What is happening?!
That is the question I started asking myself in 2019. I had been working as a couples therapist for many years at that point and has seen hundreds and hundreds of couples for thousands of hours since the start of my career.
But in 2017 I started noticing something new. The couples that were coming to see me were unique and yet they were sharing an underlying a problem. A problem that I didn’t see being directly addressed.
At the time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. People were coming to see me because they loved each other deeply but they were also deeply unhappy with their lives.
They pinned the unhappiness on their relationship - assigning blame to each other and to themselves. Looking at the faults of the partnership and the individual.
These couples weren’t experiencing anything cataclysmic. But things were absolutely unmanageable. Chaotic, even.
Since 2017, I’ve been trying to put it together. As time has gone on, I’ve been able to put the pieces together to be able to convey the issue as I see it - there is too much stress and couples can’t keep their heads above water.
In The Balancing Act, I want to share with you what I’ve learned over these years, how it is impacting relationships, and what I think you can do to improve it in your own life.
Who am I?
I’m Elizabeth Earnshaw - a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Clinical Fellow, and the author of I Want This To Work. I founded A Better Life Therapy and cofounded OURS Wellness. Both are spaces that emphasize taking care of ourselves and others. In 2018, I started the Instagram account @lizlistens where I talk about relationship health.
But those are my professional roles - l also have relational roles. In my own life, I am constantly combatting the balancing act. I am a mom, wife, friend, daughter, sister. And, I am constantly trying to figure out how to manage stress in my own life so that I can live life in a way that allows me to be present and love those around me.
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