Happiness expert, Yasemin Trollope zeroes in on the key to a happy marriage and whether ‘The 5 Love Languages’ by Gary Chapman just might have something to do with it.
by Yasemin Trollope thehappinesscocktail.com
I remember one night, a few years ago, when I was suddenly awoken by the sound of a drunken couple fighting on the street outside my home in Sydney. It was around 3am, and they were clearly unaware that their fighting was waking up the entire neighbourhood. Or perhaps they just didn’t care.
From what I could ascertain between loud shouts (the boy) and hysterical cries of forgiveness (the girl) they had had a fight because she appeared to be flirting with some guy, and her boyfriend was jealous. As he stormed up the street, leaving her all alone and saying it was over, she wailed after him that he never made her feel loved, that she wasn’t flirting with anyone, and that she was sorry. Then, I think she passed out from either too much alcohol, or a broken heart!
As I lay there in bed with my boyfriend (now husband), I snuggled in tight thinking how lucky I was to have a man who never made me feel unloved. Who never made me feel insecure. And who never made me question his love for me. I felt like screaming out to that poor girl, as she hopelessly waited for her boyfriend to return, that he wasn’t the right man for her. I imagined sticking my head out the window and shouting ‘Stay Strong! You’ll meet Mr. Right, you just have to lose Mr. Wrong first, and when you do, that deep hollow in your heart will never return. I promise.”
I still think about that poor girl and the importance of feeling loved on a daily basis. Sure, you’re going to fight with your partner from time to time, but it’s those little acts of kindness and respect for one another that keep that fire burning through the topsy turvy bends of marriage.
For example, my husband has made me tea and breakfast every single morning for the past 3.5 years. EVERY MORNING. He’s never missed one. I never asked for this service, he took it upon himself the first time he stayed the night at my place, and it’s been one of his many little gestures of love to me ever since. Even if I’m standing over the tea pot and he’s sitting down, and I try to pour it myself, he insists that I sit down so he can bring it to me. Bless him!
I never really understood why Alex was so sweet like that. Why he was always making me breakfast, and lunch, and cuddling me, and taking the time to sit and listen to me about my day without any interruptions. I thought he was some kind of angel, some rare form of male who was so bloody nice he made me look like an evil troll. I still believe that, he is my divine husband after all, but I have come to learn so much about these small acts of ‘showing love’ since coming into contact with this insightful book…
‘The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman’
Basically, the book talks about the 5 languages of love. That is, Acts of Service (e.g. making your partner tea); Words of Affirmation (e.g. telling your partner they look pretty); Quality Time (e.g. playing a game of tennis together); Physical Touch (e.g. hugging, back stroking, holding hands); and Gifts (self explanatory).
Essentially, everyone speaks a different love language and the book hypothesises that if you learn to speak your partner’s primary love language, you are destined to a life of marital bliss. Funnily enough, I honestly believe this to be true. All of Alex’s little acts of love speak my love language, and that’s why I’ve never questioned his love for me. He says he feels the same way, and that’s because I know his love language, and make an effort to make him feel loved on a daily basis, too. It works both ways, of course.
But perhaps you and your partner are not feeling quite so in-sync? Perhaps you need more quality time, and he needs more acts of service, and despite loving each other immensely, it’s getting lost in translation somewhere. I know this has happened to me in the past, I was crying out for quality time in my first long term relationship, and not getting it. As a result, the relationship died.
The moral of the story is this. READ THIS BOOK! Honestly. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a new relationship, just married, been married for 30 years, or not even in a relationship. Everyone can gain some much-needed life lessons from this book. And even if your marriage seems perfect, you can never have too much love. Right?
Stay Happy,
Yaz xx