Relationships Issues And High Expectations -

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As a younger man, I really wanted to find “The One”. I was much too private to tell anyone, but I wanted a happy-ever-after ending to my own love story. There was nothing unique about this dream; it’s shared by billions of people across the globe. I wanted to find my perfect mate, get married, have some kids, a decent house, good work, and get to navigate the ups and downs of life with a true companion and confidante.

A common dream

Since this dream is so common, it never occurred to me that it might be difficult to achieve. During my 20’s and early 30’s, I met a lot of potential partners and I started a lot of relationships. But most of them ended up being very short lived. Even the few long-term relationships I had were wrought with a good deal of strife between me and my partner. I thought she wanted too much. She thought I wasn’t available. I thought she was unreasonable and making a big deal of everything. She thought I was cold and indifferent. I thought she couldn’t have a calm conversation about stuff. She thought I didn’t communicate at all! She wanted more time together. I wanted more space. We couldn’t communicate about anything involving feelings. We couldn’t carry a difficult conversation to a productive end.

I will never forget this one memorable incident. My girlfriend and I had met up after some days apart (we didn’t live together). I was super excited to see her again, and it didn’t take us long before we were kissing and getting sexually riled up. And then, right in the middle of a passionate make-out session, she stops cold and says, “Wait, I forgot to water my plants!”. She broke off from me and went to get her watering can! Oooouuuuch!

I was livid, insulted, and totally hurt. I wanted to scream, “What the hell just happened!?” But in keeping with our unspoken don’t-talk-about-thorny-issues policy, I didn’t say a word about it, and neither did she. I did, however, shut down hard, and doubled down on my conviction that it probably wasn’t going to work between us. Not surprisingly, we didn’t make it very far past that point.

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Fantastical expectations

This was just one example of a recurring experience I had in intimate relationships. In retrospect, it’s easy to recognize the total lack of relationship skill and communication tools that was the hallmark of my every relationship, but at the time, I just didn’t get why it was so hard.

Looking back at my relationship history, it’s clear I was extremely limited by my fantastic expectations about great relationships happening on their own. Now that I have heard similar relationship stories from thousands of couples in our coaching and workshops, it’s clear I wasn’t alone.

But I’m living proof that not all relationships are doomed to be issue-riddled with a breakup at the end. Not at all. I’ve been actively living the happy-ever-after dream for over 15 years with Sonika. But that would have never happened without me finally getting real with myself about needing to learn better skills and tools.

Great relationships aren’t accidents

Great relationships don’t happen naturally or by accident. They require learning and practice and the patient perfection of relating skills over time.

Relationships are challenging. You take two individuals with different family backgrounds, perhaps cultural backgrounds, too; different desires, needs, and preferences; different psychological profiles; different levels of historical baggage or trauma, etc. etc. You then put them together and say, “Now get along, love each other, figure out how to make complicated decisions with life-long consequences while being pressured from all sides to survive, make a living, and generally keep your shit together. Oh, and have great sex and be each other’s best friends while you do it!”

No wonder relationships can be challenging!

You can learn a new way, just like I did. Anything you value and want to perfect requires your time and attention. Communication skills, conflict resolution, vibrant sex and deep intimacy, love, acceptance, and appreciation, are all essential skills you can learn. Once you do, whether single or coupled, getting by or on the verge of divorce, you too can learn to live the relationship dream.

To that end, we have a timely opportunity for you:

Our first in-person workshop since Covid is happening Nov 5 in Auburn, California. It’s a one-day class where we teach you some of the best tools of our positive approach to relationship.

At Give Yourself To Love, you’ll learn how to …