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5 Reasons You’re Not Fulfilled in Your Marriage

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Okay mama, grab some coffee and let’s chat about the elephant in the room.

You’re unhappy, unfulfilled, or just in general not satisfied with the current state of your marriage. You’ve been married a good while and though there’s nothing catastrophically wrong, you’re just not happy with where things are. And you’re 98% sure that he needs to change. Make that 100%. He’s not really there for you. He doesn’t listen. He’s emotionally detached. And a bunch of other things. But since this is the most important relationship of your life, maybe it’s worth it to step back and see if there’s something we’re missing. Maybe it’s time to self-examine and self-reflect and see what’s lingering just under the surface. I did this about ten years ago and it has made all the difference.

-1-Unfulfilled in your own life

I think the first reason I was feeling unfulfilled in my marriage is because I was unfulfilled in myself. At the time, I had just quit my job as a family physician and I was lost. So, I took up some bad habits to temporarily make myself feel better. But those temporary dopamine hits that make us forget about the pain or doubt or insecurity or resentment that we’re feeling don’t last. And so, we need another and another. I found myself in debt and though my kids had EVERY cute swimsuit there was to be had, I was still miserable inside. When I began to take responsibility for myself and decide that I wanted more, I began to see that my unfulfillment in life was making me secretly blame my husband.

-2-Unrealistic Expectations

Stevie surprised me for our ten year anniversary with a trip to Atlantis. Everything from how he told me about the surprise to how he treated me while we were gone was magical. But all fairy tales end and a few days later we were back home and I was getting my feelings hurt over something insignificant and the anniversary was over. On that trip, I read The Notebook. (And also UGLY CRIED in the Nassau airport to the degree I have never ugly cried in my life. Stevie was probably mortified.)

As much as I love the book and movie version of The Notebook, life long love doesn’t look like that for very long, if ever. If we’re getting our cues from pop culture, we’re going to be sorely disappointed in marriage.

And then there’s the expectation we get from seeing our friends and family who are married and we begin to wonder why our marriage doesn’t look like that. Then we hear some sermon or podcast about how we should be holding hands and having devotions every day together.

And the list of expectations doesn’t end.

I finally found peace in my marriage when I quit expecting it to be EVERYTHING and just let it be what it was—normal, amazing, exhausting, beautiful, stressful, demanding, life-giving, and everything in between. If we decide to live our lives awake to what’s there and stop buffering the bad away with food and shopping, etc, we usually find that it’s a mix of good and bad. That’s what makes it life and that’s what makes us human. When we expect it to always be blissful, and when it’s not, make that mean that something’s wrong, we make it way harder than it should be. Marriage is hard and amazing. Let it be both.

(When Stevie and I have a fight or misunderstanding, I audibly remind myself that this is the part where it’s hard. It helps me allow the negative feelings, instead of pushing them away.)

-3-Unwritten rules

We all have them, but we don’t often speak about them. If he does this and says this and acts this way, then all is well. My coach calls it the manual. We have a secret manual for the people in our lives and we expect them to follow it, even when we haven’t actually written it all out and given them a printed copy.

What’s your manual for your spouse? What are all those unwritten rules and standards that you are holding him to? And what would it be like to just drop the manual, to stop wanting and wishing and expecting him to be different and just accept him for exactly who he is?

We carry so much resentment towards our husbands because they are not obeying our secret rules and we fail to realize that the resentment we carry poisons US, not them. I feel the resentment and anger in MY OWN BODY, so it is worth it to question the resentment and consciously decide if I want to be holding onto it.

AND? We don’t like it when people have secret rules for us.

We want to be accepted for who we are. But that is the very thing we have trouble giving other people. What if we dropped ALL THE DRAMA and just decided to love? I’ve tried it over and over and over again as I practice being the kind of spouse I want to be and here’s what I can tell you—love is always the best option and YOU GET TO FEEL IT IN YOUR OWN BODY. When you decide to love without condition, you get to experience unconditional love and that, my friends, is what makes the world go ’round.

-4-Unmet Emotional Needs

This one is probably the most important because we’ve been taught that we have emotional needs and that something or someone else is in charge of meeting those needs. If we continue to believe that, we will always be at the mercy of someone else—held hostage emotionally until they give us what we think we need.

What if we met our own emotional needs? What if we began to function as emotional rock stars and paid attention to what we need and gave that to ourselves. We want him to show us love, but are we showing love to ourselves in the way we care for ourselves and talk to ourselves. We want him to BE THERE for us and have our back, but do we have our own back? Are we showing up for ourselves in a meaningful way? We want him to love us just as we are, but WE don’t love ourselves just as we are.

I promise that when I started taking responsibility for my own feelings and emotions, my life changed. No one can hurt my feelings. I hurt my own feelings by letting someone else hijack my thoughts and emotions. And sometimes I want to feel hurt, but at least I acknowledge that I’m choosing it.

Imagine going into a relationship with someone who was confident in themselves, who was not emotionally dependent on others, who took good care of themselves AND good care of those around them? That is what we all want, and the quickest way to get it is to BE IT.

Stop waiting for someone else to change. YOU ARE IT, mama. And who else, but you? You’re amazing and you are fully capable of meeting your own needs. Then, you can head into your relationship fully whole, fully well, without depending on someone else for what you can only give yourself.

-5-Unexamined Story

I think we forget that we are part of a grandest story ever told.

God is writing a story to the world of love and sacrifice and he is using YOUR MARRIAGE to do it. This is so much bigger than you, so much more than your bills and your stress and your squabbles. This is life and death. This is Christ sacrificing for his bride and this is his bride loving him with her whole heart.

There’s also the story that you tell others and yourself about your marriage. Does your story sound something like, “He’s so selfish and he never does anything for me or the kids,” or “I wish for once he appreciated all I do around here.” That used to be my marriage story.

Then I decided that I’m in charge of the story and there’s JUST AS MUCH good to tell as bad. So, I rewrote the story. If you give me half a chance, I’ll tell you all the things I admire about Stevie. I’ll tell you I’ve never met anyone else quite like him. I’ll tell you how he has sacrificed everything for us. Is it true? Yes. And it’s a much better story than the one I have told in the past. And how do you think I show up in my marriage when I’ve been telling that story all day? Powerful, isn’t it, how we can change everything by deciding what story we want to tell about our marriage?

Now, I know some of you are going to get defensive and you’re going to tell me all kinds of things about your spouse or your situation that make it different. And I’m not saying that you should even stay married. Maybe you should have left a long time ago. Maybe there’s abuse and infidelity and all kinds of stuff. But what I’m saying is that if this marriage is here to stay, you might as well be its biggest fan. You might as well give it the intention and prayer and work it deserves.

And you can do that without your spouse ever changing one thing. Want to be more fulfilled in your marriage? That has ALWAYS been your job alone. You being fulfilled is a result of YOUR thoughts and YOUR emotions and only you can think and feel those. It’s always been you. I can’t think of anyone better.

Being unfulfilled is a story you’ve been telling yourself.

Maybe it’s time you told a better story.

**************************

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Becky says

    Thank for for being real enough to recognize the hard, and faithful enough to promote remaining true through it.

    Reply

  3. Lisa Teichmiller says

    I am a SYMBIS facilitator and you said it well. We cannot expect someone to meet all of our needs and we all have responsibilities within our marriages. The good and the bad. I am on the frontlines of helping couples navigate the most important relationship of their life and it always welcoming to see others joining this much needed role. You will be awesome and with your already numerous followers you are a great resource to uplift marriage in those who need encouragement. Would love to connect and be marriage prayer warriors together. My website is http://www.symbislovestory.com.

    Reply

  5. Beverly says

    Thank you for this, it is what I needed to read today. I have the best husband, but what is lacking is just what you wrote about here♥️

    Reply

  7. Kimberly says

    This is awesome – my marriage is really good, but I was curious because you have SUCH A WAY WITH WORDS. And I was not disappointed. Reading the things you write is like sitting with a close, wise, and honest friend, and having LIFE spoken over you. Bless you for using your God-given talent with words to bless others.

    Reply

  8. jennibell says

    Edie,
    So great to see the new blog style and have a blog to READ again! I know the podcasts are so great too. . .it’s just hard to find time to listen but I can certainly catch bits of time to read 🙂
    I love my guy, have the best, but have all of those same feelings you mentioned above. Can even relate to the “why can’t you always act like you did on that trip?” thing. . .sigh.
    This is what I always say when questioned: “If getting him to do xyz means giving up any one of his very good traits, well, there is not a single good trait that I am willing to trade for xyz”. I don’t just say it — I believe it. And sometimes, I just need to turn to Jesus and ask him for the emotional support, friendship, or whatever it is I wish I could get from him in that moment but can’t. HE never lets down or disappoints!
    Love your heart, love your words, love how you love others.
    Happy summer!

    Reply

  9. sonja says

    Thank you Edie for the reminder,it so easy for us to concentrate outside of ourselves instead of looking within ourselves. Like Jennibell stated, I too have learned to go to my Father in heaven and ask to give me or fulfill my needs that possibly I think I am lacking from my husband. That I can’t expect my husband to give me everything. He’s only human too and sometimes I place too many expectations on him. He is not God and yet I tend to forget I have a all knowing powerful God who created me and knows my needs better than even my own husband. In those times I have felt abandoned by my husband I seek God’s wisdom and his comfort and he fills me up with his love then I am able to give it my all and stay focused on the wife I need to be. I often pray and ask God what can I do to make things better in my relationship with my husband instead of concentrating on what he is not doing.

    Reply

  10. Juls Owings says

    My grandpa told me that if I can’t do it as a wife, do it as a friend, if I can’t do it as a friend then do it as I would a stranger. (Galations 6:2). He also said the only person that can make me happy is me and I also need to have a purpose (not just as a wife, mother, care taker) that make me happy. He was 86 when he died and Grandma had been gone for over 30 yrs. He never remarried.

    Reply

  11. Jamie says

    I appreciate so much of what you share, Edie. You have so much wisdom from your experiences.
    I obviously have no idea what all you cover in marriage coaching, but life experiences have acquainted me with scores of women and children who are suffering in abusive marriages and go through literal hell to escape— particularly Christian women— because we WANT so badly to do all we can to save our marriage and “please God.”
    For that reason, I’m hoping that you will be very careful not to present the idea that a woman’s behavior is the sole reason for her failing marriage… that she has ultimate power over her husband’s direction and decisions. This is a burden we were never meant to carry, yet we are often conditioned to think it’s all up to us. The Holy Spirit and a man’s own personal choices are something a woman has no authority over. It is actually a kind of manipulation not so easily recognizable.
    A wonderful ministry to get a bit of education on these matters is “Give Her Wings.” There are numerous posts on the blog by Megan Cox that give much more insight into this issue. Another trusted source is Leslie Vernick who does an excellent job of untwisting scriptures that have been used to enslave women in abusive marriages.
    Thanks so much for your time, Edie. Your love for women shines through and I know without doubt you would be a champion for the multitudes of these particularly weak who are suffering in silence.
    A concerned sister,
    Jamie ❤️

    Reply

    • Mona says

      Thank you for this comment Jamie. I had those same concerns. Should we look for our husbands to meet all of our emotional needs? I don’t think so. However, I do believe that a husband and wife should come into agreement as to what they require for each other and work hard to fulfill those needs. I also don’t believe that discussing what needs are not being met translates into denying our husbands good qualities. There does have to be a balance and I believe we can talk to Jesus, pray for our husbands, and hold our husbands accountable without feeling like we are being unreasonable.

      Reply

      • Lala says

        Love this and it is very well said. I am a successful independent woman that sometimes just wants to feel like I matter to my spouse. Even with just a small candy bar or Sri k but my spouse doesn’t every think about me when he’s at the store or offers if I need anything. I tell him my feelings and push on for the sake of being happy with myself. I do think men should be held accountable and show the women’s who married him some love in some other way not just in the bedroom.

        Reply

  12. Kathleen says

    I loved this article and the comments. However, I would like to see the husband’s side. Otherwise these look like total submission from wives to husbands, nothing the other way around. I would like to hear from a husband, at same level of commitment and understanding as you have in this article. Please.

    Reply

    • David says

      I’m a husband and I agree with everything written here. It’s not about submission for a wife, but how to live your best life without making it dependent on him. Depending on us men for your happiness may lead many wives to despair. Just focus on being your best self. Remember if he is a non-believer, he may be won over without a word from you.

      Reply

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