happyhusband happywife husband marriages husbandandwife husbands love husbandandwifeteam ilovemyhusband marriage wife wifeandhusband breakfast happywifehappylife husbandandwifeforlife husbandlove ilovemywife marriagequotes together workout beautiful bramdermawan christianwife coaching godlywife happyfamily happylife happymarriage happyweekend husbandgoals happywife
When is the last time you tried a new position in the bedroom (or in a new room in your house ) ?! When is the last time you took the initiative to make a move on your spouse and passionately make out for as long as you have time for? When’s the last time you made space in your schedule for foreplay and the time and emotional space to go all out? When the last time you went away for a weekend... just the two of you?.
.
.
.
Last question....WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! Sex is an incredible part of marriage that offers so much to both of you. It offers security, tension and stress release, increased trust, increased happiness, and there is always the fact that it feels amazing. .
.
.
❤️ CONNECTION CHALLENGE: If you’re reading this, I challenge you to put your phone down and go do something sexy with your spouse. #Marriage365 #ichooselove : @aaronandjillian
In life, there are seasons of fun and adventure, and there are seasons of hardship and stress. Parenting young kids is a physically exhausting season. Parenting teens is mentally and emotionally overwhelming. There are seasons where work is rewarding and you feel accomplished. And there are seasons where you feel connected to your spouse and can’t get enough of them. There are seasons of marriage when you feel like two ships passing in the wind and the emotional connection is majorly lacking. I’m sure you’ve experienced the good and bad seasons of life, but make sure your marriage is always a priority. That you don’t allow those bad/exhausting/stressful seasons to become the norm where you check out on autopilot. Marriage is forever! Your marriage is the most important relationship you’ll ever have! #marriage365 #ichooselove by @aaronandjillian
It’s humanly impossible for you and your spouse to agree on EVERYTHING. You have different personalities, different upbringings, different strengths, different perspectives, maybe even different values and we all have our off days to top things off where we misread each other or are overly sensitive. So there’s bound to be conflict from time to time in your marriage. Having conflict gives you and your spouse an opportunity to work together and find solutions to your issues. Conflict gives you an opportunity to learn more about your spouse’s fears, feelings, desires, and perspective. Your conflict should be helping you grow as an individual because you’re hearing your partners complaints and concerns and changing any unhealthy behaviors you may have. Conflict gives you an opportunity to own your mistakes and apologize. Ideally you should feel more connected after the conflict has settled down because you’re working together to fix whatever isn’t working. ❤️ If you start changing your mindset that conflict is actually normal and a healthy part of your marriage, you’ll accept it and learn new ways to fight fairly (we have dozens of resources that teach you how to have healthy conflict BTW ) . #marriage365 #ichooselove by @aaronandjillian
Before we get married, most of us get this idea that marriage is the end goal— that it’s the complete “Happily Ever After” package and that once we get married all of our troubles will go away. We get caught up day-dreaming that we will be happy all the time, forever. We buy into the lie that our spouse will, in fact, never have a bad day, never make a decision that hurts or offends us, and that they will spend every waking moment of the rest of their lives trying to romance us and make us happy. ♀️ Unfortunately this idea is truly such a shame, because it makes real-life marriage that much harder. The truth is that the very second that two imperfect human beings get married, they enter into an imperfect marriage. And it becomes up to the two of them to work together as a team to make their marriage everything they want it to be- in good times and in bad. Marriage alone doesn’t provide happiness, you have to work hard at it! So, if you’re in the thick of a low-season in your marriage... I encourage you to put your boot straps on, pick up your battle axe (figuratively ) and get to work! What can you do to love your spouse today, even if they don’t deserve it? .
.
Disclaimer: If you are in an abusive marriage, this post is NOT for you. If you are being abused in any way, please get help! .
.
#marriage365 #ichooselove : @mathieuphotography
Anna here! .
In my husbands previous job, he worked long and also unpredictable hours most of the time. Through out the year there were some seasons we would hardly see each other, and others where we would see each other a little more often. You know what got me through the long hard seasons? Having date nights on the calendar. In fact.... it prevented us from so many unnecessary arguments. However, when we didn’t have a date-night on the calendar.... we would get in way more arguments and all around had a much unhealthier marriage. Here’s how:.
There I would be.... in the middle of my kids fighting for the zillionth time that day. The dishes had piled up, along with the laundry, and I was lonely— I missed my husband and his presence in our home. For humans, it is most often in our overwhelmed loneliness that our bitterness is born, right? So, in those moments I would start to grow a hard heart toward him. Was I thankful he was working hard for our family? Absolutely, beyond words. But in the midst of sleep deprivation and being smothered by tiny people... the mind and heart easily focus on the absences rather than the blessings. When he would finally get home hours or even days later, no matter how he was feeling or what he was doing...I already had misplaced anger toward him in my heart. So, I would pick a fight to release that anger. .❗️ BUT. When we had a date night on the calendar, it gave me a tangible event to look forward to, so In those overwhelmed moments on my own, instead of bitterness I started to feel anticipation and excitement to have him all to myself for a few hours soon. This is what we mean when we say “be proactive instead of reactive”. Planning date nights prevents bitterness in my heart and allows room for excitement instead, which is proactive, where as planning a date night to fix loneliness & bitterness is reactive and therefore much much less effective because you’ve got all those messy feelings piled on top. See? Date Nights are way more important than you might have thought! Go plan one . #marriage365 #ichooselove
Does your spouse need your affection? Do they need your advice? Do they need validation? Do they need a night off of being mom/dad? Do they need you to initiate a date night? Do they need a reminder that you’re on their team? Do they need an apology? Do they need a nice, long bear hug? Do they need your forgiveness? Do they need you to initiate sex? Do they need to be told “I’m proud of you”? Do they need help with household chores? Do they need you to get off your phone? Do they need you to make their birthday a big deal? Do they need your positive encouragement? Do they need you to buy and surprise them with our book 365 Connecting Questions for Couples? ☺️ Ideally your spouse should be assertive and let you know what they need from you but that’s not always the case. So pay attention, ask some questions and be an observer of your spouse. See a need...fill it! If they’ve clearly asked you for something in the last month- go do it! #marriage365 #ichooselove #payattention by @aaronandjillian
Cuddling Skin on Skin is such an incredible bonding experience for your relationship! . Sleeping Naked increases vulnerability, builds trust, and builds security between you and your spouse AND it feels amazing. So many wins! .
.
.
.
❤️ CONNECTION CHALLENGE: Sleep Naked with your spouse tonight (or asap) and see how it goes! #marriage365 #ichooselove
Doing what is right means that you come home from work and engage with your spouse even though you’d rather watch TV. Doing what is right means that you deal with your issues even though it’s easier to avoid those kinds of conversations. Doing what is right means that you initiate sex even if you’re not in the mood. Doing what is right is owning your mistakes and apologizing instead of blaming others. Doing what is right means that you put your damn phone down while your spouse is talking to you. Doing what is right means that you go to counseling if you’re stuck. Doing what’s right means that you explain your anger instead of take out your anger on your spouse. Doing what is right means that you compliment your spouse on their appearance and attributes. Doing what is right means that you choose love and not base your marriage on feelings. Doing what’s right means that you work at moving towards an emotional connection 365 days a year. Doing what is right means that you notice your spouse’s feelings and do what’s needed to comfort them. ❤️ Simply put- you have a choice each and every day to either do what’s easy or do what’s right. Courageous people do what’s right. Self-aware people choose to do what’s right. People who take their vows seriously do what’s right. So what will it be? #marriage365 #ichooselove #dowhatsright by @aaronandjillian
There are so many behaviors and habits that I had that I didn’t even think about before I got married. I think it was partly due to my selfishness and having little self-awareness. As a couple, we had no clue how to navigate our relationship mainly because there are so many divorces on both sides of our families. We grew up with this long list of toxic behaviors that were modeled to us that we thought were normal and we just brought all of it in our marriage. Now we know what makes marriage work. We know what to do and what not to do. We’ve learned which behaviors will help us build more trust and respect and which ones will destroy it in seconds. Screen shot this and look at this list of “don’t do these things” often. If you have one or many of these listed, what are you going to do about it? Well the first thing to do is take responsibility and APOLOGIZE for your behavior. A little truth about SARCASM. Some of you instantly questioned why sarcasm is on here because you and your spouse are sarcastic with each other. It’s that kind of humor you both enjoy. The only time sarcasm works in marriage is when BOTH of you are okay with it and that there’s high levels of trust and respect. So if you’re sarcastic, it’s a good idea to ask your spouse, “Do you think I use too much sarcasm with you? Does it ever hurt your feelings?”. #marriage365 #avoidthesethings #ichooselove