When Helping Can Come From Emotional Avoidance

Photo by Willian Alves on Pexels

If your partner is struggling emotionally, and your first instinct is to try to rescue them or fix the issue, stop and think: are you doing this because you actually want to help? Or are you doing it because you're struggling to hold space for their emotions, and trying to make the problem go away will mean that neither of you have to sit with the uncomfortable feelings?

Discomfort is part of life. And when your partner is experiencing discomfort, many people feel an urge to 'help' by fixing the problem when that may not be what they actually want or need. What would it look like to sit in the uncomfortable experience together and listen to their difficult thoughts and feelings instead?

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