends and co-workers--especially those who may become emotionally attached and emotionally interested in the fact that your marriage is on the rocks.