Everyone has personal qualities that they need to work on.
Whether it’s poor communication skills or unhealthy coping mechanisms from your childhood, toxic behavior can be harmful to any meaningful relationship in your life.
However, the negative effect of these behaviors can be heightened regarding marriage.
This post is all about how to be a better wife.
Living with a partner that refuses to listen when you speak or brushes off issues that are important to you can be a constant source of stress.
It can force couples to live in an unstable environment where they do not feel comfortable or safe.
When this environment is your home, you can’t just leave.
A marriage is a commitment to another person.
That commitment involves the health and well-being of your significant other daily.
Marriage has the potential to be healthy and filled with growth and love, but when toxic behaviors are unmanaged, one or both parties can suffer the consequences.
1. Physical or Emotional Infidelity
This one speaks for itself, which is why it is first on the list of how to become a better wife.
When you marry someone, one of the biggest rules is to remain faithful to your partner.
Loyalty helps to strengthen and solidify the bond between couples as they grow in marriage together.
Stepping out on your partner and having physical relationships with other people can place a huge rift in any relationship.
Of course, this isn’t one-sided.
And this is not meant to point fingers or make assumptions that wives can’t cheat, but husbands can.
Absolutely not!
Both parties are responsible to remain loyal to each other and their vows.
It honestly goes beyond the physical aspect, because there are even cases where partners build strong emotional connections with someone that is not their husband or wife.
In these cases, there is often some form of neglect within the marriage.
2. Poor Financial Decisions or Habits
Don’t let money be the roadblock standing in front of your marriage.
By learning to communicate with your partner about important financial decisions, you will contribute to the growth of a lasting relationship.
Unnecessary spending or too much financial independence in a relationship can lead to issues with your quality of life.
Consider what is financially necessary to maintain a healthy and productive marriage, like a joint bank account or a list of budgeting rules for both partners to follow.
Here is a recent post on why joint bank accounts can help save your marriage.
3. Lack of Support and Communication
Communication is one of the core pillars in any relationship, whether with family, friends, or marriage.
It is important to feel like you can rely on your partner emotionally when needed.
Fostering a healthy environment includes both parties feeling understood and loved by the other.
When a partner feels like their needs are not being met in a relationship, it can lead to negative behaviors and misunderstandings.
When a married couple lacks support from one another, it’s a quick way for other aspects of the marriage to begin suffering.
4. Codependence
If you’ve ever spent time learning about long-term married couples, it’s pretty widely accepted that any strong relationship has some degree of codependency.
While there is some truth to this, you need to manage codependent behaviors before they become toxic.
A sign that codependency is unhealthy is when one partner tends always to make sacrifices.
These kinds of relationships consist of a giver and a taker.
Even though it does not always mean that a person is toxic to display selfish behaviors, it needs to be addressed.
When a codependent relationship gets out of hand, it can be very draining on one or both parties and is often a slippery slope to other aggressive or toxic behaviors.
5. Isolation
Isolation in marriage often happens due to one partner’s trigger responses.
For people who may have suffered past abuse in childhood or in other relationships, isolation can be an issue.
When someone feels helpless or trapped long enough, they can develop toxic coping mechanisms.
To maintain a healthy marriage, you need to be able to open up to your partner.
This may involve addressing past trauma and communicating where this behavior comes from with your partner.
Remember, communication is key.
6. Resentment, Jealousy, Envious or Controlling Behavior
These behaviors are often signs of an abusive relationship.
Whether one person is dependent on their provider leading to resentment, or one partner controls all the finances.
Being aggressive towards your marriage partner is never going to be the solution to a problem.
In fact, when a partner lashes out more often, it can put their marriage in a rough place.
Your goal is to uplift and encourage your partner’s growth.
You may become jealous or envious by fixating on made-up scenarios and becoming an overbearing partner.
This can lead to emotional scapegoating, gaslighting, and a lot of anger in a relationship.
7. Excessive Fighting
It can signify an underlying issue when couples tend to fight or argue more frequently.
Arguing happens due to a lack of communication and friction in a marriage.
Whether it is a result of one partner’s toxic behavior, both partners, or another issue like finances, marriages that undergo excessive stress can leave couples exhausted.
This stress, frustration, and exhaustion can be overwhelming for married couples.
This post was all about how to be a better wife.
Determining and managing these relationship triggers can lead to a healthier relationship.
While not every issue in marriage is easy to diagnose, it’s important to ensure you are taking the time necessary to be a better wife.
You and your husband have to work as a team to sustain and grow a healthy marriage.
This means addressing and acknowledging toxic behaviors or tendencies that could potentially cause issues in your marriage.
If you enjoyed this post, click here to read more for wife life advice, and make sure to follow us on Instagram to see our behind-the-scenes life as a family of seven!
Other posts you might like:
- 2 Obvious Ways to Improve Your Marriage with A Joint Bank Account
- How to Respect Your Husband by Letting Him Lead (Even If He Doesn’t Know How)
- 7 Ways to Discuss Age Appropriate Boundaries for Raising Confident Kids
