SGR 079: Keeping Personal Growth Personal (To Benefit Your Relationship)

The Simply Great Relationships Podcast: Love | Marriage | Sex | Communication | Dating Advice

Friends don’t let friends personal growth all over their partners.

We love reading, listening to podcasts, and doing online courses. We love to learn and share that knowledge with anyone who will listen. (I mean, we host this podcast…). What we have had to learn not to do, is share this knowledge with our partners when they’re not interested.

Often, one partner is more into personal development than the other. This can become a source of conflict when that partner tries to pull the other into their world.

The other partner can feel:

- Criticized
- Attacked
- Not good enough
- Like there’s something wrong with them
- Like their partner doesn’t like them
- Like maybe they’re not a good match anymore

Odds are, these are not the intended messages. I bet the partner who is into personal growth is looking to help their partner solve a problem, feel better, or learn things they find incredibly interesting. The action is coming from a loving place, but it’s not likely to be received that way.

Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about why we push personal growth on our partners, how it feels on each end of the interaction, and what you can do to share your passion without harming your relationship.