The Empowered Wife Podcast: Marriage Help with Laura Doyle

It feels really bad when the man who promised to love honor and cherish you sneers at you when you're talking, takes sides with the kids, doesn't bother to answer you when you're saying something important, makes demands or criticizes you. It's so hurtful and insulting. You start to feel like you're always on guard to protect yourself, which is tiring too. How is it ever going to improve if he's j...

First of all, I don't even have kids to disrespect me, so this could be a really short podcast because what do I know?! Sure, I know what it's like to be disrespected by exceedingly short people. It is so frustrating because I can just pick them up and drop them on the bed while they giggle relentlessly like bedtime is some big game instead of the end of my childcare shift, which can't come fast e...

If you suspect your man is just a little too emotionally intimate with another woman, it feels terrible. It's threatening because emotional intimacy was a big part of how you two fell in love to begin with. It could signal that he's falling for someone else, which is not right. You shouldn't have to fear that some other woman is having the connection with him that you want or that she might have b...

What could be worse than knowing that your husband loves someone else when he should be devoted to you and only you? This should not be happening. It's so wrong! And a terrible rejection to know he finds someone else so alluring that he's willing to put everything he has with you at risk. I mean, is she younger than you? Prettier? What is it about her that's worth making a fuss about? He is your h...

Going from feeling desired and sexy to getting rejected by your own husband is a terrible feeling. Is there something wrong with him? With you? Is it because you're not as attractive as you used to be? Either way, it's scary to think about a dreary future with little to no passion. You might wonder what you can even do about it if the problem is his lack of drive. Are you going to be on a starvati...

Not only will this phrase help make your marriage last a lifetime, it will also help your marriage stay shiny and amazing. Because it's not just the words coming out of your mouth and your husband hearing them that make them powerful. Although that's certainly part of it, and he will respond to you better. This phrase is also going to change your heart. It does double duty that way. That's why I c...

We've discovered four things that are pivotal for wives fixing their marriage. But one in particular helps you make quantum leaps in your marriage because it helps the 6 Intimacy Skills stick. It's when I started practicing this piece that I got my miracle of feeling loved, desired, taken care of and special every day—more than ever over 20 years later. I'm excited to share how I got a breakthroug...

It's so dreary to find out you're married to someone with bouts of exhaustion and depression interspersed with manic behavior. It feels like bait and switch. How are you ever going to have a great partnership when there are just those two extremes and nothing in the middle, no normal husband behavior? It's scary because not only are you married to someone who can't always be a good partner to you,...

Part of why you decided to go all in and commit to your man is because he made you feel special. So when you see your husband checking out other women, it's not only disappointing, it can be threatening. That's not the agreement you had when he said you were the most wonderful, amazing woman in the world. It can make you angry if he's looking at another woman in an obvious way. It can be embarrass...

If you miss snuggling on the couch, dreaming about your future together, and spontaneous dance grooves in the hallway, it's disappointing when that goes missing. Without love, there's just work and chores and sleep. It's lonely and sad when all the joy is sucked out of your marriage. But if you want to feel desired again, get pats on the butt just because, and see his face light up when you walk i...

This is the 200th episode of the Empowered Wife Podcast, so first of all, let's have some confetti! Yay! It's because of you listening to this podcast every week, many of you more than once, that it's been so successful. So thank you for listening, for thinking marriage is important enough to learn about and work on, because it is, and for the glowing ratings and reviews, and for sharing the podca...

It's annoying when you're trying to have a conversation and your man either clams up and gets cold or raises his voice or starts arguing with you. It seems mysterious why he's so riled up. If only he'd relax so you could have a normal conversation! I used to be so confused about why my husband would look exasperated when I'd made an innocent comment. It turns out that, without meaning to or even r...

Lacking emotional and physical intimacy in my marriage was miserable. With no deep conversations, flirting, or laughing together, I felt rejected and neglected, NOT desired, which is something really important to me. What's the point of even being married?! After the connection and playfulness we used to have, I knew what I was missing, which made it even worse! Thinking this is just what happens...

The silent treatment can make you feel really bad and make you desperate to end the tension. It's scary and takes up a lot of energy wondering how long it's going to last, if it's still on, and if there's something you should be doing differently to fix it. It feels horribly rejecting when someone you love won't speak to you, answer you, or look at you—like a punishment with no end to the sentence...

Being pregnant is vulnerable. When you're getting ready to welcome a baby, you want to feel secure about your future, to know that you're loved and desired, that you'll be protected and taken care of. So it's an especially scary time to feel rejected. Pregnancy messes with your body so much that it can also feel like you're not very attractive. Then if he's less physically affectionate, you could...

A coach recently shared with me that she decided to become a coach even though she didn't love her husband because she wanted to be kinder. She was actually guarded against falling back in love. Then she spent a year becoming an expert on the 6 Intimacy Skills, practicing them at the highest level with her classmates. She surprised herself and did start to notice what a great man she had married d...

It feels terrible when the guy who used to trip over himself trying to help you is now interested only in staring at his phone or staying at work all the time. What a disappointment. Especially when you have so much to do and so many responsibilities because you set out to be partners but now he isn't doing much to contribute. Why isn't he supporting you and what can you do about it? On today's ep...

On today's episode of The Empowered Wife Podcast, we're talking about what to do when you find yourself thinking, "Hey, my husband and I have nothing to talk about." Because nothing feels lonelier than being married and just eating together in silence or living under the same roof but never having the deep conversations you're craving. I'll share 3 doable ways you can both become great conversatio...

It feels so rejecting when you find out your guy doesn't love you back, like you've been let down in the worst way when you least expected it. Your head races with terrible thoughts about how this could have happened, whether it's hopeless, and what it means for your future, which can seem so dark. Does it mean you're not lovable? I have proof it does not. And if what you want is for him to respon...

If you are trying to practice the 6 Intimacy Skills™ in your relationship and it feels like they're not working or you can't remember to do them or you're not sure how to do them in your situation, that's so frustrating and discouraging! You are not the only one. On this podcast, I interview women who have had success transforming their marriages because I want to talk about what's possible for yo...

It feels really bad when your husband doesn't care about your needs, even when you tell him over and over. But what if it's not that he doesn't care but that you haven't been well trained on how to communicate your needs in your relationship, just like I wasn't? I was a communications major in college, so I thought I was really good at communicating. I knew what I needed and wasn't afraid to say i...

Men are highly motivated to make their wives happy. Notice I didn't say "some men" or "most men" but just "men." That's because in my research where I asked thousands of men how important it is that their wife is happy, they ALL said the same thing. That it's the most important thing, everything, it's of utmost importance, or in the UK, they said it's imperative. In other words, they all wanted to...

It's terrible to feel like you can't trust the man you married, whether you don't trust him to be faithful, to take care of the kids, or to be responsible with money. It just feels bad. You don't feel heard because if he cared, he would listen to your concerns and try to support you by doing the things you want him to do so that you could trust him. That's depressing because if you can't get him t...

On today's episode of The Empowered Wife Podcast, we're talking about how to live with an addict. My guest Karyn was devastated by her husband's addictions to porn, alcohol, drugs and gambling. When she tried to address those issues, he responded with rage. She realized that wasn't working and learned a whole new approach to communicating her needs, and today she feels beyond blessed to laugh and...

I was the perfect wife. Right up until I actually got married. That's when it all went kablooey.  I worked so hard as a wife that I gave myself at least a nine out of ten. But I wasn't scoring so high on the wife scale with John. That's because I was actually an overbearing, prickly porcupine wife who thought she knew better than him about everything. My criteria of what made me good wife material...