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verob

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I feel like I'm always mad at my husband. I just don't feel like we're on the same page about anything and it's a constant struggle. Is this normal? I know this is horrible, but I married him thinking things would get better and staying together was best for our kids. I pray for God to show me how to love him/be in love with him, but it hasn't happened yet. I think it's up to me, but I don't know how to make myself be in love with someone.
 

Inkachu

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This is wayyyyy to vague for us to give any useful feedback. If you'd like to expound, great; if not, that's up to you.

Two general bits of advice would be to keep the matter in prayer (not for God to do x-y-z, but just submit it to Him, and let Him decide what needs to be done), and to seek Christian marital counseling.
 
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verob

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Well, to start I got pregnant very early on in our relationship. We didn't know each other well, and now we're married. We fight a lot over stupid things. I do most of the stuff around the house and work full time. He works "at his own business" which is pretty much his own hours, etc. I just have a lot of resentment toward him b/c of this-I feel like I do everything. When I try to talk to him about stuff he bullys. We have pretty opposite personalities. I'm passive he's aggressive/used to "out talking people". Don't get me wrong-it's not all horrible. He's made a lot of progress. He's going back to church and trying to help out a lot more. I just wish that I felt a certain way about him. You know how people who fall in love and then get married feel. I feel like we are doing everything backwards-had the kid and then got married, and then trying to fall in love. I just don't feel that way towards him. I feel like it's forced. Like having sex is a choir, and I don't know how to change it!
 
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Inkachu

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If it's any comfort, you aren't the first or last couple to have a relationship like this. One that starts off more as an "arrangement of necessity" and then struggles to find the love as you go along. Think back on all the centuries of arranged marriages, in every culture from European to Asian and back again. Millions of couples got married without being madly in love. Is it the ideal way to do it? Perhaps not. But does it doom you to misery and failure? Not at all.

How does HE feel about you and your relationship? Does he express that he loves you, cares about your feelings, finds you desirable?
 
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Inkachu

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yes. I tell myself that all the time, but I'm not sure it makes me feel any better. It does help to keep me going I guess. He loves me. He's in love with me. He always has been. I just want to feel the same way.

You are incredibly blessed to have a husband that loves you, and I'm sure he loves your child as well. I would just stay in prayer over this, that God would soften your heart towards him, and help you find a fresh love for him, that isn't based on giddy, chick-flick type emotions, but on a deep, resounding respect for the role he's taken on as husband and father. Maybe sit down sometime and write out a list of all his good traits, all the things he does that you're thankful for, etc. I know that we hear a lot about "love is a feeling" vs "love is a choice", but I think it's often connected. When we choose to love in our words and deeds, that can open up an avenue for the Holy Spirit to fill us with a fresh surge of the "feeling" of love for a person, even when we didn't expect it.
 
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mkgal1

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yes. I tell myself that all the time, but I'm not sure it makes me feel any better. It does help to keep me going I guess. He loves me. He's in love with me. He always has been. I just want to feel the same way.

Just based on what you've posted so far (which, like Inka mentioned, is vague)....your husband may be "in love with you" more easily because you haven't given him evidence *not* to. He....on the other hand.....may be providing you with evidence that makes it difficult for you to feel the same way. That doesn't mean he's all "bad" ....or that your marriage is a disaster.....it just means he has some refining to do (and all of this is conjecture on my part).....or that your marriage has room to grow (like all of us, I imagine).

You used the words, "when I try to talk to him...he bullies". IMO.....that's not "loving"--that destroys love, in fact. Since that's the first thing you thought of (at least what you wrote)----would you say that's the main issue? Sometimes it helps (I think) to zero in on one main area.
 
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ValleyGal

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Is your husband a Christian? Imo, this makes a difference. If so, think about the relationship between Christ and the church... we love him because he first loved us by giving himself up for us. While your husband might be "in love" with you, does he actually love you? I would question this if he were not making effort. Still, you don't bully someone you say you love. But if he's trying, that's a good thing, and maybe some day he will learn about how to be nice.

You say you are fighting about a lot of stuff. According to Dr. John Gottman - a leading researcher in the marriage relationship - all couples have a handful of "unresolvable" problems and all the rest are solvable. The trick is to figure out which issues are resolvable, and then proceed to resolve them without being disrespectful. The two of you might want to take a course on respectful conflict resolution, but you both also might want to consider what fighting is....it is an assertion that you are right and should get your own way. Iow, it is driven by "self". If we are to emulate Christ, he became self-less for our sake. Yes, you have the right to assert your needs such as expecting him to help out around the house more. But he has a responsibility to become self-less and meet that need. In the same way, if he has a legitimate need, he has the right to assert it and you have a responsibility to meet it as far as it depends on you. Now, just a rabbit trail - I worked at home for more than a year, and I can tell you that just because I was at home, I had friends calling, and a lot of expectation from my family to continue doing everything here as though I was not working. It became very difficult for me to balance work hours compared to home hours. So if your husband is at home, don't expect to come home to dinner on the table. Let him work his hours, and then both of you pitch in during the evening.

So Dr. Gottman talks about solving your solvable issues, but he also talks about how to manage your few unresolvable issues. Those are those pieces that will simply never change, and each time they come up, the best you can hope for is managing them well enough to survive them. For example, my husband is a cat man and I'm a dog woman. Two pets at the same time is highly unlikely, so to resolve this issue, we had to figure out how to manage it. I want a dog, he wants a cat.... both are motivated by self, so the first thing you both need to ask yourselves is if there is anything in the argument you are being selfish about. If so, are you willing to put your spouse's needs or wants ahead of your own? If not, move on to the next step. List your negotiables and your non-negotiables. For me, a non-negotiable is that I do want a small dog, but the negotiable is when we actually get that small dog. My husband's non-negotiable is he wanted a cat, and he was also willing to negotiate when and what that might look like. So we then put our heads together, we talked it out, and I decided that since he had to give away his two cats in order to move here to be with me (he already made a sacrifice for my sake), we would get a cat first for his sake. When the cat dies, we will go and get a dog. We did not resolve the initial issue that I want a dog, but we negotiated a resolution to get us through that initial problem of whether to get a dog or cat. In that situation it was not about either/or, but rather how to work it out so we both "win."

I know that does not address your desire to "feel" love towards your husband. But I will tell you this... once you are both able to manage your disagreements more respectfully and selflessly, you will gradually find your resentment dissipating and maybe even friendship will replace it. But you both must be willing to work on that same goal of getting along. If you are interested in finding a Gottman-certified therapiest, you can send me a PM and I can direct you to find one in your area.

Be patient.... as your husband puts in the effort and you work to be aware of his effort and his changes, and as you yourself adapt to his ways, you may find some loving "feelings."
 
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verob

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Yes one big issue is feeling bullied. We are both horrible communicators. I shut down and he gets louder. So then I end up feeling bullied. I guess he's not intentionally trying to bully, but it definitley makes me resentful. I understand the working at his own business thing, but I am still expected to come home and do all the housework, cook, clean, take care of the kids. Like I said he is getting better. It's just a work in process.
 
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mkgal1

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IMO......your question is being asked as if *you* can "fix this".....and really the responsibility is on him. He has to be motivated to protect your love for him by not doing things that whittle away your love. It sounds as if you're being honest with him (or trying to---until he gets defensive). Beyond that.....I don't really see any more for you to do (the remainder is on him). I know that's a tough reality....because most of us want answers......solutions....ways to make things better (and have the drive to do what it takes)...but, instead, it's out of our control.
 
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