March 10, 2023
top trending topics
🙃😬Awkwarddd… the one bathroom apartment dilemma. How do you navigate it?!
🧲 If you’re complete opposites, you can have a wonderful marriage growing together.
🗣 Even the happiest couples have an argument here & there. How you handle them is what matters.
🥵 Help your hunny & support them when feeling burned out.
💸 $$ savings tips for planning your own wedding. Use the savings for date nights later!
tips & tricks for growth
friendships after marriage be like…
Throughout high school and college, I always felt comfortable around guys. They were like big brothers to me.
💭 I remember one incident when I was going on a date in college. The guy came and picked me up from my dorm. As we drove off-campus, my “brothers” surrounded the car to make sure that my date knew that I was to return to campus in the same condition that I left it. I remember feeling cared for and protected by their actions. As a result, I continued to foster and build these relationships with opposite-sex friends – until I met my husband and got married.
I saw nothing wrong with having opposite-sex friendships after getting married. To me, they were purely platonic. However, my husband had concerns. After a discussion with him, I took a closer look at my past interactions with my opposite-sex friends—even the ones that I felt were like “brothers” to me.
I had to ask myself some questions about the state of these relationships and how they impacted my marriage. I found questions from Dr. Todd Linaman, therapist and executive coach, that I chose to ask myself.
Chat about these friendships now, so there’s boundaries in place when you become husband & wife!
don’t let them sour your mood
🤨 Have you ever noticed that every time you leave a certain family member’s presence, you feel worse than you did before you saw them?
Have you ever noticed that your aunt gossips all the time?
Or that your in-laws criticize your every move?
Or that your own parents are more controlling now than ever?
And what about that uncle who doesn’t care what you’re doing—he thinks it’s okay to show up whenever he wants.
Toxic family members make your head hurt. They are poisonous to your health. They can drain you emotionally every time they are around.
🙈 How do you recognize toxic family members?
- When you leave their presence, you often feel worse than you did before.
- They want to control your life. They tell you the decisions you should make, how you should spend your money, and the people you should be friends with.
- You feel that they seem to always criticize you—your parenting, your cooking, your house management, anything and everything.
- They may be physically, verbally, or emotionally abusive.
- They always “need” you to come to their rescue.
It’s important to deal with the toxicity. Your mental and emotional health—and maybe even your physical health—can depend on it.
let’s get REALatable
It’s time to take things a step further & get a little intimate with a Q&A. What do you say?😉 Learn a little bit about the faces behind all of this relationship gold. This week we’re chatting with John Daum, husband to his wife Monica, dad of 5, story enthusiast, and the content creator here at First Things First! Let’s get REALatable💛 & learn a little bit about him:
Q: What was your first job?
A: 🧑🍳 I think my first “real” job was working at an Italian bakery making fresh cannoli for customers. But I had several lucrative “neighborhood jobs” as a kid.
Q: What’s your ideal free day?
A: 📖 I love to read and learn, but I’m almost always doing it for work-related projects. So, a day of reading & studying whatever is fascinating to me at the moment. (I know that prolly sounds lame!)
Q: One thing you couldn’t go a day without?
A: 💞 Working from home, I need SOME sort of human contact during the day. I LOVE it when the fam starts coming home!
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