Changing Culture

A couple of years ago, I fell for and subsequently bought a second hand convertible red mini, which I named Charlie. He is my pride and joy and I have loved him since the moment I laid my eyes on him. What I haven’t done however, is assume that my feelings about him are enough to sustain our motoring relationship going forward. I have looked after him and made sure that he has regular MOT’s and vehicular services. Even if it wasn’t the law in the UK, I’d still want to ensure he was regularly checked out as roadworthy. If he was to start to break down, I’d prefer to know about any potential issues early on and fix them, rather than discover something horrendous whilst I'm driving on the motorway.

When it comes to our relationships, Dr John Gottman, a leading marriage expert, says that most couples wait far too long before getting any kind of help if things seem to be going wrong.

Why is it that we often pay less attention to our relationships than we do to our cars? Wouldn’t it be great if couples didn’t wait for a crisis before they sought help?

What if we could make it so that investing in marriage preparation and marriage enrichment was considered the norm?

What if we dispensed with the myth that once you are married you ride off into the sunset of relational bliss?

What if we were honest about the challenges that we all face, and sought to actively build strong and healthy marriages by taking the time to focus on them in an intentional way?

At the Relationships Academy we long to see a change of culture when it comes to couple relationships. We want to see it as desirable and completely normal for every couple to regularly invest in their relationship. There are many barriers to this happening and we know that shifting a culture takes time, but each and every couple that prevent a crisis (or horrible divorce) and end up with the marriage they’ve always wanted, will help change this culture for the better.