Communication–Why Bother?

Communication: Why Bother?

Can you hear me now? Have you ever been in the middle of a juicy conversation on your cell phone, and the call dropped?

When our son was away at college, often he would call us on his way home from class. Every time he passed Walmart on 23rd Street the call dropped. We would redial his phone number to try again. It’s almost comical the number of times we said, “Can you hear me now?”

Often this happens in marriage. Communication lines drop, and boy is it frustrating when we are not hearing each other well! So how to do we keep this communication breakdown from happening?

Honestly, there’s not a quick fix! It will take T-I-M-E and P-A-T-I-E-N-C-E.

We make time for what's most important in our lives! Who could be more important than the one we choose to spend our life with. Click To Tweet

Good Communication Takes…

Time

Schedule time for a daily connection with each other. Have something to say when your spouse asks, “How was your day?” If you feel like your mind will draw a blank at the end of your day, keep a running list in the Notes app on your phone. Why? Because communication with the one you love the most is vital to the health of your marriage.

Patience

It will always be easier to just let the call drop and not hit redial. Quality communication takes effort. Wouldn’t it be nice if you spouse came with a communication manual? Be kind and show grace in your conversations.

Balance

You each have a right to be heard. So if you are the talker in the relationship ask an open-ended question like, “How do you feel about ________?” Then be quiet, and listen closely to your partner!

Funny Story

Recently Mica went to the audiologist and got trial hearing aids for a week. Ironically, he blames his hearing loss on all the Def Leopard music he listened to as a teen.

He made this appointment out of sheer frustration because he could not hear me half the time. I do have to repeat myself often, and I try to communicate with patience, but to be honest, it is irritating at times.

The irony is, when Mica got his hearing aids he could hear really well, so he spoke softly. You guessed it! Now I was the one asking him to repeat himself! Our dilemma was, we were going to have to choose who was going to be able to hear. Since the hearing aids were upwards of $6,000 Mica decided I would be the one to hear for the foreseeable future.