Once bitten twice shy as they say.
I've was deceived and betrayed by my ex so trust that I once had has been lost forever because people change over time and no one really knows how that change will affect a marriage or any relationship for that matter. I'm not saying that I too didn't change as well but never to the point of betrayal of someone I loved once. This kind of problem happens many times and can't be prevented so I don't bother trying to find anyone else ever again. It is much better for me because I'd never be able to trust again so therefore anyone I'd become friends with, I'd never trust them enough to become a loving relationship. I'd like to have someone to love but could never be able to trust so that won't be fair to them.
Thank you for sharing this, cosmictraveler.
Many of us have had our trust broken and I well understand where you are coming from. Yet, in the end, when we deny ourselves the opportunity to try again, it is ourselves that we wound the most.
I work with horses, which I have found to be an extraordinarily trusting species. However, once you break their trust, it takes a long time to regain any ground lost. For every one mistake you make with a horse, I estimate it takes 50 positive reinforcements to move beyond, and the trigger will ever remain, because horses don't forget.
Neither do people, where such matters as trust are concerned. Once one has lived a few decades, we are all wounded warriors. Still, most attest that the experience of a loving relationship is a thing worth striving for.
For you, I wish for the sun to shine on your heart, that you may love once again, even if you walk very slowly and cautiously back toward the light.