Me and my partner have been together for almost 3 years now. We live together and own a pet together and haven’t encountered many major problems except for some bad arguing, but we’ve always gotten through it.
I went out one night and danced (physical touch involved) and flirted with another man. I didn’t cheat but I crossed a line
I felt sick with guilt and confessed everything. He took it really well and understood everything I was saying, though he was hurt and angry - he said he just needs some time, I guess to process it? He said we’ll be okay, our relationship will be fine and nothing is going to change and he still loves me, he’s just not exactly going to feel warm to me right now.
This whole situation, however, led me on to confess on more examples of me being flirty with other men. One time I was out and a similar situation occurred, not as bad, I didn’t physically dance with him. I also had a flirty relationship with a work colleague - it was never anything bad and I also worked with his girlfriend but he once messaged me and he must’ve been being very flirty (again, I don’t think it was anything crossing lines) and I flirted back, but then I deleted the messages which was bad, but I told my boyfriend this too.
I suffer with OCD, which makes me overthink, so now any situation or example of me being disrespectful that I remember, even if they’re not awful and he doesn’t need to know, or even if I can’t remember them fully, I feel this insatiable need to confess. If I don’t tell him straight away it eats me alive for hours and even if I can convince myself for an hour or so that it’s okay, it’s not a big deal and probably not worth him knowing, I still convince myself to tell him, which I think is making matters worse.
Basically, I’m seeking reassurance and I don’t know how to stop. I don’t know what to do, I feel I’m stuck in an endless cycle of confessions, it’s driving me insane. It’s affecting our relationship more than the actual actions are. Please, can anyone help?