The Marriage Counseling Blog

Opposites attract is a phrase that has given hope to competing personalities everywhere who have felt drawn to a person not at all like them. The idea that you don’t need to have that much in common in order to be together, that opposing thoughts and beliefs can join together perfectly in a crazy family-comedy style way, can give many people the wrong impression about lasting relationships.

Opposites can and do attract, but it takes hard work for a couple to overcome base personality differences on a level that allows for deep understanding and trust.

When Abby and Vince first announced that they were getting married, their families could not have been more shocked. Abby and Vince were as different as two people could be and seldom seemed to be at peace together.

When their marriage started to crumble apart after the first year, Abby and Vince were ashamed and angry that everyone else may have been right all along, and that they were doomed from the start.

Abby said:

Maybe we are too different to be together. But you know, I liked our differences. And I think Vince likes them too. We just got out of the habit of understanding them and working on them.

Thankfully, Abby and Vince had signed on to work with a very understanding and patient marriage counselor who saw within them a deep desire to make it work. He began to outline a plan that focused on their similarities and not their differences and to use existing differences in a new way that could form a bonding and empathetic way of looking at the other side of an issue.

When a couple truly wants to work out their marriage, even completely opposite personalities can’t stand in the way of it. A relationship like this will require more work and dedication, but is worth it.

Related Posts

• Opposites Go To Couples Counseling
• Why Opposites Build Stronger Relationships
• Stay in Therapy!!!
• When Older Relatives Come To Stay
• How to Make Counseling Work For You