Blog
Have you ever heard of a couple who claimed to never fight with each other? As if learning to handle disagreements was a step they were fortunate enough to skip?
You might wonder how a “no fighting” relationship is even possible. The truth is, it’s not!
Have you noticed lately that you are struggling to communicate with your partner? If you are finding it harder to talk about important problems or even the everyday struggles, you are not alone.
Good communication is the foundation of every relationship, yet, we sometimes struggle to have even basic conversations.
There are many benefits to being one-half of a couple. Sharing the ups and downs of life with a trusted partner is special and precious.
As couples combine and intertwine their lives, many face the challenge of blurred lines regarding individual privacy.
This sometimes makes it difficult to have big, important conversations with our partners.
Few of us want to be labeled the “needy” one in a relationship. We like to seem independent and in control, rather than insecure or clingy. Neediness in our romantic relationships hints at an insatiable desire to be affirmed, validated, sought out, and attended to. We tend to think of a needy partner as someone who strains and emotionally exhausts their partner. Not the most attractive qualities.
Do anxious thoughts, self-sabotaging behavior, and a troubling disconnect with your partner seem to accompany attempts to get close physically? You may be experiencing sexual anxiety.
Doubt, insecurity, and worry are not the kinds of feelings that you want to characterize your sex life. Yet, if you’re experiencing them on a regular basis during intimacy, the joy of sex may now be seriously hindered.
Some of us enjoyed highly functional family lives. Others of us have to face hard facts about our family’s dysfunction. Stepping firmly away from key members or an entire group of family members is sometimes the best way to protect yourself from hurtful or damaging connections. In fact, for some of us, family estrangement is the best way to limit the interactions that cause pain and promote chaos in our lives.
Closeness and intimacy are the joys of your relationship with your partner. That is what we see in romance movies and crave--a sense of closeness. However, we can easily dismantle that joy if we fail to curb the critical, snarky, insulting voice so many of us have in our heads.
That voice can be a constant soundtrack of negative self-talk that runs down your self-perception, self-esteem, and partnership. This can happen so thoroughly that you end up sabotaging yourself, your love, and your libido. Intimacy just doesn’t have a chance in that environment.
Do you find yourself succumbing to critical thoughts when disapproving of your partner’s behavior? If so, you may in dangerous marital territory.
When negativity, criticism, and a condescending, superior attitude begin creep in to your marriage, you may be on a slippery slope toward letting these relationship-damaging factors begin to override the positives in your relationship.
Hurtful, damaging behaviors such as criticism and contempt may be difficult to identify as it often becomes ingrained in spousal interactions over time. Consequently, it becomes an unfortunate and alienating part of your communication.