Could you be doing something more with your life?

Is it time to change your job? Find a new career?

Or do you simply need to make some personal changes to improve your outlook?

Do you feel miles away from your partner even when you’re sitting right next to each other?

Does it seem like you have run out of things to talk about?

Emotional distance is one of the biggest relationship and marriage killers. In the beginning of your relationship, you felt very close to one another. It was romantic, blissful, and your heart pitter-pattered when you were near each other. Over time, though, the gap between you grew larger and larger.

As young children, most of us were introduced to the concept of ‘happily ever after.’ The formula of childhood fairy tales usually involves an ending where good triumphs over evil and the characters in the story go on to live ‘happily ever after.’

Even as adults, we love the light-hearted romantic comedies in television and movies where the happy ending sees a couple realizing they are meant for each other, their misunderstandings and challenges are resolved, and they ride off into the sunset with a happy future ahead of them.

People can offer many excuses for a variety of reasons, all to defend or justify a fault or offense.

Excuses for why a work project wasn’t completed on time, or for getting fired from their job after only two weeks. Excuses for coming home late every day after work for the past month, or perhaps claiming a speeding ticket was undeserved “because everyone drives over the speed limit on that road!”

Having a family member or close friend with PTSD and trauma can be hard. More than anything, you want to support and comfort a loved one who is suffering from post-traumatic stress or struggling to recover from a traumatic event. But you don’t know what to do. The usual ways of relating don’t work. You feel almost as hopeless and out of control as you imagine your loved one must be feeling.

What can you do?

By Sylvia Beligotti, MA

We so often wrongly assume that conflict must mean that something in our relationship is going wrong, but that’s actually not the case at all. Conflict is a natural and yes, even healthy, part of every relationship.

It is not the avoidance of conflict that makes for a good relationship, but how you handle that conflict. Use these tips to resolve conflict appropriately while avoiding angry, relationship-ending habits.

By Elizabeth McMahan

Inevitably, your uncle is going to have a few too many; your aunt will start a political argument; your cousin is going to brag about her kids (while demeaning yours); your mother-in-law won’t like your apple pie; and of course your parents will be upset that you can’t come over for Christmas AND Christmas Eve. Sound familiar?

Depending on how stressful your family is, you might want “the most wonderful time of the year” to be over before it even begins.