Carolyn Hax: A cheating live-in boyfriend is unexpectedly hard to quit

The point of this thought exercise is clarity. If you decide to stick with him, it’s not, “Hmm, maybe this time he’ll stop cheating” — it’s, “Hmm, maybe I’d rather be with him, even if he cheats on me, than break up with him.” I think once you say out loud to yourself what you’d actually be agreeing to if you stayed, your resolve to leave him will hold up just fine.