Husband Is Never Emotionally Available Posted: 08-01-07 07:55am
I've been in a rocky marriage for 5 years
and a half now. One of the main reasons
why I think our marriage is so rocky is
because my husband is never emotionally
available. Whenever I'm feeling sad or
worried about something, he would just ask
me what is the problem, I'd tell him, then
he'd reply non-empthatically in one
sentence which invalidates my feelings
somehow - like saying that I'm just being
silly to think that way, I'm a silly
woman, there's nothing to worry about, its
a non-issue, etc.
After that, he'd just completely shut off
from me about the issue, refusing to have
any more discussion about it - he'd laze
there on the couch watching the TV. All
this, even when I have valid points to
raise to him. He NEVER ever wants to have
a good talk with me in private. It always
HAS to be done with me sitting there
trying to discuss something with him or
raise an issue I'm worried/feel sad about,
and him lying there on the couch in front
of the TV watching TV at the same time as
"listening" to me.
If I feel the issue is of importance to me
and I want him to really listen to me with
full attention, and I ask him if he wants
to go into the room and had a talk with
me, he'd either say no or he'd get up
slowly and grudgingly, and then go to the
room, and after maybe listening to me the
first few sentences and then replying in a
few non-empathic, dismissing sentences,
he'd get up and leave the room within 3
minutes and then absolutely refuse to have
any more discussion about it again.
Its not that I think I'm full of
importance and demand to be heard. I am
just looking for a bit of emotional
reassurance from him if I'm worried/upset
about something, a bit of empathy, if you
like.
He's worse than my friends because if I go
to my friends, they will always validate
my feelings and answer my worries and they
are never dismissive about it.
Whatever happened to the marriage vows of
showing support for each other in times of
need, etc? My husband is emotionally cut
off from me most times and is only
interested in helping out in practical
aspects of the marriage like helping to do
some housework, bringing in money to help
support family, going down to the shops
to buy groceries we need, cooking. All
those things he's very happy to help out
with.
My mum keeps telling me my husband isn't
that bad because he always insists on
cooking for everyone (he says he does it
because he thinks my cooking is not very
good and because I am not a fast cooker
and he doesn't like having to wait for his
food)... and also she thinks he's great
because he actually helps out with
housework ... and she thinks he's good
because he earns a lot of money at work
and always gives a lot of it back to the
family. I know compared to my own dad, my
husband is much better because my own dad
was a very conservative, traditional man
who treated my mum like a subordinate and
never cooks/cleans/wants to take care of
the emotional side of things in the
relationship.
But in this day and age, I just don't
think my husband is that great?? Not only
is he emotionally distant and seldom talks
much to me about his own feelings about
things - hence leaving me to do all the
guesswork and mind-reading, which can be
disastrously wrong - he's also very stingy
towards me and never buys presents for me
or gives me any spending money. Whenever
it comes to grocery shopping or when I
need to go shop for clothes for myself or
the kids, he always insists on tagging
along and footing the bill instead of
giving me money to contribute towards the
shopping and letting me go grocery
shopping on my own. He wants complete
control over how his money is spent and
everything. I've given up my career when I
had my first child and have been a
stay-at-home mum for the past 5 years
looking after two children. I intend to go
back to work when my youngest reaches 3.
Previously when we had no children and I
was working and earning a regular income,
my husband never interferes in the way I
choose to spend my own hard-earned cash.
But if I ever have to depend on him
financially, like since I became a stay at
home mum, he would get very controlling
about what I spend the money on and
refuses to let me make decisions on
spending unless I ask him for approval.
But he's not that nasty... he always calls
me up during lunch break to say "hi" to
me, to ask "Hi, how's things at home?
Everything okay?" in a gentle voice.
ALWAYS. It drives me mad. Why is he acting
so nice during work? I could actually tell
him any issues I have with the landlords,
etc... and he would listen very carefully
and give me some reassuring replies to
help, and if I told him we were out of
milk or something at home, he would always
say "Alright, I'll stop by the shop before
coming home to get those things. Is there
anything else you need?" But whenever he
comes home he's a pain in the butt for me
to live with. I get the feeling he just
doesn't want all the emotional hassle of
the marriage - he doesn't want to get
involved with the emotional side of
things. He doesn't like any sort of
negativity, sadness or worrying coming
from me about anything, because if I show
those aspects of myself, he instantly
switches off and becomes like he doesn't
want to hear anything about it.
Does any of you think this sort of
relationship is actually normal and that
I'm making a big fuss out of nothing?
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Willa Weintraub
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 05 Mar 2007 Posts: 3399 Location: The Beach!
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Posted: 08-01-07 09:43am
In no way are you making a big fuss about
it.This is a huge part of the
relationship,along with communication. If
you don't have those,you don't have
anything. This is a big deal and it sounds
like he needs to gt it together. Has he
always been like this,even before
marriage? My ex was the same way and I
couldn't handle all the guessing games and
trying to heold it together for the both
of us.Maybe you could go to marriage
counceling? have you brought that up to
him?
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november78
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 01 Aug 2007 Posts: 2
Posted: 08-01-07 10:08am
~*~Melissa~*~
wrote:
In no way are you making a
big fuss about it.This is a huge part of
the relationship,along with communication.
If you don't have those,you don't have
anything. This is a big deal and it sounds
like he needs to gt it together. Has he
always been like this,even before
marriage? My ex was the same way and I
couldn't handle all the guessing games and
trying to heold it together for the both
of us.Maybe you could go to marriage
counceling? have you brought that up to
him?
I have mentioned marriage counselling to
him a few times before but he is never
enthusiastic about it. He said if I want
it, I must organise it myself and he will
try to take the appropriate day off for
it. He also would prefer if he didn't have
to pay for the counselling. I did look
through the marriage counselling services
available and there seems so many to
choose from. I don't know which one is
better, which one to take, is it worth
paying for a service, are the free/charity
ones worth it - are they as good as the
ones you actually pay for? I heard some
people who've went through RELATE
counselling services say that RELATE
counseller only helped to worsen the
relationship. I'm not sure what to do now
at this point. I know my husband obviously
isn't interested in listening to me. He
thinks I don't know half the things I'm
talking about. Then he says that his
ex-girlfriend was a psychologist and she
helped turn his personality into a better
one because she was very smart - though he
didn't love her. So I'm not a
psychologist, he obviously doesn't want to
take anything I say or suggest seriously.
I think marriage counselling might work
for us - if the counsellor is credible and
is someone he will listen to... but I
don't know which one to approach and am
worried it will just worsen the
situation??
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Willa Weintraub
Extremely EHEALTHy
Joined: 05 Mar 2007 Posts: 3399 Location: The Beach!
Thanks: 30
Thanked:46
Posted: 08-01-07 10:57am
for you to even suggest marriage councelig
is a step i the right direction. If he is
willing to go take a look around,maybe see
if you can find testimonials from people
on the net? If it makes the situation
worse,it's him not you and you should
always remember that! You are willnig to
try and hold things together.What if he
does have to pay for it? Tell him if he
wants this marriage to work it doesn't
matter if the visits need to be payed for.
Tell him to stop being so tight with his
money because this is something that will
benefit you both.If not,well I guess you
have a very tough decision to make.I hope
everything turns out well.please keep me
updated!
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Georgia59
Moderator
Joined: 11 Apr 2007 Posts: 5557 Location: Along the Mississippi, USA
Thanks: 90
Thanked:32
Posted: 08-08-07 11:35am
I'll go out on a limb here.
He sounds like he really does care. To
him, helping with housework, calling on
his lunchbreak, and stuff is his way of
showing he cares. But you need a different
kind of communication (like, with words
lol) and maybe if you just talk to him
about it, tell him you need more intimate
together time (without the tv) he'll get
it.
Schedule dates where the tv isn't
involved?
Of course marriage counseling is always a
good idea, but then you have to convince
him to go.