Mr. Nice Guy & the Broken Wife | Navigating Love and Intimacy After Past Abuse

New year, same pressure: be better, try harder, fix yourself. But what if the belief that something is wrong with you is what’s keeping you stuck? In this episode, I unpack the quiet damage of entering the new year feeling broken, and how chasing change from that place can leave you depleted. I share what shifted in my own healing and marriage when I stopped trying to fix myself and started asking...

In this episode, I talk about the dynamic that silently shapes and sometimes sabotages every marriage: the imbalance of responsibility. If you find yourself either taking the blame for everything or constantly defending your perspective, this pattern might be more familiar than you think (I’ve been on both sides). You’ll learn how trauma can lead us to overcorrect in relationships, why courage and...

You’ve been trying to figure out what’s really going on in your relationship. You’ve wondered if it’s abusive, or if the two of you are just stuck in old patterns and emotional immaturity. In this episode, I break down the key differences between dysfunction and abuse by looking at patterns of power, fear, and emotional regulation. I also walk you through five common signs that may point to someth...

Right before hitting record, we got into an argument. The kind where we both felt misunderstood, defensive, and like the other was the problem. But, unlike in the past, we were able to work through it. That process is exactly what we want to share with you today. In this real-time breakdown, we share how control shows up in subtle ways in marriage, even when you’re both trying your best. We talk a...

We’ve all said it: “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” But are you actually living that truth in your relationships? In this episode, I’m breaking down the essential difference between feeling an emotion and acting on it and why separating the two is at the core of emotional maturity. Whether it’s parenting or marriage, we often justify our reactions based on someone else’s actions. But that pattern...

If you’ve ever felt a quiet simmer of anger in your marriage (or a full-blown wave of resentment) you’re not broken, and you’re not alone. But pushing those feelings down isn’t working… and never has. In this episode, I walk you through: The real difference between anger and resentment Why resentment builds when we wait for our partner to change A powerful shift that puts  you  back in t...

In today’s episode, I’m reading a raw journal entry from the days I was in an abusive relationship and lived with what psychologists call a  reflected sense of self —when your identity depends on how someone else sees you. At the time, I didn’t know I was in an emotionally abusive relationship. I just knew I was constantly anxious, terrified of upsetting him, and couldn’t trust my own gut. I...

Ever feel like you’ve lost yourself inside your marriage? In this episode, I share the raw truth about what happens when we give and give, until there’s nothing left. If you’ve been stuck in a cycle of self-sacrificing, shutting down, or quietly resenting your partner while trying to be “the good spouse,” you’re not broken. You’re just in the part of marriage no one warned you about. We’ll unpack...

Why does marriage still feel so hard—even when you’ve left the abuse and married someone good? In this episode, I unpack the frustrating truth so many survivors face: you escaped the toxic relationship, but the patterns followed you. I walk through the pendulum swing from self-sacrifice to self-protection, why “not your fault” isn’t the whole story, and how past trauma quietly shapes the way we sh...

We thought marrying the right person would fix the pain. We were wrong. In our very first episode, Brent and I (Robyn) open up about the early days of our marriage—what we thought healing would look like, how unspoken expectations fueled resentment, and why even "nice guys" can unintentionally contribute to emotional disconnection after trauma. We share how past abuse shaped our dynamic (without e...

I’m Robyn , a domestic abuse survivor turned relationship coach, and this is Mr. Nice Guy & the Broken Wife, a space for couples who want to heal from the past and build a marriage grounded in truth, safety, and connection. If you’ve ever felt stuck in resentment, misunderstood by your partner, or unsure how to break the patterns that keep you apart, you’re not alone. Together, we’ll unpack wh...