Chasing the next shiny object

I have reason to believe that my husband has his eye on another woman already.  I will admit that it doesn't surprise me.  Thinking about his behaviors throughout our marriage I should have seen it coming.

I don't remember what our car total got to in the end.  I know we surpassed 20 cars purchased during our marriage a couple (few?) years back.  Yes, that is an average of more than one car a year.  And if you consider that early on in our marriage when we had less money, we managed to keep cars for about 3 years.  That timeline quickly sped up to less than a year, sometimes only 6 months as the years progressed.  These past years, living downtown where I can walk most places, I drove so infrequently that I got to the point where I wouldn't even familiarize myself with a new car until I actually needed to drive it.  There are a number I never drove before we sold them.

At times, I tried to push back to slow him down but it never worked for long.  He was so programmed to need instant gratification and always chasing the next shining thing.  The research for the next car would start as soon as the new car was parked in the garage.

I now realize that was because he hasn't figured out that happiness needs to come from inside.  Happiness gained from external sources is fleeting.  It gives you those moments of joy before the newness wears off and then you are left with nothing.  You never learn to appreciate what you have because you are so focused on what must be better that you have not yet obtained.

And throughout our marriage, I realize now, he depended on me so much to provide the happiness for him, to validate him, to give him his worth, etc.  And he was quick to criticize when I fell short - something that was bound to happen often because those are not the kinds of things a partner can provide for you.

So he's now out there looking for his next shiny object wondering if this time his infatuation will be returned, thinking that maybe another woman can do a better job providing all those things for him that he really needs to learn to provide for himself.

To be honest, I feel a deep sense of sadness.  I grew to truly love this man and the last thing I want is for him to live a miserable, unhappy life because he is always chasing happiness instead of creating it from within.  And I fear he will never learn how to self-reflect in a way that helps him understand how he is sabotaging what could be a chance at real happiness.