Is it possible to get through the holidays without losing your mind, and stability in your marriage?
Around the holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas or Hanukkah, couples and families tend to feel additional stress because of all the added pressures and expectations that surround the season. Pesky things like extra work hours, long shopping lists, children out of school and extended family coming to visit can sometimes add worry to what’s supposed to be a joyous time.
During the holiday season, it’s very easy for schedules to become hectic and for every day situations to get chaotic. A time that should be happy and blissful often becomes confusing, and can leave couples feeling overwhelmed and helpless. But there is hope. It can be possible for couples and families to get on the path to enjoying each other and time together during the most stressful of times.
Our guest today, Dr. Michael Howard of Healing Solutions Counseling Center in Charlotte, NC, says the holidays don’t have to be stressful. Along with a few tips and pieces of advice, Michael explains the common triggers of holiday stress and discusses how to mellow them.
To find out more about Michael and his practice, visit his website or call (704) 944-5530 to make an appointment.
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What is the secret to making your marriage special while also parenting a child with special needs?
Approximately 10 percent of individuals within the general population have a disability. Now, with the rise of certain disabilities like autism disorders, many couples are parenting special needs children. In those instances, making your marriage special can be more like a chore. When so much extra time and energy is put into taking care of a child with special needs, what ends up happening to the marriage?
Becoming a parent for the first time is a challenge and usually involves a degree of adaptation. For parents with a special needs child, however, adaptation can be much more difficult. These parents must learn to adjust to the unique and sometimes scary path of raising a child with a disability. And with the many extra demands that it places upon parents as individuals, having any time to work on the marriage might seem impossible.
Our guest today is Dr. Barbara Lowe-Greenlee, a licensed psychologist with Greenlee Psychological & Support Services in Chapel Hill, NC. She works to help families with special needs children succeed and thrive despite the tough challenges they face. To find out more about Barbara and her practice, visit her website or call (919) 824-5743 to make an appointment.
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Are you sabotaging your love life?
Statistics show that 85 percent of single women can’t wait to get married– but do they really want the whole package? We already know that women have vastly different expectations of marriage than men do so it should be no surprise that men don’t always live up to those expectations. Throughout the phases of marriage, however, many things can change.
As many as 70 percent of wives express unhappiness and dissatisfaction in their marriages over time– which is a pretty big number. Is that just part of the natural cycle that marriages go through, or does it signal a larger issue? When women are dissatisfied, what do they do about it?
This episode, our guest has the answers to these questions and can help explain why couples experience these cycles. She also has some tips on marriage– how to make it, break it or keep it. Susan Shapiro Barash is the author of 13 books, including The Nine Phases of Marriage. Susan teaches gender studies at Marymount Manhattan College and helps women understand the issues they face during marriage.
To learn more about Susan Shapiro Barash visit her website. Visit BookTrib to find out more about Susan’s many publications.
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