Well good morning. We are all coming off from either a good Mother’s Day or one we would not rather talk about. It is evident in the posts I saw on social media. However let’s shift our gears a bit to relationships this morning.
You ever found yourself admiring another couple? You love how they love on each other. Love is supposed to be inspiring. However inspiration is only a small part in life. I have found myself really admiring a couple to the point where you forget that people are human and just like you are working stuff out on your end they are too. So here is the dilemma. How much can you take in for face value? How much of what appears to come from someone or a relationship can we take as the real? Up to this point I thought I had the whole premise of admiring from afar down pact but I found out that I may not.
So here I go my emotions all over the place in what I thought another couple was showing me. So here’s today’s nugget, the grass is never greener on the other side. Yes water your own but stop looking at the grass altogether. I have to admit often times when you are looking at someone else, what others have, what you don’t have is because of your own insecurities. How many times had I argued with my husband on what he doesn’t do when in reality I could do it myself. Not on the level of I don’t need him but doing it for myself to show what I needed from him or anyone to be honest. People treat you the way you treat you. So during this new focus on myself I have changed that about me. I am not looking at what someone can do for me. I am not looking at other couple and picking at the parts that I like about them because their struggle to get to what I think I see may be flawed. That is the lesson that I learned over the weekend.
I have asked myself before I got married what I wanted. However I never really explored the actual question past fantasy and whimsical things. The things that I had set up in my head never went as planned. Nothing has gone as planned. I could use that as an out and say well it wasn’t meant to be and there is someone else for me. The reality is no one knows if there is someone else out there for me. I am not looking let’s be clear. I am not taking applications. I am simply noticing that if I treat my mate the way I want to be treated that if he doesn’t treat me in the same high regard than that alone will be what I will use to determine any changes in my marital status and not because he isn’t doing what another man is doing for his wife for me. That other man can be showing the world all this love and literally could be going through hell behind the scenes. Same with the woman. I am learning to have my own expectations. I am finding out what I do like and what I don’t like. How about I am doing all this NOW. This is something I encourage the ones that are not married to do while single. This is dangerous to do while married but its better to do than to keep going and lying to yourself. I am not suggesting that while I am doing this, I am finding that my husband is not measuring up. Right now he and I are fine. We are stronger actually than we have ever been and that speaks volumes. This is about me. However some other couples can go through this and find that they are no longer suitable. Please single people figure this out before you get married. This will save you some time.
What happens if I get to the end of this and find out that my husband and I don’t mesh, I don’t need to worry about that right now. I believe we will be fine. We will be fine because this is an important part of maturity. I would hate to have been such a nag, and prolong this out without knowing myself. Relationships will change. I used to be upset at the thought but they are supposed to change. I am not the same as I was when we got married almost 5 years ago and 3 children in. I am different. I am expected to change. The work gets harder in love. Love and lovey dovey feelings aren’t the glue to hold it together. It’s about knowing yourself and working things out inwardly. It requires faith to believe that love is meant to be. It’s being okay and not falling apart just because it may not. I am not overly concerned about getting to the end so I can feel as if we are okay. We are okay and that is all that matters.
So for the other couples that are finding themselves in this wave, ride it out. Through the ups and down you will find out that the person you looked starry-eyed at will be there and maybe they won’t. If you are really doing the work on yourself you will find that if things do end it can be amicable and you can move on without carrying the weight of the what ifs. You will know in your heart that you loved hard and did what you needed to do. I am not scared in this process. Oh and for those looking for cracks in my marriage, there are none. My husband and I talk about this more now than ever before. I am not looking to get out, this is just how it needs to be. Is it uncomfortable? In the beginning it was because I kept thinking the worst was going to happen. Not that we were or are going to divorce. Divorce wasn’t the issue, being miserable in my own skin was. Not because I was unloved but because I needed to set my personal parameter on what respect, love, etc looked like for me. I thought no one can go through this shift and survive it. No one can began to question marriage and still be okay. However life is what it is. Questioning is not an issue, doing nothing and simply existing is the issue. I needed to take charge of my love life and I am. I have had moments where I wanted to talk to my friends about it but I choose not simply because there wasn’t any advice they can give me. Even my married friends this wasn’t about getting everyone’s opinion. This was about my voice, my issues, handling this OUR way.
For any couple in this shift, it’s okay. Every fear you have someone else has had. For every question you ask, someone has asked those same questions. You can love someone to infinity and beyond, but you have to be able to know you are giving that same love to yourself. This will either propel your husband or wife to do the same or show you that they aren’t and never was. Could I honestly say that my husband was doing all he can if I wasn’t? No and there was the issue it started with me not him. I don’t have all of the answers but I love that I have someone who sees the shift, embraces the shift, and we are doing our work together and although it seems as if it may being done separately it’s not.
