August 19, 2022
top trending topics
🚩 If you think you’re in a relationship with a narcissist, read this.
📣 Support your spouse through their interests.
🤫 If you & your spouse have stopped talking to each other, here are some ways to have more conversation.
🔗 We change as people, and that’s totally normal. Here’s how you can connect through the changes.
👍 Feel like your spouse isn’t supportive? Think about your delivery.
tips & tricks for growth
kids can affect your marriage (here’s what you can do about it)
Being a parent is amazing, but it’s tough. Life changes with kids, and each stage of parenting brings new challenges. There’s a lot to balance. Let’s be real: kids affect your marriage.
Here Are a Few Common Ways and What to Do About It:
1. Self-care often takes a backseat for parents.
It can be hard to carve out alone time, but you need it, and so does your marriage.
2. You may disagree about parenting styles.
Couples talk about if they want to have kids, how many, and when. But they don’t talk about how to parent. And that can lead to frustration.
3. Date night can get put on the back burner.
Before kids, there may have been elaborate date nights, expensive dinners, flowers, and gifts. Now, you don’t feel like there’s time to think about dating. And what do you do with the kids?
4. Your sex life may change.
Early on in parenting, your sex life often takes a backseat because babies make life interesting. Sex can become just another item on the to-do list, and that’s no fun.
5. Marriage satisfaction may decrease.
Kids and all the issues I mentioned above can affect your marriage by adding stress to your marriage.
Be intentional about having a healthy marriage, because it’s the best thing for you and your kids.
you might need a little alone time if…
“I’m so exhausted and stressed out!” Is that a cry for help or a badge of honor?
Sadly, we live in a culture that not only normalizes burnout as a way of life but also kinda glorifies it. If you are perpetually busy and exhausted—You. Must. Be. Important!
But at what cost?
Maybe we need to worry more about being healthy people.
Ah, but insights like that usually only come to us when we slow down, find some quiet, and get alone with ourselves. Alone. Solitude. Introspection. “Sorry, ain’t got time for that!” (I think a lot of people intentionally stay busy because they don’t want to have to think about life and look at themselves.) Make time. Being alone is a healthy skill to be cultivated. Being alone is when some cool stuff happens: Inspiration. Reflection. Insight. Wonder. Clarity. Rest and Restoration. Whatever ambition has you so busy chasing, you’re going to need all this stuff along the way. Plus, the people you care about need you to care about you and take care of you.
Taking the time you need can impact everything.
what we’re lovin’
This week’s picks come from Anna Reeves McCutcheon, an active participant in the Chattanooga Fellows Initiative, former FTF Intern, and now the Social Media Manager here at First Things First! Take a peek at her recommendations for this week because they are just THAT GOOD. Check ’em out 👀:
📖 “Rebecca” by Daphne Du Maurier– A juicy, classic romantic mystery novel that you will lose sleep over! (I definitely did!)
🌅 Hatch Alarm Clock– You fall asleep to a sunset and wake up gradually to a sunrise. As someone who has a very hard time waking up in the morning, Hatch has made it much more pleasant!
💛 “Outdated” by Jonathan “JP” Pokluda– This book is a faith-based read that explorers biblical principles of dating in a modern world. Great read!
share the love
Know a friend who would love reading all the relationship goodness we’ve packed in here? Go ahead and share it with them!