Let me give you some advice from someone on the other side of the poly-bomb/poly hell stuff..
My wife came to me with something similar, though it was a lot more convoluted that what you describe. She had already entered into an emotional affair, and was wanting to extend that into a non-monogamous relationship.
1. Be open, 100%. She's going to be having a TON of things going through her head, and you're the only one that can answer her... And you need to. You need to be able to give her answers to all the thoughts she's having, and you need to be extremely patient.
2. Be honest, both with yourself and with her. Make sure you know what you actually want... And that's going to take a lot of soul searching, self awareness, and thought on your part. With my wife and I, one of the biggest issues I had was that she couldn't give me a clear answer to what she wanted, and it kept changing. She didn't even know...
3. Don't cheat. Cheating would be non-monogamy without her consent or knowledge. Assure her that will never happen, and that it hasn't. She probably feels like you've betrayed her trust, and feels betrayed that her world isn't the place she thought it was... don't prove that to her.
4. Assure her that she is literally your world.. that she is the most important thing in your life, (if this is the case,) and that this isn't something that will change. That you want to stay with her, but that you have needs that she isn't fulfilling, or can't fulfill.
5. Be kind. Be patient. Be easy with her emotions, because they will be raw as hell... she could be feeling betrayed, lied to, and like she can't trust you. She probably feels like her whole world has been shaken up, and that she doesn't know where she stands in it. I guarantee she is feeling confused and hurt.
6. Acknowledge her feelings. Do not disregard them. Neither of you is, "wrong," in how you feel, you just feel that way.
Lastly, admit to yourself right now that you may be at a relationship ending event. This isn't something that every couple will survive, and non-monogamy isn't something that everyone will be ok with, just like monogamy isn't something that everyone will be ok with. Neither is an ultimate, "right," and neither is better than the other... Both are just relationship models that work for different people.
If you guys want to work through this, I'd personally suggest finding an open minded therapist for relationship counseling... And I highly recommend the Secular Therapist Project for finding a counselor that is not based around religion and will be far more likely to be intelligent and open minded than most of the relationship coaches I've seen. https://www.seculartherapy.org/
Good luck, and I hope you're able to work through this together.
My wife came to me with something similar, though it was a lot more convoluted that what you describe. She had already entered into an emotional affair, and was wanting to extend that into a non-monogamous relationship.
1. Be open, 100%. She's going to be having a TON of things going through her head, and you're the only one that can answer her... And you need to. You need to be able to give her answers to all the thoughts she's having, and you need to be extremely patient.
2. Be honest, both with yourself and with her. Make sure you know what you actually want... And that's going to take a lot of soul searching, self awareness, and thought on your part. With my wife and I, one of the biggest issues I had was that she couldn't give me a clear answer to what she wanted, and it kept changing. She didn't even know...
3. Don't cheat. Cheating would be non-monogamy without her consent or knowledge. Assure her that will never happen, and that it hasn't. She probably feels like you've betrayed her trust, and feels betrayed that her world isn't the place she thought it was... don't prove that to her.
4. Assure her that she is literally your world.. that she is the most important thing in your life, (if this is the case,) and that this isn't something that will change. That you want to stay with her, but that you have needs that she isn't fulfilling, or can't fulfill.
5. Be kind. Be patient. Be easy with her emotions, because they will be raw as hell... she could be feeling betrayed, lied to, and like she can't trust you. She probably feels like her whole world has been shaken up, and that she doesn't know where she stands in it. I guarantee she is feeling confused and hurt.
6. Acknowledge her feelings. Do not disregard them. Neither of you is, "wrong," in how you feel, you just feel that way.
Lastly, admit to yourself right now that you may be at a relationship ending event. This isn't something that every couple will survive, and non-monogamy isn't something that everyone will be ok with, just like monogamy isn't something that everyone will be ok with. Neither is an ultimate, "right," and neither is better than the other... Both are just relationship models that work for different people.
If you guys want to work through this, I'd personally suggest finding an open minded therapist for relationship counseling... And I highly recommend the Secular Therapist Project for finding a counselor that is not based around religion and will be far more likely to be intelligent and open minded than most of the relationship coaches I've seen. https://www.seculartherapy.org/
Good luck, and I hope you're able to work through this together.