Relationships and Courageous Conversation
I have had a number of family difficulties occurring these past few weeks in my personal life, so I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down and write about all the topics I want to share through my blog. I didn’t want to skip this week, but I also felt like it was important to explain why this blog is not going to be as long as many previous ones. It is more of an introduction to my next series on relationships and courageous conversation. I am hoping things settle down a bit in my personal life soon, so I can devote more time to writing!
If you were able to read my last blog, I tried to give an overview of boundaries and how to create and implement them into our lives. Boundaries are so important in all our relationships, and at the core of healthy boundaries lies healthy communication.
There’s been a theme in my therapy office lately from those seeking couples therapy and it all centers around the need for courageous conversation. What do I mean by courageous conversation? Basically, I mean that it’s important to say what you mean and mean what you say and to do it in a direct way. This is important in all relationships, but it really seems to show up as a struggle in romantic relationships. I feel like this topic of courageous conversation will be another multi part series, but I thought today I would just give a bit of an overview of some of the struggles and barriers that keep couples from feeling that their partner understands them and their needs and their wants.
Often in romantic relationships, I find that people will walk on eggshells or beat around the bush or drop hints about what they are thinking and feeling. I think this comes from a variety of reasons. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, especially the feelings of our significant other. Also, we don’t want to rock the boat and create an argument or disagreement. We don’t want to come across as needy or nagging or difficult. I’m not saying that tact is not important, but we do owe it to ourselves, our partners, and our relationships to be authentic and honest about our feelings. Directness feels counterintuitive and scary, but it’s so very important for long term relationships success.
Being direct is not a guarantee that we will get everything we want, but there is something very freeing and liberating about being authentic and vulnerable. We can’t sit back and hope our partner reads our mind. We do have to own our wants and needs and communicate them in a way that feels true to ourselves.
I do hope you’ll continue to follow my blog as I begin a new series on relationships and courageous conversation. If you are interested in setting up an appointment for therapy, life coaching, or consulting or if you would like more information about ways to create and set healthy boundaries and develop courageous conversation in your life and relationships, you can call my office directly at 314-485-9189 or feel free to send me a message. My direct email address is lindsay@lindsaywalden.com and you can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more life and relationship tips!
A reminder if you are local to the St. Louis area and interested in attending my next Therapy Thoughts Workshop, I will be discussing the process of Self Acceptance and Overcoming Rejection. The next workshop will be at The Bike Stop Cafe in Chesterfield on June 19, 2019 from 7:30pm-8:30pm. It is $5 to get in, and this gets you $2 off any drink of your choice as well as entry into the attendance raffle drawings. I hope to see you there!
Oh! I almost forgot! My Therapy Thoughts podcast will be re-launching very soon. It will be available in both audio and visual formats, and I am looking forward to having this up and running again! I’ll have more information as we get closer to the re-launch, so make sure you are following my social media platforms and make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel, so you will be able to watch all the episodes!
