photo by Audrey Alberthal
Dear Duana, My wife is an outstanding breadwinner, so by mutual consent I’ve been the stay-home parent to our four children. But a decade + of diaper-and-daycare duty has undermined my self-esteem. Although Victoria appreciates the career sacrifices I’ve made to raise the kids, I can see the disappointment in her eyes as she explains to her well-heeled associates what it is I don’t do for a living….
Wise Readers, Happy couples: What have they got that others haven’t? Where’s the fine line between Irreconcilable Differences and the “brand of crazy” you can live with? And how did our own happy couples find the path to Being Happy Anyway? Read on!
Share Article Print Article Permalink tagged Commitment, Communication, Conflict Resolution, Marriage, Personality, Relationship Building Wise Readers, It’s a fact: For any given couple,* happy or not*, 69% of our troubles will never go away. Yet behind that depressing news is a remarkably liberating implication: You don’t have to solve your problems to be happy…
Share Article Print Article Permalink tagged Commitment, Conflict Resolution, Marriage, Personality, Relationship Building Wise Readers, If opposites attract, why is similarity so much easier? And what can be done to convince your head *and* heart that his/her personality isn’t…personal? How accurate are we at discerning our own personality? Would others know our type? What about introverts with extroverts, or worriers with calm people—how does that work? And…what if your Opposite is just plain mean and disrespectful to you? Read on! Cheers, Duana
Share Article Print Article Permalink tagged Communication, Conflict Resolution, Male Female Differences, Marriage, Personality, Relationship Building Dear Duana,I love my husband, but I’m demonstrative and affectionate and affirming, and Sean…isn’t. Is there any research about opposites attracting, or whether complementary personalities can cause more problems than they solve? Dear Nina, Sounds like you’ve got a classic Gap going on—where one person prefers soul-searching intimacy, and the other prefers that when he said he loves you (at your wedding), that should stand for the Remainder Of Time. Common in male-female relationships, I suspect the Gap is often based in a specific personality pairing you and Sean may have…
Share Article Print Article Permalink tagged Communication, Conflict Resolution, Male Female Differences, Marriage, Personality, Relationship Building