"Remember the wonderful times because they're precious if you lose your spouse. But truth? Marriage is flat-out determined work every day; you must keep at it and not give up, only thinking about yourself. I loved my wife; some days, I'm sure she wanted to kill me, but she still loved me - only married people will understand that. But to make it work for us for the 38 years we were together, it was truly day-by-day solid effort every day."
"The hardest thing for me has been lack of time for myself. I'm an introvert and need time to regroup and reenergize after spending the work day around people. As we've had kids, that free time has become less and less, as we have to run to sports practices, deal with school, go to things for my wife's job, etc."
Spouses change across life seasons, requiring partners to abandon selfishness and deliberately fall in love with each other anew while helping each other adapt. Long-term marriage demands daily, determined effort and persistence, with couples working day-by-day to maintain the relationship over decades. Introverted partners can struggle with diminished personal time as children, activities, and family obligations consume free time, making decompression rare. Communication and honesty are cornerstones but are difficult because articulating feelings and remaining patient can be challenging. Grief over who a partner used to be coexists with the potential to appreciate the new version of that person through intentional work.
Read at BuzzFeed
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]