I don't want to sound like a hypocrite either. I did the desperate wife thing, I refused to detach, I waited around like a lost puppy dog on so many occasions, just to hear his voice on the other end of the phone. I snooped, I cried, I lost too much weight and I watched life pass me by.
I wish I had spent more time fixing "me" not the Marriage. So what's the trick? Surely you were on the board as others were telling you: "work on yourself!" Surely you heard the messages and you maybe even thought you were working on yourself. But you didn't really work on yourself until later. So what was the tipping point? How do you break on through to the other side? What's the trick?