When's the Right Time to Bring This Up to My Partner? Knowing the Line Between Expression and Temporary Suppression: Episode 392
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Aaron & Jocelyn Freeman
5.0 • 589 Ratings
🗓️ 22 April 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Suppose that something is bothering you about your partner. The two options are to express it or to suppress it. Likely you have had moments where you have chosen both options. At times when you have expressed it your partner received it well, other times it caused tension or even conflict.
Over time maybe you have started to hold things in instead for the sake of keeping the peace. But then down the line you end up reacting to another situation and you bring up your unhappiness and frustration with all you have been holding in. So when is the right time to bring things up?
This is the question you will get answers to in this episode. It does take a balance and some awareness about how and when to bring up an issue. During this episode you will hear 3 situations where you should express and another 3 situations where it would be best to 'temporarily' suppress. With this awareness you should be able to navigate emotional situations for the best outcome for both of you. After all, expressing needs and being understood is a key part of your marital satisfaction.
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If you want a consistent way to bring things up before they build up… The Family Meeting Guide is for you.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Empower Couples podcast. |
| 0:02.7 | We're here you get modern, non-boring relationship advice for you and your partner |
| 0:06.5 | to communicate like pros, fight smarter, and stay on the same team no matter the challenge |
| 0:10.9 | that you face. |
| 0:11.5 | I'm one of your hosts, Aaron Freeman. |
| 0:13.1 | And I'm Jocelyn Freeman, but you all just know us as the Freeman's. |
| 0:15.9 | All right. |
| 0:16.3 | This podcast is about when is the right time to bring this up with my partner. And we're really |
| 0:22.6 | diving into knowing the line between expression and temporary suppression. Now before we |
| 0:30.2 | share a personal story from this last week and how we really needed to reflect on this, |
| 0:36.7 | this is one of the most common challenges that couples will share with us, whether it's in a DM |
| 0:43.0 | or it's in a coaching application, is this feeling like marriage feels hard because it feels |
| 0:49.4 | like there's never a good time. |
| 0:51.6 | You know, maybe you both say this to each other. |
| 0:53.6 | You're bringing this up now, |
| 0:54.9 | or you start to make it about how the other person brought it up. And then now you feel like |
| 0:59.6 | instead of having the conversation that's needed, you're arguing about timing and approach. |
| 1:06.8 | And so you're like dancing. Or frequency. Yes. So you're not even having the actual conversation. |
| 1:12.8 | You're arguing about having the conversation. |
| 1:16.6 | And it feels frustrating because what we want in a marriage, all of us, is to feel as though we can talk. |
| 1:24.1 | We can communicate. |
| 1:25.6 | We can work through issues before they become big things. We want to feel |
... |
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