3 signs your nervous system is harming your marriage
In the beginning, things feel easier - you give each other the benefit of the doubt, and forgive quickly. But after a few years of arguing about the same things and feeling misunderstood, alone and stuck... Both your nervous systems become hypervigilant. There is less ease and trust. Even small things trigger each of you into anger, anxiety or shut down. And eventually, one or more of these 3 patterns takes over: 1. Ruminating: You have a set of specific complaints and painful memories that replay over and over in the background like a broken record, but when you try to talk about it, it just leads to another argument. You feel stuck. One part of you says "this is crazy, why am I staying in this marriage/job/friendship??" and another part of you says "maybe I'm expecting too much....maybe it's ME?" To resolve this confusion, you watch Instagram reels, listen to podcasts, post anonymously on physician FB group, and/or talk to your friends... ...but for every person who says it's them, someone else says you need to get therapy. So you are back to square one, only now with more static noise in your head. 2. Walking on eggshells, waiting for "the right moment." You want to discuss something important - maybe an upcoming vacation or wedding, maybe you want to invite some family or friends over that your partner doesn't like, or you're upset that they said they would do x thing, but still haven't. But you're not sure if it's the "right time." So you scan their face, try to anticipate their mood, stress, joke and connect first, tell yourself that "it's not a good time when he/she is on service" or "maybe I'll bring it up after the taxes are filed" or "they're dealing with a worrisome pain in their knee, so I don't want to add to the stress." Except it's been 3 months (or maybe 3 years for some issues) and the right time never comes. 3. Overexplaining your point of view hoping one. more. example. will break through their resistance and help them see the light.