Every marriage experiences stress. It can come from work, family, friends, and even finances. Couples may suffer from stress over a conflict or a difficult period in their marriage- arguments, differences, or feeling neglected. 

While we already know how stress affects us mentally and physically, Stress can negatively impact relationships.

Although stress is part of the human experience, it can be harmful for relationships. What happens to many of us is that we bottle it up or keep the stress to ourselves, which makes it difficult for our partners to understand what we are going through and to provide support. Pulling into yourself and trying to manage it alone erects a barrier to emotional intimacy

Being stressed and taking it out on a partner, is another way it can negatively impact the relationship. You know when you are totally stressed out and your spouse says something that just hits a nerve that isn’t always so raw? And it can be such an innocuous thing. 

I know that when I feel really stressed and my husband comes to me with what I think is just not as important as the stressful thing in my life, I can be downright snippy. It isn’t about your partner, but about you. You are reacting out of a stressed place. 

Not dealing with stress can impact relationships when couples “catch” each other’s stress. When our partners are stressed, we become stressed. Stress can breed stress in a marriage. We feed on one another’s stress. 

Think back to an argument that escalated quickly. You might have “caught” one another’s stress during the argument, which made you both feel even more frazzled and made you say things you wouldn’t have otherwise said. Couples get stuck in this negative cycle and may be too stressed to deal with the underlying issue(s).

So, how do you keep your stress from putting an unnecessary burden on your marriage?

 Stress inside and outside of the marriage must be effectively managed with a few simple coping strategies.

In this episode, I'll share with you 6 ways. You can find the complete transcript at
http://reviveyourmidlfemarriage.com/89

I'm so excited to share my interview with Andrea Balboni. 

Andrea is a certified Sex, Love and Relationships Coach.  She helps couples experience deeper connection in their relationship and greater fulfillment and pleasure in their intimate lives, whether they've been together for a long time or are new in love. 

We will focus on sexual intimacy today, a key component of an intimate relationship. 

Topics will include

• Exceptional love
• Sexual chemistry
• Tapping into your own sensuality
• Sacred sex
• Tips to develop sexual intimacy by creating space and valuing pleasure.

Join me for this powerful episode.

Listen to this definition of discouragement: "Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust for the future."

That hit the mark for me because that is precisely what the discouragement in my marriage felt like. And it is a feeling many couples go through as they work on their marriage. A husband and wife can begin improving their marriage, taking steps to work things out, and still get discouraged. I see this all the time. I heard someone say the other day, "I just don't know if it's worth it." That's discouragement in a nutshell. In other words, the pain is too much. 

When my clients get discouraged, I understand it. Yes, they all show up discouraged, but no one expects to get discouraged as they take steps forward. But it happens, and it is natural. 

Let me tell you part of my personal experience seeking professional help for my marriage. After our first session, we were so angry we drove home in silence and remained that way for the rest of the evening. After a repeat of it at the second session, we decided it was better to go separately in the future. 

 It felt like the more we plowed the ground of our marriage, the angrier we got. Ironically, do you know, we rarely fought in my marriage? We both bottled everything up. So, in counseling, we dug all that stuff up. So many times, we were both discouraged and frustrated.

 We were learning new ways to build our communication and connection. We were learning to be vulnerable with our feelings. And then, we'd fall back into old patterns. Discouragement would whisper, "It will always be this way. It is never going to get better. You'll always be unhappy" So many times, I thought the pain wasn't worth it. Progress was so slow. I wanted it all better now!

Looking back, I wish I'd known what I know now. It would have made the times of discouragement easier. But, that experience has taught me how to help my clients through discouragement. 

In this episode, I'll give you 6 ways to manage your discouragement. 

For a complete transcript, go to http://reviveyourmidlifemarriage.com/87