Your 5-Step Guide To Staying Married Forever (Yes — Forever!) Marriage is going to be tough, but worth it. By The Good Men Project — Last updated on May 21, 2023

Photo: Sitophotostock/ Shutterstock

By Jeremy McKeen

Some of you should not be married.

You know who you are, possibly. It’s hard to tell unless you get married and then realize, at some point, that it isn’t for you — that it was at one point, and is no longer (possibly when you were young and your brain wasn’t fully formed), especially when it’s supposed to be forever.

The funny thing about that is that “forever” is a time-sensitive concept for mortals who usually die before their 100s, but the sentiment is nice. If marriage really meant you’d be married forever, even after death, possibly while populating planets for all of eternity, then it might change the conversation. But that’s not marriage, that’s a sci-fi concept most people fear.

The idea for couples is supposed to be “until death do you part,” but it seems that, like most young people who don’t know yet that they aren’t invincible, death is a far-off concept, and not at all considered by the very ones who should be considering it.

So death, then. Or, you know, until something better or less boring comes along. Or until the kids are a little older. Or until that final fight to end all fights, and you need someone new.

It’s hard not to be cynical about marriage in an age where our heroes and culture constantly celebrate and — at the same time — dismiss the very real and personal choice to enter into wedded bliss. Most marriages end the same way “best friends forever” relationships end: they were, for a time, relevant. Then something happened, and then the couple realized that their time was up sooner than death or forever.

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5. Smothering him with affection

We are men. We appreciate the fact that you love us, and you want to express your love at any opportunity you get.

As you do that, however, remember that we are not exactly babies. We don’t need you monitoring us or stifling us with attention and care.

We still need you to be loving, but remember that too much of everything is bad.

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4. Welcoming him home without a smile

To most of us, life is like a battlefield. We go out with our arsenal of war, expecting to fight the best way we could and win.

We know we are not just fighting for ourselves. Knowing that we are bearing the banner of our whole family makes us stick to our guns and stand strong when the battles seem to be the toughest.

However, we expect our homes to be our haven.

We expect a home to be our place of retreat and comfort where we can release stress. So imagine how disappointed we get when we return and are not greeted with a smile.

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3. Being his mother and scolding him

Sometimes we make mistakes. We could make decisions that prove to be the wrong decision in the long run.

At those times, we feel vulnerable. The last thing we need is to be scolded again and made to feel worse.

One sentence we wish you will never use while talking to us at any time is; “I told you so.”

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2. Finding faults with his flaws

We cannot be perfect every day.

No matter how we try, we can’t help messing up on some days. We really wish to be loving and sensitive, and caring every day, but sometimes we can’t help being human.

Sometimes we forget to take out the trash, and other times we leave our sweaty pants on the bedroom floor after jogging.

That doesn’t mean we are deliberately sitting back, not trying to be a better version of ourselves.

No, it only means that we are still humans and not angels. You can always correct us lovingly, but we hate it when you keep harping about our flaws.

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If you want to keep him around, stop doing these 10 things: 1. Doubting his dreams

Men want partners who will think that they are very smart, talented, and intelligent, and will support their dreams. They want partners that will be willing to stand by them no matter how crazy their dreams may seem.

No man wants to be around someone who is always scrutinizing his plans and looking down on his dreams.

Most of us share our dreams with our partners before we share them with anyone else. This is because we expect our partner to be our cheerleader who will believe in our dreams against all odds.

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If You Want To Keep Him Around, Stop Doing These 10 Things Here are 10 ways you’re damaging your own relationship. By The Good Men Project — Last updated on May 24, 2023

Photo: PeopleImages.Com – Yuri A/ Shutterstock

By Toby Nwazor

I saw a funny write-up some time ago where the relationship needs of women were listed. The list was quite long and included things like, “telling her how beautiful she is, giving her attention, showing her affection, etc”.

The other side of the list which was for men, was almost blank, except for the sentence, “show up naked.”

It was meant to be a joke, but I couldn’t help thinking about it.

Does it mean that men don’t have any expectations in their relationships except for $ex?

I beg to differ.

I am a man, and I know we have our own relationship expectations, too.

Most men will not talk about this to their partners, but they really wish their partners would stop doing these things.

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5. We don’t care when you sleep with us

That’s right. Whether it’s the first date or the fifth date, one thing remains constant: We probably already know whether we want to see you again before we know if/when you are going to sleep with us. We won’t judge you if you want to do it on the first date and we won’t stop calling you if you want to wait until the fifth. If we want to see you again, we will.

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