DIRECT COMMUNICATION WRAP-UP: Can You Have That Conversation You’ve Been Putting Off?

We’re at the end of our Direct Communication series, and I wanted to give you a final pep talk today!

This month we’ve looked at why direct communication can be hard, both in general and for men and women uniquely. We’ve looked at how it can feel mean, but isn’t. 

We’ve even looked at the 6 elements of direct communication: 

And a bunch more (the links are at the bottom of this post).

On Friday, in our weekly email, we’ll include a quick activity that you can do with your spouse to talk about these issues and walk through direct communication. 

So if you’re not on our email list, sign up!

Some quick thoughts about how to have better communication

Before we end the series, though, I want to emphasize a few things.

1. It’s so much easier to have hard conversations if you’re also relating to each other in good ways.

Yes, that means showing appreciation for your spouse. But it also means doing things together on a regular basis.

Find some hobbies to do together. Or my personal favourite: Do the high/low exercise everyday as a check-in.

What was the time you felt most in the groove today? What was the time you felt the most discouraged?

Talk this through with your husband. It helps you process your own feelings, but it also keeps you emotionally in-tune with each other. It’s then much easier to bring up things that you do need to talk about!

2. Hard conversations won’t just happen.

Have you ever waited for a good time to bring something up? Or waited for your spouse to notice that something needs to be talked about?

Part of direct communication is bringing things up when they need to be talked about, even if it can be awkward. If we wait too long, the thing often gets blown up bigger than it needs to be. And we also give time for bad habits to become ingrained.

Is there something that you need to talk about with your spouse? Make plans to tackle it. Put the kids in bed early. Don’t get on a screen tonight. Tell him earlier in the day, “I’d like to talk to you about something after the kids are in bed tonight.” Like just do it!

3. Sometimes you must insist on having those conversations.

If your spouse doesn’t want to talk about something, that doesn’t mean that you don’t talk about it. It’s okay to say,

I understand that this makes you uncomfortable and that you don’t want to talk about it. But we do need to talk about it. So if you won’t talk about it now, we will talk about it tomorrow. This is vitally important, and we are going to discuss it. 

And then be firm. Remember: If your spouse is running away from intimacy, they are sowing discord in the marriage. If they are sowing discord, they do not get to reap intimacy. It’s okay to stand firm. That doesn’t mean being mean, but it may mean being firm and saying: We aren’t going back to business as usual until we talk about this/see a counselor/whatever may be appropriate.”

But hopefully none of that will be necessary–because the more you spend time together; the more you do emotional check-ins with each other; the more you talk about things directly, then the easier it will hopefully be to deal with the big things!

One last thing, and this one’s super important: just because you may need to have that conversation does not mean that it all needs to be solved at once:

4. Give your spouse time to process

Many people (especially introverts) need time to think about something before they can respond. So while you may want them to listen to you raise an issue, you can’t expect them to figure out how they think about it or what they want to do about it right away. 

A reader left this thought, which is wonderful:

One suggestion I have that has been helpful in our communication, (and we went through a really rough patch of many years) is to give your spouse time to process. So, if you have something to talk about, you have been thinking about it and working it out on your own for a while and then you tell your spouse your thoughts. It’s not really fair to expect them to have a well thought out response and they may well be defensive.

We start such conversations with “I have something I want to tell you, please don’t interrupt and take time to think about it on your own. Let me know when you’re ready to talk within the next 3 days” And then make sure you follow up if they haven’t brought it up within the timeframe, but also give them the time and space to process.

Shari

For more help with these difficult situations, please see:

My Iron Sharpens Iron seriesMy MBTI Personality Series9 Thoughts That Can Change Your Marriage Do You Have a Difficult Time Standing up to your Husband?

God wants us aiming for His will. That sometimes will mean that we need to confront our husbands when they’re doing something wrong.

Struggle with how to do that? Are boundaries a difficult concept for you? 9 Thoughts can help!

Take me to it! Some final words from you about direct communication:

The posts that got the most traction on social media were the ones this month looking at how the genders are discouraged from direct communication. 

Men, you’re allowed to have emotions and share them. God made you to be emotional. And you don’t need to run away from communication. You’re allowed to listen to your wife!

And women, I’ll just leave this here:

Did you have a big takeaway from our series this month? Let me know in the comments! And remember to sign up for our emails to get the direct communication activity this week!

The Direct Communication Series5 Reasons Direct Communication is Difficult6 Elements of Direct CommunicationWhy Direct Communication Feels Mean--and Why It's Not3 Reasons Christian Resources Tell Women Direct Communication is a Sin 5 Reasons Christian Teaching Discourages Men from Communicating DirectlyThe Direct Communication PodcastThe Real Solution to Nagging10 Tips to Talking to Your Spouse About Your Sex Life 10 Ways to Show Appreciation to Your SpouseHow to Have that Conversation You've Been Putting Off

And please see my book 9 Thoughts That Can Change Your Marriage, with lots on having difficult conversations and resolving conflict!

Sheila Wray Gregoire

Founder of To Love, Honor and Vacuum

Sheila has been married to Keith for 28 years, and happily married for 25! (It took a while to adjust). She’s also an award-winning author of 8 books, including The Good Girl’s Guide to Great Sex, and a sought-after speaker. With her humorous, no-nonsense approach, Sheila is passionate about changing the evangelical conversation about sex and marriage to line up with kingdom principles. ENTJ, straight 8 FacebookTwitter Related Posts 10 Truths About Emotionally Destructive Marriages

Aug 24, 2021 | 19 Comments

How can you tell if your marriage is emotionally destructive, or if it's just a normal level of...

10 Tips for Talking with Your Husband About Your Sex Life

Aug 23, 2021 | 12 Comments

Talking about sex with your husband can be super awkward. But if you want sex to be good, you're...

Christian Parenting Should Involve More than Influencing Your Kids’ Faith Walk

Aug 20, 2021 | 12 Comments

We've been talking about direct communication all month, and while that's so important in...

A Sneak Peek at our UNFILTERED PODCAST!

Aug 19, 2021 | 6 Comments

We're doing something different on our podcast this week. We're giving you a sneak peek at our...

How One Couple in the Arctic Got Over Nagging

Aug 18, 2021 | 7 Comments

Sheila here! Today I'm turning the blog over to Joanna, my awesome co-author with The Great Sex...

The DIRECT COMMUNICATION Series: What if Nagging Isn’t the Problem (or the Solution)?

Aug 17, 2021 | 39 Comments

We often hear that nagging is one of the worst things a woman can do in a marriage. It makes her...

14 Tips for Safe–and Successful–Online Christian Dating!

Aug 27, 2021 | 18 Comments

So many people on this blog have found love through Christian online dating sites! I'm always...

BARE MARRIAGE PODCAST: Why Do Christian Books Make Men Sound So Fragile?

Aug 26, 2021 | 30 Comments

It's time for our Start Your Engines podcast, and today we're asking if Christian resources are...

The post DIRECT COMMUNICATION WRAP-UP: Can You Have That Conversation You’ve Been Putting Off? appeared first on To Love, Honor and Vacuum.