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Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
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Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away summary
Real Help For Desperate Hearts in Difficult Marriages
21 mins
Brief summary
Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away by Gary Chapman is a guidebook for married couples facing difficulties. It explains how unconditional love, forgiveness, empathy and God's grace can save relationships. Practical advice and relatable stories help readers improve communication and strengthen their bond.
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Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away
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Key idea 1 of 8
Divorce might seem like an “easy” solution, but it isn’t an answer to deep-seated emotional pain.
We live in a throwaway society. When the latest electronic gadget hits the market, we don’t hesitate to hit the buy button and toss out our old devices. That attitude isn’t just restricted to consumer products. When it comes to marriage, we’re just as likely to favor trading in the old for the new. But there’s a problem: divorce isn’t the “easy” solution it sometimes appears to be.
When people tell one another that they’re having a tough time in their marriages, they often want to be told that they should hit the eject button. But marriages aren’t like bad investments; they can’t be ditched as soon as their value drops. Your partner isn’t a stock option but a person with whom you develop a deep bond founded on love, even if only for a certain period of time.
That’s why divorce – the severing of that bond for good – takes such an emotional toll. Then there are the practical difficulties. Take Karin, one of the author’s clients. Her life was much harder after she divorced. She realized that she now had to work a full-time job to support her family, leaving her with less time to spend with her children. She felt sad, anxious and drained.
Another reason that divorce often fails as a solution is that the problems it addresses reoccur in all relationships. That’s something Michael, another client of the author, realized after divorcing his wife. The cause of the split was their constant fighting. A few years later, he met another woman and fell in love. He was convinced he’d be happy in his new relationship.
He was wrong. A few months in, the couple ran into trouble. Michael’s new partner had children from a previous marriage, and he resented how much attention she devoted to them rather than to him. He also struggled to assert his authority in what was now his family. Divorce, it turned out, hadn’t been a silver bullet to his problems.
So if divorce isn’t always the solution, what should you do when your marriage hits the rocks?
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What is Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away about?
Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away (2008) is about difficult marriages and how to work things out when you’re most tempted to hit the eject button. Written by a marriage counselor with years of hands-on experience, this patient and thoughtful reflection on rocky marriages is ultimately filled with hope. With enough understanding, empathy and clear communication, Gary Chapman argues, there are few marriages that can’t be saved.
Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away Review
Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away (2018) is an insightful book that offers guidance for navigating rough patches in marriage. Here are three reasons why this book is worth reading:
- With practical strategies, it equips couples with tools to rekindle love and rebuild trust, giving hope in challenging times.
- By sharing real-life stories and testimonies, the book provides relatable examples that make the concepts relatable and applicable.
- It explores the complex dynamics of relationships, addressing common pitfalls and offering suggestions for growth, ensuring a thought-provoking read.
Best quote from Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away
While divorce removes some pressures, it creates a host of others.
—Gary Chapman
Who should read Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away?
- Couples who’ve hit a rough patch in their marriage
- Unfaithful spouses
- Psychologists and counselors
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Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away FAQs
What is the main message of Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away?
The main message of Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away is about finding love and hope in difficult times to save a relationship.
How long does it take to read Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away?
The reading time for Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away varies, but it typically takes a few hours. The Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.
Is Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away a good book? Is it worth reading?
Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away is a worthwhile read, as it provides valuable insights and practical advice for navigating challenging relationships.
Who is the author of Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away?
The author of Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away is Gary Chapman.
What to read after Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away?
If you're wondering what to read next after Loving Your Spouse When You Feel Like Walking Away, here are some recommendations we suggest:
- The High-Conflict Couple by Alan E. Fruzzetti
- Conscious Uncoupling by Katherine Woodward Thomas
- How to Be an Adult in Relationships by David Richo
- The Relationship Cure by John M. Gottman and Joan DeClaire
- 30 Lessons for Loving by Karl Pillemer
- 'Til Stress Do Us Part by Elizabeth Earnshaw
- The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman
- The Overthinking In Relationships Fix by Rodney Noble
- Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
- Difficult Conversations Don't Have to Be Difficult by Jon Gordon & Amy P. Kelly