Treadmill Revisited: Jealousy Becomes Furniture
This is a follow-up to last week’s post, The Treadmill Gift: Suspicion Runs Too Far.
Last week, I wrote about the husband who, worried about his wife’s evening runs with a neighbor, proudly bought her a treadmill. It was meant to keep her safe, close, and (let’s be honest) away from suspicious jogging partners.
Well, here’s the update: three months later, that treadmill is no longer a symbol of jealousy. It’s a coat rack.
The family now drapes jackets on the handlebars, balances unopened Amazon boxes across the belt, and hangs the dog’s leash on the side. The wife laughs: “He wanted me to run on it, but turns out he’s the only one who runs… out of closet space.”
Jealousy often produces grand solutions. Sometimes it’s a treadmill. Sometimes it’s a phone check-in every 20 minutes. Sometimes it’s elaborate rules about who can talk to whom at the office. These “fixes” feel serious in the moment, but with time and perspective, many of them start to look a little ridiculous.
And that’s not a bad thing. Humor doesn’t erase the fear behind jealousy, but it can take away its sharp edge. If both partners can look at an old “solution” and chuckle, it means the wound is softening. The laughter is evidence of growth. It shows that a couple has moved past the desperate grasping of fear into a place where they can see themselves more clearly and laugh at how awkwardly human we all are.
If you’re early in affair recovery, don’t beat yourself up if you’ve made a “treadmill purchase” of your own, literal or metaphorical. Maybe you demanded constant check-ins. Maybe you installed an app you regret. Or perhaps you purchased a piece of equipment that’s now storing winter coats.
Here’s the good news: one day, those moments may make you smile. They’ll become markers of how far you’ve come. Trust doesn’t usually grow out of perfect plans; it grows from fumbling forward, making mistakes, and learning to laugh at them together.
Jealousy can buy expensive furniture. Forgiveness and time can turn it into a punchline.
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