By Jane Greer, Ph.D. for Galtime.com
When Ben Affleck accepted the Oscar for best picture on Sunday night, he thanked wife Jennifer Garner saying marriage is hard work, but it is the best kind of work. One area that takes great effort in a relationship is finding the balance between each person’s needs and desires. Say football is your thing. It always has been, ever since you were a little kid watching at home with your dad. So it is impossible for you to understand why your new partner has no interest in it. You want to go to games together, talk about plays, and plan weekends around the tailgate parties. But she says no. What do you do?
There is no question that one of the pleasures of being in a relationship is sharing the things you love with the one you love. If pizza is your thing — well, then by all means, it would be convenient if the person you’re dating had similar feelings about it. If that were the case, you could be together and have your favorite food at the same time. But it doesn’t always work that way. In reality, two different people often have two different sets of tastes. So how can you preserve your own pleasures, hobbies and space to do what you love while being in a serious relationship? And is there a way to include your significant other but not force feed them?
This is where a “thank you” portion can be useful. You remember when you were a child and your mother wanted you to eat the peas, right? They looked awful but you had to have a few to appease her, so you took a small “thank you” portion. In other words, you took a taste. Before you suggest this, though, acknowledge to your partner that you understand and accept this is not their cup of tea. But sometimes, when it’s a play-off game or something special is going on, you would really like to have their company. Be clear that you know it is a sacrifice of sorts, but you would really love it if they watched just this one game with you. Not the whole season, just this one game; a “thank you” portion.
In that way you can share your passions and interests to some extent, while respecting your partner’s interests at the same time. The key is to encourage them to be open and try to appreciate what it is that you find so fascinating. Who knows, she might actually become a football fan. Sharing pleasures, and being open to each other, simply helps to turn the wheels for more mutual passion together.
