After spending years working with couples and individuals who have been through a breakup or divorce, it seems that there are problems that keep coming up over and over again.
Wouldn’t it be nice to know the signs of divorce, so we can figure out where to really concentrate our efforts and can give our marriages the best chance at survival?
Here are 6 marriage mistakes that lead to divorce, and what you can do to prevent them from happening.
1. You talk to friends about what you think your husband did to you.
Friends are often more upset when they think their bestie is being mistreated than when they’re experiencing the same mistreatment themselves.
Besides, most of us don’t really understand how our conditioning and wiring as women differs from our husbands’ conditioning and wiring as men. That’s why conversations about men with female friends often lead to husband-bashing that helps nobody.
The solution: Limit talking about your marital problems to just two people (like a trusted friend along with a coach or therapist).
2. You think that talking about these problems with your husband is the answer.
All too often, women think that talking to our husbands is the way to make them see how their behavior affects us. If the behavior doesn’t change when we first bring it up, we want to talk more, longer, or louder, because we think maybe they didn’t get it the first time.
One of the biggest pet peeves for men is that feeling of being nagged, especially if they don’t know what the problem really is.
Also, the rules of polite, kind, nice conversation that women try to follow often come off as indirect, manipulative and mysterious to men. Women often conclude that their husbands don’t care, because they haven’t changed after a particular conversation.
The solution: Learn communication skills designed specifically to talk with men and spend more time doing fun activities.
3. You believe that your happiness depends on your husband changing.
Research has shown that happiness does increase when your husband changes for the better, but that change originates with you. On the other hand, the women who focus on becoming the person they want to be, rather than on how to get their husband to change, are happier down the road.
The solution: Focus on being the best you.
4. You and your husband live parallel lives.
Living parallel lives with your husband is the slippery slope to disconnecting completely. The bonds of marriage thrive on having an interest in one another, working toward common goals and spending time with one another.
Couples who are trying to reconnect after their children have left home often come to realize that they don’t know each other anymore.
The solution: Take the time to know what’s important to your husband and let him know what’s important to you.
5. You negatively focus on what’s wrong.
One of the most difficult scenarios is a couple in which one or both people are stuck viewing each other through a negative lens, expecting the worst.
Our brains do a wonderful job of seeing what we expect to see, and we are much more likely to view our husbands as doing everything wrong when we have developed a negative view of them.
The solution: Balance your concerns with a positive view.
6. You say these deadly words: “I deserve…”
These words need to be banned from your vocabulary. The mentality that goes along with using these words includes a form of entitlement that kills the softness needed for a couple to cherish one another.
Saying “I deserve” is inherently a demand. It’s very different from knowing internally that you are worth more and having the communication skills necessary to ask for more. Knowing what you’re worth helps you inspire your husband to cherish you.
The solution: Focus on knowing your own worth — understand what’s important to you in a relationship, and learn how to ask for it.
Originally written by Teresa Atkin on YourTango
Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash
