Still love him but feels different now

My cousin stayed in a marriage like that for twelve years. Same thing—silence when she needed to talk, her in-laws tearing her down, her husband just… absent. She kept saying she was doing it for the kids. Then one day she looked at herself in the mirror and didn’t recognize the person staring back. I get it. You stay because it’s what’s expected. Because leaving feels selfish. But you’re not nothing. That emptiness? It’s not nothing. It’s your soul asking for air. Try this: start small. Write down one thing you feel every night before bed. Just for you. Then pick one thing—just one—that’s been eating at you, and ask your husband to talk about it at a calm time. Not “we need to talk,” just “can we sit down after dinner?” If he shuts down, say it straight: “When you don’t respond, I feel alone.” See what happens. My cousin finally said that one sentence to her husband. He didn’t fix it all that night. But he showed up the next day with coffee and said he’d been thinking. Took years, but they found their way back. Or maybe you won’t. But at least you’ll know you tried for real. Empty is not a forever state