Why does my husband hate me? You likely feel very alone asking this but surprisingly, many women feel the very same way you do. They reach a point in their marriage where they start to wonder why their spouse dislikes them so. It’s understandable why you may be questioning whether or not your marriage has any chance of surviving. If you love your husband, despite the fact that he seems not to care for you, there are ways to turn the relationship around. It all begins by gaining some insight into what your spouse really feels for you.

As women we often try and read between the lines of our husband’s behavior. If he’s moody or distant we take that on and blame ourselves. It’s not uncommon for a woman who is living with a temperamental man to believe he has stopped loving her. If he’s not saying it anymore or acting as though he doesn’t care, it’s easy to see why you’d jump to that conclusion.

Take a good, long look at your husband’s life in general. You need to consider what goes on beyond the limits of your relationship. Is he struggling with work issues? Has he been having conflict with friends or family members? Is he dealing with health problems? Anything like this can change the way a man interacts with his wife. Men tend to hold their emotions inside and then direct that frustration at the person they feel closest to. In this case, that’s you.

You may be misreading your husband’s dislike of you. Perhaps he’s just feeling overwhelmed by what’s going on in his life. Maybe you two have been arguing over something for some time and it’s finally wearing him down. Your job right now is to try and look past your own hurt feelings and see what your husband is dealing with.

If a man feels that his wife has stopped being emotionally supportive, he’ll retreat into himself. That behavior will often be misinterpreted. That may actually be happening within your marriage right now. It’s a vicious emotional circle that begins when one partner feels the other isn’t there for them. Then their partner picks up on the disconnection and before long they both believe the other doesn’t care.

Take the initiative here and start treating your husband the way you want him to treat you. Marriages are partnerships and quite often when one person reaches out, the other will follow suit. Let go of any past resentment you may be holding onto and just try and focus on his positive qualities. If you make a strong effort to be compassionate and loving with your husband you’ll see a noticeable change in how he treats you too. Sometimes we have to steer our marriage the direction we want it to go.