When your partner struggles to help you feel better when you're down

Recently, I was telling my husband about some feelings and fears I had about a problem in my life. I knew he wanted to comfort me and I knew that I wanted to be comforted by him, but somehow we were having trouble. It just seemed like my feelings were getting more intense and confusing.

Suddenly, in the middle of the angst, I realized: I know what I want him to say. I know what would make me feel better.

So I told him.

And he perked up, too.

“I didn’t realize you wanted me to say that!” he told me, relief in his voice. “I thought you wanted something else, something that I couldn’t truthfully tell you!”

So then he told me that thing.

And I felt better.

Of course, it doesn’t always work out so perfectly. Sometimes the other person can’t tell you what you want to hear.

But this moment reminded me that, at least sometimes, they can.

They can tell you what you want to hear, and the only thing holding them back is that they didn’t know you wanted to hear it.

This is where it can get a bit tricky, though. Because if even you don’t know what you want to hear, you can’t expect them to know. So if a conversation is going haywire, this can be an empowering first step:

1. Ask yourself: “What am I wanting to hear?”

If you don’t know, take a moment to pause and really connect with yourself. It’s worth taking a couple seconds or even minutes to be clear on what your truth is, rather than getting lost in the muck of confusing feelings.  Common core desires are things like, “I want to be reminded that you love me” or “I want to know that you still want to be my friend.”

2. Then, ask yourself: “Is this a reasonable thing to request?”

For example, it might not be reasonable to ask your partner to say, “You look beautiful in every single piece of clothing in the world.” Maybe they don’t truthfully think so! Perhaps what you’re really trying to request is something like, “I want to be reminded that you love me, even if you don’t always agree with my fashion choices.”

3. If what you want to hear seems like a reasonable request, then tell the other person!

Sometimes, even if you think it’s reasonable, they may not agree. That’s okay, too. But if you are clear about what you want, then at least it will be easier for you to see what compromises get you closest to the core thing you are needing.

I’d love to know: When you’re having a tough conversation with someone you love, do you know what you’d like to hear to be comforted? Have you ever tried actually telling them what you want to hear?

As always, I’m rooting for you. You’ve got this.

Katie