What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility. -Leo Tolstoy
Do you feel like your relationship is at an impasse? Do you and your partner seem to get stuck in the same argument loop again and again? Are your conflicts escalating or bringing out the worst in you or your partner?
Marriages are dynamic and evolving, encountering many distinctive seasons in your unique relationship. Commitment alone is not the same as growth. The manner in which you navigate through tension and conflict, normal to all relationships, can make all the difference. You don’t want to stick it out, you want to work it out and continually mature in your marriage or relationship.
Quality marriages and relationships only occur when a couple is proactive and willing to implement tangible effort toward improvement. Common myths assert that we can coast our way to a successful relationship, or that feelings alone are the benchmark for a quality marriage, or that a good relationship should come naturally and be easy. However living in reality means that there will be difficult issues and seasons a couple will encounter in their journey toward lasting love.
That’s why professional couples counseling can be a vital means of staying emotionally connected, experiencing intimacy, and having healthy communication patterns, important to all successful relationships. Marriage counseling will identify the issues that need to be recognized by addressing unhelpful dynamics in each partner and the relationship. It will also equip you with practical skills and tools so that you may unlearn negative patterns and learn productive ways of being in your relationship.
You don’t have to remain frustrated and distressed. Conversely, your relationship can grow as you work toward the potentials you are both desiring. Marriage, as with all worthwhile pursuits, will always have challenges. Yet joy, relational security and satisfaction can outweigh the struggles you’ll encounter in order to grow and thrive.
Some issues that bring couples to therapy are:
- Escalating Conflicts
- Communication Problems
- Relationship Stagnation
- Emotional Intimacy Struggles
- Balance (Work/Life/Family)
- Extended Family dynamics and boundaries
- Life and Situational Stressors
- Infidelity or Affairs
- Pre-Marital/Couple Readiness
- Sexual Struggles