Marriage Advice...

by Tuesday 59 Replies latest jw friends

  • Nosferatu
    Nosferatu
    You've got to see beyond the superficial, by that I mean you have to be able to see the reasons for what is happening and not just focus on your own feelings

    ....and I've done that. I could see the way he treated her from the very beginning of the relationship affecting what's going on now. Also, I could very well understand the miscarriage affecting her moods, but she's treating him like complete garbage.

    Nos, there have been several occasions where you have penned extremely negative responses to people's personal situations. I think you've been burnt big time and it greatly colours your view of relationships and you seem very pessimistic.
    How about I get some other views from another message board in here?
  • Golden Girl
    Golden Girl

    I loved your post. It was very realistic!

    More couples need to work on their relationships instead of just throwing them away and hooking up with someone else and new problems..it's not the problems..it's how to solve them..or make them better..'

    You had some very good advice. I just wanted to let you know.

    Golden girl..aka..Snoozy..(Wife to same husband for 45 years..)And he was a JW to boot!

    You think we didn't have our problems?

  • Sara Annie
    Sara Annie
    Why are you cooking for her

    why are you setting the vcr for her

    If you need the bathroom because you have to get ready for work then take it first

    Eat out until she does the dishes

    Why is he cooking for her? Why is he setting the VCR for her? Why does he let her use the bathroom first? Becuse he is her husband, and she is his wife, and that's what we do in marriage--we take care of our spouses and try to make them happy. It's his job. Is it always an easy job? Is it hearts and flowers and constant fabulous sex every minute of every day of every month of every year? Of course not. Sometimes it's painful, and it's heartbreaking, and it's not always easy.

    When my husband and I were engaged, my father gave us this very important piece of advice: Marriage is not a 50/50 partnership, it's two people giving at least 100% all of the time. That means that sometimes one partner has to give more than they think they can when the other partner isn't able to--and even though it isn't always easy, you do it because you know that there will be a time that your spouse will do the same when the situation is reversed.

    From what you write, it looks like right now it's your turn to give 150%. I am so sorry that you are hurting, and that you and your wife are unhappy. My advice to you is to remember this: You love this woman. You may not love how she is treating you, you may not love the way she is acting, but only 8 months ago you both stood up in front of God and everyone and said--out loud--that you pledged to love eachother for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, and in good times and bad. I encourage you to take that vow seriously and approach this situation with all of the love you have for your wife so that you can learn what each of you needs right now to be happy.

    If your wife has not always been this way, if she hasn't always exhibited these behaviors towards you, take some time to find out where this behavior is coming from. You say, almost in passing, that she has just had a miscarriage. I reiterate what other posters have said in telling you that this is a monumental thing to have experienced. The loss of a pregnancy can have devastating emotional and physical effects for a woman. If this behavior began, or intensified, after the miscarriage you have a place to start.

    Sit down with your wife and tell her what you are here telling us. Ask her what she needs from you, how you can make her happy, and tell her what you need from her. Talk about how to meet eachother's needs, and tell eachother what you will do to make it happen. I know it sounds trite, but it's a process you'll go through again and again throughout your marriage. As we grow, we change--and so do our needs. After 10 years, my husband and I still have these conversations--and I expect we will for the next 50 years as well. I'm not promising it will be a simple conversation, or an easy fix, but it's a start. Remember that you're learning how to merge your life with someone else in order to create a life together, and that's a tall order for anyone. It takes committment and time and work, but if you both give your best the payoff is worth it.

    (edited because I can't spell worth a darn lately...)

  • galaxy7
    galaxy7

    Very true Sara Annie

  • True North
    True North

    Tuesday,

    I wouldn't presume to fully understand your situation or feel confident about recommending an ultimate course of action for you. But, from long and sorry personal experience, I would advise you to not procrastinate. Don't let things fester while you're just hoping that somehow things will work out on their own. Both you and your wife are unhappy right now and that's something you have to bring out into the open and deal with, the both of you. You can't just suck this stuff up and internalize it.

    It will be uncomfortable, but go ahead and take the risk of talking with her about how you feel. Do your best, though, to not be perceived as attacking her or labeling her as a bad person; you're not trying to score points against her but to make both your lives happier. Be vulnerable and risk taking a few shots to the head and heart. Go ahead and let her have her turn. Find out if she's harboring anything against you. Maybe she doesn't even know why she's acting as she is -- you've got to find out if you can.

    Counseling might be a good thing. Even if she won't go with you at first, you can always go on your own just to get some perspective. Possibly you are misperceiving some things through the filter of your own hurt feelings -- which can be sort of the evil twin of rose-colored glasses -- and an experienced third party without a vested interest can help to sort things out.

    That being said, there's no guarantee that things will improve and you may be faced with a decision about continuing in your marriage. Just make sure that you find that out before you have kids. After that, after you have kids, you can find yourself in a situation where there are no good options and you and the kids will suffer for it no matter what you do.

  • Tuesday
    Tuesday

    Okie dokie I'm gonna try to work at this and maybe talk to her. Nosferatu seems to be reading our relationship like a book, everytime I try to talk about it I get the guilt trip about how she does everything and will bring up something about me, something I neglected to do, alot of times it's stuff I can't even help. As for the miscarriage being a monumental thing, I think that is true for her. I told her when it happened that I would never know completely how it feels to have lost a child, further explination about it is that she had a stomach ache for like two weeks, finally we went to the doctor and we found out she had a miscarriage. I was sad, but it was kinda like in one fell swoop, congratulations....er whoops sorry; I'm sorry for your loss. I'll certainly try to talk this out, I just have a bad feeling and I was hoping that I was overreacting or something. It doesn't seem like I was so I'll try to fix it, I'm just saying today that I don't know if I can. But here's for hoping right :)

  • asleif_dufansdottir
    asleif_dufansdottir

    Good Grief.

    I have a question for the people that have posted on this so far...If a woman posted on this board and said she'd just had a miscarriage and she's really stressed and depressed and doesn't feel like cleaning and the house being a mess is depressing her even more and her husband of eight months is on her last nerve and just talked to a group of strangers about their marriage about how awful she was, and mentioned the miscarriage as an afterthought, what advice would we be giving her??

    What I want to know is, is she really this irritable all the time or do you just think she is right now because she's been irritable for the last couple of days? (I'm as guilty of this with my husband as anyone)

    Have you considered the possibility that she's irritable because she's angry with you about something? Resentment builds up, you know. As another poster said, maybe she thinks you're not as upset about the loss of the baby as she is. Maybe you aren't Mister Wonderful as a husband. You've certainly painted a picture of how much you do and how little she does, and how irritable she is. Maybe she's upset about something she can't really verbalize or hasn't really faced yet. Read your post over again. How close is it to the real picture?

    I don't expect people to give a balanced account of things when they're upset about something, but I wonder why you told us nothing positive about her. Why did you marry her? What do you like about her? Some of the people on this board are saying some pretty unpleasant things about her, yet this doesn't make you jump to her defense. I find that telling.

    I think you're suffering from a bad case of being married 8 months, and being 23.

    Asleif, 21-year veteran of a "special needs" marriage

  • talesin
    talesin

    Tuesday,

    Do the best you can, please don't guilt yourself out. Guilt is one of the biggest 'burdens' that exJWs carry (imho).

    Sounds to me like you gave her good support with the miscarriage (been there several times myself - it's not an easy road). My previous comments stand. I'm with Nos on this.

    Good luck

    talesin

  • WhyNow2000
    WhyNow2000

    This is where the problem lies....

    (tonight is my night to workout at the gym, but once again she tells me I need to do something else so I'll miss it) "Fine, I'll stay home tonight and finish it."

    Never, never, never do anything to appease the anger of a wife/gf that will make you feel bad in return. From the tone of your letter you sound like all you are trying to do is trying to be the perfect husband/robot. You have to take care of yourself physically and emotionally. That entail to do only things for people that will no make you resentful. In your case very action your both are making is laced with resentment. Married at 23?.....What is done is done.

  • Tuesday
    Tuesday

    asleif_dufansdottir- basically when I originally posted that I posted it exactly how everything was said. I put down our motions and what we did. This was like 10 mins from when it happened. As for me being mister wonderful, maybe I've been pasting myself as christ-like or something I didn't intend to. I'm just stating what I've done, what she's done. I probably am on her last nerve, she brings her work home with her and it stresses her out, she was injured at work and now that's a court case that's going on. I completely understand stress makes people irritable. I also know while my account is of this morning, it's pretty much the way it is every morning. Since we've moved into our new place which was in November, before that it was similar just intermingled with what a dump we lived in. I feel really stupid defending myself but I was just honestly asking for some advice from people who are married and have been for longer than myself. Maybe it is my fault for not crying about the miscarriage, it must be something I've done in not washing the dishes the second I was asked, or cleaning the bedroom every night. I believe it probably is my fault for not bringing it up sooner but honestly how do you bring something like this up? I guess I should just apologize for being uncaring and unsensative, oh yeah and asking other people advice. Yeah I'm a dick for trying to find out positive ways to change our marriage for the better before things get worse.

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