Is your wife nagging you?

Take this as a good sign. It might mean she is still invested in the marriage and not ready to walk away.

Maybe you’ve heard about the Walk-away Wife Syndrome. It’s a phrase that has been coined to describe women who will file for divorce . Of the one million who file, two-thirds to three quarters are women ready to walk away from unhappy marriages.

By the time a woman says, “I’m done,” in a marriage, the discontent has built over the years. Women begin most marriages attending to the relationship and push for change. They want intimacy out of their partners and when intimacy is lacking, women usually bring it up and begin to complain. Complaints signal unrest and men need to pay attention to this. Unfortunately, too many men distance when complaining begins. They are uncomfortable with the conflict. Eventually, the wife gives up and resigns herself to the idea that her man will never change. The man takes this lack of complaint as a sign that things are better. But they are not. When the wife announces she is walking away from the marriage, the man is stunned. He thinks, “How did this happen?”

So if you are at this point in your marriage and want to walk away because your spouse has been clueless and unresponsive, I would encourage you to try one more time. Sometimes, men are a little slow at catching on to these relationship patterns. Your desire to walk away may be the wake up call to tell him, “Yes, things are really that bad and need to be changed.”

When couples agree to try again, I have seen amazing results. They improve the marriage and avoid the pain and agony of divorce. It can be done.

Find a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) who can help you made necessary changes. When both people wake up to the reality that change is needed, the marriage can really improve.

For more couple help, I Married You, Not Your Family