Why Do People Cheat in Relationships?

We often see couples who appear perfect—whether in person or on social media. They shower each other with compliments, spoil one another, and understand each other’s love languages, from quality time to acts of service. These couples flaunt their love online with cosy photos and heartfelt captions, making us believe their bond is unbreakable. 

That’s why it’s so shocking when some of these relationships end, with cheating cited as the reason. It raises uncomfortable questions: Did they truly love each other? How could someone hurt the person they claim to love wholeheartedly? 

Cheating is rarely a “mistake.” It requires choices, effort, and often secrecy. While no justification can excuse infidelity, understanding the reasons behind it can help us recognize patterns and prevent them. 

Relationship Factors Behind Cheating 

1. 1.Commitment issues – Some individuals struggle with monogamy, realizing they prefer polyamory or fear long‑term responsibility. Past traumas or indecision often play a role. 

2. 2.Poor communication – When couples fail to express needs, frustrations, or boundaries, misunderstandings grow. Cheating may then be seen as a misguided way to “be heard” or find connection. 

3. 3.Financial stress – Money challenges can create resentment, insecurity, or power struggles. Some partners escape financial tension by seeking intimacy or support elsewhere. 

4. 4.Unmet emotional or physical needs – Emotional neglect or lack of intimacy can push partners to seek validation or excitement outside the relationship. 

5. 5.Boredom and desire for variety – Long‑term relationships can fall into routine. In search of novelty or thrill, some partners pursue affairs. 

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Personal Factors Behind Cheating 

6. 6.Opportunity and temptation – Travel, work environments, or social settings can create situations where cheating feels easy or undetectable. 

7. 7.Impulse control problems – Poor self‑control, sometimes linked to personality traits or substance use, can weaken judgment. 

8. 8.Anger or revenge – Infidelity may be used as retaliation for betrayal, neglect, or past cheating. 

9. 9.Validation and self‑esteem – Some individuals crave attention or affirmation from others to boost their self‑worth. 

10. 10.Unresolved trauma or childhood patterns – Past wounds, such as abandonment or exposure to infidelity, can unconsciously shape how people handle intimacy and trust. 

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The Bigger Picture 

Cheating is complex and rarely about one factor. It can stem from present‑day struggles like finances or communication, but often deeper personal issues—such as unresolved trauma—are at play. 

Couples who invest in their relationship and confront these root causes have a better chance of building healthier unions. Growth requires honesty, vulnerability, and commitment—not secrecy. 

If you feel a relationship is no longer worth fighting for, honesty is the more respectful choice. Ending things truthfully may hurt in the moment, but it prevents deeper scars caused by betrayal and broken promises. 

Overthinking vs. Execution: My Leap Back Into Writing

Ever had the feeling of logging into an application, scrolling through countless posts, and barely engaging with any of them? You pause, overthinking your responses, second‑guessing whether your words might come across as inconsiderate or not politically correct. You remind yourself that whatever you put out there will be seen, read, and possibly spark conversations. And so, instead of contributing, you keep scrolling.

Meanwhile, time slips away. You lose track of what you intended to do—whether it was updating your profile, sharing your thoughts, or posting more often on LinkedIn. I know I’m not alone in this cycle. Many people can attest to the same experience. But at some point, I realized it was time to stop overthinking and start executing my ideas.

Who knows? Maybe this very piece will positively impact someone out there. At the very least, it allows me to share my story and mark the beginning of a new journey.

The Weight of Self‑Criticism

I’ve had countless ideas for topics to write about, but most never materialized. Why? Self‑sabotage. I’ve always been my toughest critic, constantly worried that my message might be misinterpreted. That fear kept me silent.

But silence doesn’t create growth. What I truly want is to have a positive impact—first on myself, and then on the platforms and communities I’m part of. Writing is my way of exploring ideas, connecting with people, and sparking conversations that matter.

Taking the Leap

This post is my leap of faith, something I should have done long ago. I look forward to continuously learning from people on LinkedIn and beyond. I want to share my expertise, collaborate with others, and explore different forms of writing. It doesn’t matter whether it’s short reflections, long essays, or creative pieces—I’m always open to stretching my thinking capacity.

It took me some time to get here. For two years, I kept telling myself, “Don’t worry, I’ll post tomorrow.” Next thing I knew, tomorrow became weeks, months, and eventually years. I made this moment bigger than it needed to be. But now, I’m finally pressing “publish.” And I know one day I’ll look back, laugh, and appreciate how far I’ve come.

Building Connections Through Writing

This page will be a space where I share my writing, with the hope of reaching a wider audience and connecting with individuals who want to collaborate or partner on initiatives. I believe no project is ever too difficult—because every project is an opportunity to learn, grow, and become better.

Being open‑minded to new ways of doing things is what makes life meaningful. And after asking myself repeatedly, “When will I finally make a post on LinkedIn?”—here’s my answer: at the beginning of a new year, with gratitude for anyone who takes the time to read this.

I don’t want to leave anyone behind on this journey. My hope is simple: that I learn something from you, and that in return, my words teach or inspire something too.

Closing Thoughts

Overthinking kept me silent for years. Execution is what finally brought me here. This is the start of a new chapter—one where I share openly, connect genuinely, and grow continuously.

Thank you for reading. Here’s to learning together, one post at a time.

Written by Sivuyile Tshalana.

Covid-19: The lack of transparency

The Covid-19 pandemic has destroyed people’s lives beyond imagination, and it’s an era in this world that will forever be written in history. Unfortunately, millions of people had to be lost during this whole process. One would feel this could have been avoided if the health departments, government and pharmaceutical companies were transparent with all the information concerning the deadly virus. That’s the least people deserve, rather than being kept in the dark and even allegedly manipulated into believing certain fabricated findings of Covid-19. Even though this is still a developing virus that needs to be constantly studied, the information found in every study shouldn’t be kept a secret from the public. This is one of the things that‘s making the Coronavirus easily transmitted from person to person, which is a lack of knowledge within different communities.

When some individuals do their research about the virus and present some shocking findings on social media, they end up being called conspiracy theorists. Even though they’re trying to open the citizens' eyes about Covid-19, they feel that some don’t add up with the information that they keeping from their governments and healthcare services. It’s ideal to question things in life as that will lead to curiosity and you end up getting schooled by different people. Ever since Covid-19 hit the shores of different countries, there have been people that didn’t take any vaccine-associated with the virus which are called anti-vaxxers. Ideally, the vaccine was created to stop the high spread of Coronavirus and millions of doses have been taken by people across the world. Even when the vaccine was created faster than normal, the anti-vaxxers didn’t feel that it was allegedly good to be injected on human bodies. As the pharmaceutical companies that made the vaccines made sure that they put a disclaimer on their doses that they’re not held legally responsible for any side effects that pro-vaxxers experience every time they take jabs.

One would think that was enough to make people shy away from taking vaccines, however, most of them believe by seeing. As they’ve gone on to get jabbed, and whatever happens after that it’s their problem. Even though some countries tried to enforce the vaccine on their citizens, by introducing the vaccine certificate. This meant that some companies will employ people that are vaccinated, and if some employees are not vaccinated, then they will have to get the jab or stand to lose their occupations. All those people that are constantly travelling, had to be vaccinated so that they can move around the world. There are even certain places that don’t allow unvaccinated people, which was some of the tactics used to corner anti-vaxxers into buying into an alleged ‘New World Order’. Some anti-vaxxers were able to fold, however, they’re currently regretting their decision. After the recent Pzifer Covid-19 vaccine alleged side effects were leaked, which has caused a massive concern to the public.

According to the Covid-19 vaccine side effects are as per NICD.AC.ZA, people can experience pain, swelling, or redness where the vaccine was injected. Meanwhile, others have mild fever, chills, feeling tired, headache, muscle and joint aches. These were the side effects that the public has been familiar with over the past two years. Little did they know that there’s more to it than what meets the eyes, which requires people to see what’s happening with the world. According to reports, the Coronavirus has over 1 280 side effects, allegedly – including multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, neonatal seizure, thrombotic cerebral infarction, pancreatitis, pneumonia, lobe epilepsy, myocarditis, testicular autoimmunity, etc.

Cyberbullying: It’s everyone’s problem

 

The 21st Century has seen numerous people complain about cyberbullying which is something that isn’t thoroughly dissected within the world. It’s not entirely sorted, since every day, someone is getting dragged online and there’s even an audience for such inhumane behaviours. As they might find humour in messages online that are of intimidating or threatening nature. Posting laughing emojis, memes and even responses under cyberbullies' posts rather than calling them out isn’t the way to go about helping the victims. Unfortunately, it makes them feel powerless and even doubts start to creep in their minds. Which will affect their self-esteem, mental health and influence their decision-making skills moving forward. The crazy thing is that tomorrow they can be on the receiving end since cyberbullies pick different victims.

Whenever someone begins to explore the internet and have access to different social media platforms and websites, they expect to get value for their time. As the end-users, they want to have an incredible experience in a way that they can share with their loved ones. However, not everything goes accordingly in this digital world. As some people get to be on the wrong end of the digital world in a way that ruins their whole experience. The internet was created to help people, but not to destroy them in any way. Unfortunately, with the rise of cyberbullying, things have gotten from bad to worse. In most cases, you’d hear people claiming just log off whenever you’re bullied online. As easy as that sounds, it’s doable, however, the damage has already been done. Which makes the whole resolution challenging at the same time, because one horrible comment on someone’s post can outshine the rest of the positive comments. The moment cyberbullies are addressed shows their mistakes and the standards has to be set. Which mean that people should be able to take good care of each other and not tear one another down. We all need each other in this world at some point, choosing peace is forever better than the highly glorified violence online.

Ideally, a person should pay no mind to negative individuals, as the moment you entertain them the more they get excited and they continue with their cyberbullying traits. It doesn’t cost a thing to be kind and respectful within your approach when you choose to engage with other people’s content. This might be seen as common sense, unfortunately nowadays it’s not and that’s just a pity. If we all do the basics right and not complicate each other’s lives then we wouldn’t even be addressing inhumane behaviours such as cyberbullying. It seems like as people instead of moving forward in terms of respecting each other’s opinions, and ideas, we just have this inner hatred of wanting to inflict pain on each other.

The aim shouldn’t be about who’s right or wrong, but the power of humanity should take over the conversations. Remember whatever you type and post online will one day come back to haunt you. Be careful of what you put out there, after all the internet doesn’t forget. Even if you delete, some people have screenshots of your posts. Cyberbullying is a massive problem in our communities and it shouldn’t be ignored. It’s your problem, which makes it our problem and the world’s problem.

Depression...

In the past couple of years, you’ve probably heard the word depression is thrown around quite often and a lot has been said about it. Unfortunately, not everyone seems to understand this group of conditions which can be severe if not treated at an early stage. In a simpler explanation, depression comprises of a person’s moods fluctuating at any given point. This becomes daunting for human beings, as they can barely make sense of their mood swings. Most people cannot only maintain a certain mood at a time. Which can be jubilant, dejected, and even vexed. Now, imagine having all these types of emotions flooding in at the same time, or even at different intervals. Hence, some people would say they’re hearing different voices on their heads telling them what to do at that moment. The brain can only take so much in a day and the moment it does more than what it is supposed to do, then that can lead to mental health disorder too.

The most common types of depression are known as:

*Clinical depression – It involves continuous melancholy moods which end up affecting your daily routine and life. Also, you become detached from certain activities whether it’s at home, work and within yourself.

*Biopolar disorder – It involves a series of mood swings that become arduous in a way that be lofty and even squad.

*Persistent depressive disorder – this is regarded as the everlasting form of depression, as it comprises low mood symptoms throughout the time.

Depression is not something that can be taken likely, even though it might be seen as a common illness within the current generation, but it’s time people get to understand depression without being judgemental. The best thing that you can do for someone with depression is to be on their side and not try too hard to be correct. Listen to what they want, then provide the best suitable solution according to what they’ve told you during their venting session or conversation. It will be easier if we’re all kind to one another, as we need each other to survive and move forward in life. We may miss a few hints about our loved ones or strangers trying to reach out to us, as they want someone to listen to them without being harsh on their unforeseen circumstances. This is a time to do better as individuals when it comes to silent killers such as depression. The moment we acknowledge that we’re all going through something personally or professionally, then we should be able to connect with another on different levels in life to find solutions.

Also, attention span differs per person, hence people are urged to take breaks in between their tough schedules. Our mental health is crucial too, therefore people should try by all means to consume healthy food, exercise and educational content that will benefit their brain too. Try by all means to protect your peace — by not dwelling on things that you can’t control. Focus on certain activities that guide you to joy and be around people that bring out the best in you.

Once you feel that you have issues with controlling your mood swings, then ideally you should consult a medical doctor, and even go to therapy. Do everything possible to cure your depression, even if it takes some time, but don’t give up on your mental health. You can reach out to people that you can trust if you want to talk and offload your challenges. At the end of the day, just know that you’re not alone.