Every so often, I hand the pen to someone who knows this work — and our marriage — from the inside. My husband Eric has spent years studying what makes relationships thrive, and his doctoral research on shared meaning has genuinely shaped the way I think about couples...
When a relationship has been shaped by addiction, it’s easy to focus on what went wrong. Because during addiction, there are often so many negative events — things that went sideways, conversations that escalated, moments that left lasting hurt. The fights. The...
One of the most tender — and often overlooked — parts of recovery is this: You don’t just rebuild sobriety. You rebuild understanding. Because addiction doesn’t just create distance — it replaces knowing with guessing — guessing what your partner...
Few experiences shake a relationship as deeply as discovering that your partner has been involved in an affair. For the hurt partner, the moment of discovery often feels like an emotional earthquake. Whether the truth comes from a third party, a message on a...
Valentine’s Day has a way of turning love inward. Are my needs being met? Do I feel chosen? Am I enough? Those questions are understandable — but when they take over, we can lose sight of something important: love is also about shared meaning. About what...
Valentine’s Day comes with a lot of expectations. Somehow, we’ve absorbed the idea that our partner should just know what we want. That they should orchestrate the perfect, ultra-romantic day filled with meaningful gestures and heartfelt surprises. And when...
