KNOW YOUR STYLE – How You Handle Stress WILL Affect Your Relationship
What is your reaction to (emotional) stress?
What is your partner’s reaction to (emotional) stress?
If you tend to turn UP the Volume to connect, feel seen and supported, while your partner’s tendency is to turn DOWN the volume to maintain a status of “OK” and focus on solutions, then….
One of you will regularly feel NEGLECTED
One of you will regularly feel ATTACKED
One of you will feel (s)he is NEVER THERE FOR ME
One of you will feel (s)he is NEVER SATISFIED
One of you may feel WORTHLESS
One of you may feel like a FAILURE
BOTH OF YOU will have made a mistake. Each of you is trying to feel good in the relationship and life, you just have different ways of working toward that.
Suggestion: Talk openly about how you handle emotional stress. Find out what your partner’s strategy is, how it helps him/her and why. See if you can notice this in action next time it comes up.
