• Sep 23, 2023
This isn’t really a bad thing. More an acknowledgment of the state of being between two people. But the complications can affect our ability to be authentic or true with our partner.
So Eden, what do you mean?
Well, ever had something that bothered you or that you were dealing with from another aspect of your life and didn’t really want to share with your partner? Of course you have.
And you understand how you felt in that moment. It wasn’t nice.
There is a sense of not being able to openly share the “thing”. We get this way because we don’t know how our partner may react. So, we say “everything is fine” or some similar statement, when we really want to share something or feel like we are adding more pressure to someone else.
While we believe we are protecting the other person in our life, we are likely sending out signals there is something wrong, even if it doesn’t affect them. This leads to them asking us what is wrong and our continued negative response leads our partner to doubt us. Over time this has a long term impact by lowering trust and further limiting communication.
The point is to encourage our partner to talk with us about whatever their specific issue is. We can do this by actively listening, empathizing. This creates a supportive environment for both us and our partner.
By working together to create and maintain an open, supportive communication stream between us, we can improve our emotional vulnerability, and ultimately our emotional intimacy.
Relationships are only complicated because people are.