Growing as a Wife

I am a very difficult person to please, I'll admit it. I can be overly critical of the people I love and sometimes a lot of times, my expectations are unreasonable. 

In our five years of marriage, Will and I have been through many ups and downs. We have learned so much about each other and life in general along the way. It's so weird to realize that it's never really been the two of us. We met, got married and started a family all within a couple months (a lot of people are still surprised that we're still married, believe me, so are we at times) so my identity as a wife has always been intertwined with being a mother.

It has taken five years for me to realize that in order for me to be a good mama, I also have to be a good wife. Our marriage is the foundation for our family and if I continue to neglect our relationship, that foundation will never be strong. 

This year, I am focusing on being a better me as well as building the relationships I cherish. I intend to put more effort into my marriage and I know our family will flourish in return. Although it'll never truly be the two of us, the universe brought us down this path for a reason. Last year, we hit rock bottom but 2016 will be a year of rebuilding, it will be a year of us. 

Marriage is...

HARD! I'll be the first to admit that we do not have a perfect marriage (or relationship for that matter). I did not have great examples of healthy relationships growing up. My parents divorced when I was young (and never really had a great relationship during or after their marriage) and although my mom had relationships after that, they were usually unhealthy.

I always knew that if I got married, I wanted a marriage different than the ones I saw growing up. I wanted my children to have a stable household full of love. Well, I think we've accomplished those aspects of our relationship but there are some areas that need to be improved.

Over the past month, both Will and I have put a lot more effort into our marriage. We've started to do more things as a family (even though Will runs on a regular basis, he has started doing my 5K running plan with me and the boys as well). We have also made communicating a priority. I think that has been the biggest issue with our marriage and I'd like to see that change. I have come to realize that we'll never have the perfect marriage and I have to accept that. There will be hard times and there will be good times but I wouldn't have it any other way. The way I see it, if we didn't have hard times, we wouldn't appreciate the good ones. Let's hope for lots of good times in our future.