Five New Year’s Resolutions for Marriage
Like most people, I make New Year’s resolutions to try to improve my life at the beginning of every year. But maturity has taught me that sweeping goals never get done until you master the baby steps. Losing weight, writing that book, calling your friends more often, and making more money all start with a smaller portion, opening that laptop, setting aside phone time and saving pennies here and there.
It’s the same deal with marriage. You can’t make big moves without appreciating the little ones. So here are some of my little goals that I hope will amount to a greater marriage.
Making my wife’s voice the most important sound in the world - I have a tendency that when I’m talking to my wife while doing something else, to lost focus on what she is saying to me. No matter how important the conversation, if a TV is on or I was writing something, she would be lucky for me to catch every third word. This year, I’m looking to completely turn off, remove or pause anything I’m doing when my wife is seeking my attention or opinion.
Big Day - We both lead busy professional and educational lives, so it’s my little goal to set aside time on a weeknight or weekend to do something we’ve never done or go somewhere we’ve never been - at least twice a month.
Commit her to memory - Because she’s so busy, and I’m so arrogant, she can embark on many things that are worth my asking about that I usually don’t. If it’s worth it for her to put on her calendar to execute, it’s worth my calendar space to remember asking about.
Favorite things- Like most women, my wife enjoys things like massages and Lifetime movies - things that I’m not big on. But just like she got into college football because I was into it, I’m going to make more of an effort to try the things she likes - and learn to enjoy them.
Read and react- We haven’t fought much in the past four months, but to ensure that it stays that way, I know I can watch what I think about when we disagree. That will ultimately lead to being much more compassionate and compromising in our disagreements.