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Chasing the Dodgers: Handling Conflict When You’re Different
Conflict. Ugh. Just the sound of that word makes us cringe, right? But know this. If you can learn how to manage it well, conflict will help your relationship. Yes, make it better because both unaddressed issues and bloody battles are death to your relationship. One might just take longer to make it die than the other. So, let’s figure this out. First, there are really two kinds of people when it comes to conflict: Chasers and Dodgers. Both have good points when it comes to conflict, but both have the capacity to really screw it up, too. It’s important to identify who you both are so the road can…
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Commence with the Romance
I am obsessed with the show This Is Us. One reason everyone loves this show, besides the fact that Jack Pearson is hot (Did I say that out loud?) is because Jack and Rebecca’s relationship is so fantastic. Come on, they seriously got it goin’ on. He’s not perfect. She’s not perfect. But together – they’re imperfectly perfect. One of my favorite scenes is a Date Night they share. Jack is a recovering alcoholic who has slid back into his addiction. He is fighting it again, but he is sad and embarrassed. He is reluctant to reopen the wounds from his past, and he certainly doesn’t want to talk about…
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It’s an Emergency: Why Nagging is Causing Destruction in Your Relationship
I work for a Facilities Management Company. Very large corporations, hospitals and universities trust us to manage everything related to their buildings. When a leak is reported, we treat it as an emergency no matter the intensity. We know that even the slow, steady drip of a tiny leak can cause destruction. Nagging acts just like a leak in relationships. Its constant and persistent drip slowly and steadily destroys intimacy. And, for all that it costs, it doesn’t yield much. You may get what you want in the short term because you asked for it long enough and loud enough. But in the end, you can’t force through lasting…
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I Don’t Speak Spanish: How To Speak Love in the Way They Hear It
I spent much of my time walking the hallways of Big Beaver Falls High School trying to avoid my teacher, Mr. Evans. “Senor” Evans was a perfectly nice man. But, he was my Spanish teacher, and anytime he would see one of his students in the hallway, he would try to talk to us in Spanish. And well, the only thing I knew how to say in Spanish was “No hablo Espanol.” (I don’t speak Spanish.)Have you ever had that same feeling in your relationships? I read a great book by Gary Chapman called “The Five Love Languages.” Dr. Chapman teaches that every person has a love language. And if…
