What Does Cheating Say About A Person?

You’ve probably heard the cliché, “Once a cheater, always a cheater.” You read or were told that people who cheat keep cheating time after time and remain unhappy in their relationships.

But is it true? Can people not break their cheating pattern?

Well, this depends on each person. But in general, people don’t change unless they have a strong desire to change. Unless they suffer from their misdeeds and badly want to improve their behavior, they usually follow their instincts and make the same mistakes.

They cheat and by doing so, transform themselves into serial cheaters.

Sometimes, they even project their problems onto their partner by blaming their partner for their cheating.

They tell their partner things like:

• you made me do it
• it’s all your fault
• if you weren’t like this and that
• I wasn’t happy
• we were on a break
• you would have done the same

When a person cheats, the indisputable truth is that no other person is responsible for cheating. The cheater is solely to blame for cheating as he or she gave in to temptations and decided to betray the other person.

The cheater can put the blame on alcohol or drugs, pushy friends, or even the person he or she shamelessly cheated on but that doesn’t change the fact that he or she made a conscious decision to sleep with another person. That says a lot about his or her morals, integrity, self-control, and care for the relationship and the future.

Someone who cheats simply isn’t ready for a relationship. He or she may become ready later, but after cheating, the cheater is completely unprepared to handle temptations and maintain relationships.

But even if a relationship isn’t working or if someone isn’t happy or ready, that person should leave the relationship rather than cheat. He or she should leave the relationship before he or she develops feelings for someone else and monkey-branches into a new relationship.

That’s the morally right thing to do.

But if it’s such a moral thing to do, then why do so many people cheat?

Well, that’s what we’re going to talk about in this article. We’ll answer the question, “What does cheating say about a person?”

1)Impulsive

Cheating says a lot of things about a person. But the worst of all is that it shows how careless and emotion-driven a person is.

It says that the cheater is controlled by emotions and that he or she lacks the willpower to say “no” to new romantic or sexual encounters.

Cheating says that the cheater’s priorities and morality are undeveloped and that he or she doesn’t value that which he or she has or had.

A person who cheats prioritizes his or her emotional and sexual gratifications and neglects the need to work on the relationship that he or she committed to.

So if your boyfriend or girlfriend cheated on you and you’re wondering what cheating says about a person, know that the cheater lacks a lot of self-control and positive reinforcing thoughts that would have saved the relationship.

The cheater’s mindset is all about him or her feeling fulfilled. And that’s not good enough to be faithful to you and the romantic relationship.

2)No self-respect

Although a cheater is emotion-driven, he or she always makes a premeditated decision to cheat.

He or she decides that it’s okay to cheat and that he or she wants to do it because it’s good for his or her validation and happiness.

There truly is no excuse for cheating, which is why you shouldn’t instantly forgive a person who betrays you. It doesn’t matter if it’s a physical or emotional betrayal. Cheating is cheating and must be taken seriously regardless of how and with who it was carried out.

You have to remember that cheating occurs when people stop caring about their partner and themselves (their values). They do whatever feels right to them rather than what is right—and as a result, hurt the people who love them in the process.

This implies that they don’t care about the way they and others perceive them. They stopped caring about such things the moment they developed feelings or sexual cravings for someone else.

So if you’ve been cheated on or you know someone who’s been betrayed, keep in mind that cheating says bad things about a person.

It says that the cheater doesn’t mind betraying others for his or her selfish gains and that he or she doesn’t care about morality as well as personal values.

3)Inconsiderate

It’s no secret that a person who cheats is incredibly self-centered.

He or she doesn’t think about how cheating will affect his or her loyal partner’s feelings and how many trust issues and problems it will create for him or her.

A cheater is just too self-absorbed and inconsiderate of others’ feelings to do the right thing (which is to recognize his or her desire to be intimate with another person.

In all honesty, cheaters often consider themselves victims. They believe they were wronged and robbed of happiness and opportunities and that they needed to do what was best for them.

That’s why they attempt to justify their betrayal and sometimes even make themselves look better by making their partner look bad.

They do this by trash-talking their ex-partner, revealing their partner’s secrets, and ruining his or her reputation.

It sucks that such cheaters with low integrity exist. If people saw cheaters’ true colors before they got attracted and attached to them, they wouldn’t have committed to them. They would have avoided getting involved with them and run for the mountains.

But since cheaters hide their cheating tendencies or don’t even know that they have them, they make their partners find out about them when it’s already too late.

That’s when cheatees learn how their cheating partners act when they get an opportunity to be intimate with someone else.

With that said, here’s why people cheat in relationships.

4)Lack of self-care

There are many reasons why a cheater cheats. But the more common ones have something to do with how a person thinks of himself.

Basically, the worse a person views himself and the more he craves recognition from those around him, the higher the chances that he will cheat when an opportunity presents itself.

Self-esteem alone isn’t a reason for a person to cheat. Many people with low self-esteem actually cling to their partner and commit to him or her more than those with decent self-esteem. It’s those who crave others’ recognition and can’t get enough of it that take their partner for granted and cheat on him or her.

Such people are hungry for attention and are willing to throw their relationship away for a bit of entertainment. They don’t understand that long-lasting relationships require them to work on themselves and their relationship.

5)Lack of emotional strength

Everything in life requires strength—and relationships are certainly no exception.

Relationships require positive thinking, self-control during arguments, lots of healthy communication, healthy thinking and perceptions, and much, much more.

So when a person thinks to himself that “a relationship shouldn’t be this hard,” he convinces himself that he lacks the patience and self-control to stay committed.

This person is basically on the verge of losing his emotional control and doing something that will brand him as a cheater.

It’s only a matter of time before he gets an opportunity to get under the sheets with the person he fancies.

Due to his poor commitment, he’s eventually going to either:

1. Reach the tipping point and break up with his partner.
2. Cheat on his partner and consider being with the new person.

Whatever a cheater decides to do, he will do it because he believes it’s the right thing to do. He just needs to make certain that the person he likes likes him back.

There are no mistakes when it comes to cheating. There are just people who never learned to value others and discover the importance of loyalty.

6)Untrustworthy

The biggest mistake we make is that we trust people who tell us what we want to hear.

We trust honey-tongued people because we’ve been taught from a young age to be honest and respectful and to expect honesty and respect in return.

But sadly, we often don’t receive the same kind of treatment from the people we love. Why is that?

It’s because cheaters, like most liars, are good at saying the right things. They don’t think about the future, so they say things that help them avoid difficult situations.

They always got away with lying and cheating, so they learned that lies and deceit are a way of life. As a result, they turned into people who stopped caring about their morals and refused to do anything about their unhealthy behavioral tendencies.

So keep in mind that it’s not unusual for cheaters to promise us the world and make us believe anything they want us to believe, starting with how much they love us and how committed they are. They want to make us believe everything is fine and that they value the relationship and our needs.

But when it comes to fulfilling their promises, they fall “a bit” short as they fail to match their words with their actions. Giving up sounds better to them than taking responsibility and investing time and effort into the relationship that has slowed down and encountered issues.

And that’s what makes cheaters and liars so untrustworthy.

Their unpredictable nature creates too much uncertainty for those around them to trust them with their life.

7)Unhappiness in a relationship

People who cheat aren’t emotionally or sexually content in a relationship with their partner.

They feel that they deserve more or better than what their partner is giving them, so they consciously or subconsciously keep an eye out for new romantic or sexual opportunities.

And when that opportunity finally comes, they take the bull by the horns and try to do what feels right (cheat).

Just like every person in this world, cheaters believe they have the right to be happy—even if they have to go behind their loyal partner’s back and seek happiness without him or her.

But what cheaters are really doing is justifying their immoral actions and pretending that they didn’t have a choice even though they had plenty of opportunities to pull away and do the right thing.

They just didn’t have the strength and desire to say “no” when it was time to show who they were.

I know it’s difficult to break up with someone you no longer love, but cheating on him or her is inexcusable. It shows that you’re a low-integrity coward who puts himself or herself first even if you hurt people in the process.

8)Lack of gratitude

If you’re still wondering what cheating says about a person, it says that the cheater doesn’t value his or her loyal partner’s effort and commitment.

It says that he or she isn’t grateful for all the good memories and everything his or her partner did throughout the relationship.

Cheating basically speaks for itself. It reveals what a person thinks and how he or she feels about you.

So always judge a person by what he or she does and not by what he or she says. Positive words are nice, but actions show how a person handles difficult situations, fears, pain, and temptations.

If your partner cheated on you, you need to understand that you fell in love with an infatuated image of the person you wanted your partner to be.

You liked what your partner said and adored the love that he or she gave you. And that felt right to you at the time.

But when your partner pulled back and cheated on you, the ideal image of your partner you’d created shattered and forced you to meet your partner’s true colors.

That was when your partner finally told you, “This is who I am at my worst. My actions show how I feel about you and how I treat people I don’t value.“

I don’t remember who wrote it, but he said that we make reliable friends under difficult circumstances – when we or they need help. Difficult conditions tend to shape us into better people or conversely, bring out the worst in us.

And the same goes for cheaters. We meet our partner’s worst characteristics when he or she cheats, no longer needs us, or leaves us for someone else.

It’s sad, but that’s when people stop pretending to be someone they’re not.

So try not to blame yourself for another person’s infidelity because it’s got very little or nothing to do with you. It’s got everything to do with that person’s internal problems that you couldn’t detect or do anything about.

My suggestion is that you focus on yourself so that you can continue to grow and develop yourself into the person you want to be. The cheater will have to learn his or her lessons the hard way. But you likely won’t care about that when it finally happens because you’ll be over him or her.

Did this article answer the question, “What does cheating say about a person?” Did I leave anything out? Have you ever cheated or got cheated on? Share your thoughts in the comments below. I’d love to hear your opinion on this.

And if you’d like to talk to us privately about your cheating experience, reach out to us here.

Zan

My name is Zan and I’m the founder of Magnet of Success. I enjoy writing realistic relationship and breakup articles and helping readers heal and grow. With more than 5 years of experience in the self-improvement, relationship, and breakup sphere, my goal is to provide advice that fosters positivity and success and avoids preventable mistakes and pain. Buy me a coffee, learn more about me, or get in touch today.