Relationships are beautiful and also complex. Each of us comes from our own unique family culture and personal life experiences that shape how we move in the world. When we choose partners, we blend those family and personal micro-cultures together, along with our broader cultural and social understandings. We are influenced by our past and by one another to create a unique relational environment in which each member is striving to meet their social and emotional needs and to love each other in the best way we know how.
All this diversity of background and experience can make expressing oneself and hearing the other person a real challenge, particularly in times of struggle and stress. You may feel like no matter how you try, you just can’t get your message across. If this goes on for a while, you may begin to question if your partner is paying attention or if they are even capable of understand how much you are hurting. You wonder if it’s even worth talking about anymore, because it only seems to make things worse.
Sometimes, there have been serious ruptures in your trust, you may have let your partner down and can’t seem to fully repair the broken places. Healing might seem out of reach. Perhaps you are struggling to accept changes in your partner that seem to rock the foundations of who you have been to one another. Or you might already be trying to re-invent your relationship in search of greater peace and satisfaction.
Therapy can help. I can help you to understand the negative patterns that keep you stuck, trace problems back to their roots and help you to heal the attachment between you. Together, we can begin to settle conflicts by clarifying what is most important to each of you and helping everyone to finally feel heard. If there is a trauma history for someone in the relationship, we can work toward understanding how the past is influencing the present and begin to build something different.
Many couples wait to seek therapy until their problems seem completely unmanageable. You don’t have to wait. Getting help sooner can mean getting back on track and building the skills to stay there, long before difficult patterns become deeply entrenched. If you are beginning to think it might be time to get help, it usually is. Book a free consultation and invest in the health of your relationship today.