Getting married is a serious and an important milestone. The idea of spending forever with the love of your life is idyllic and sentimental. You envision a life filled with love, romance and passion. But before diving into marriage, you and your partner need to get to know each other deeper.
Premarital counseling can be intimidating for many couples. It opens up topics that make you uncomfortable. It worries you that your partner may change his/her mind in marrying you because you do not agree on some issues.
What is premarital counseling?
There is a big difference between engaged couples before and now. Most couples now are strong-willed, competent and know exactly what they want in their relationship. They are more adept in discussing pressing matters.
Premarital counseling is a specialized type of therapy near me for couples who are on the road to lasting and serious commitment like marriage. Its utmost objective is to help you and your partner identify and address possible conflicts and issues. Efficient and effective strategies are taught that will guide and resolve problems that could threaten your relationship.
What topics are commonly discussed in premarital counseling?
Engaged couples undergo premarital counseling in the hopes of having healthier and stronger relationships. Premarital counseling aims to do just that. It provides an avenue for couples to discuss topics they often neglect and learn how to handle arising issues.
Marriage Expectations
You have seen and experienced what marriage looks like from your parents or from family members. It gives you a glimpse how challenging and overwhelming marriage life is. Sharing your individual expectations and beliefs on marriage helps you paint a picture on what your life would be together.
Knowing your role in marriage allows you to be a better partner. It is not just about being together and being in love but it is more on how you approach issues in work, career, parenting, political and religious beliefs.
Sex and Intimacy
Couples agree that sex and intimacy are crucial in marriage. Sex is an act of love that is supposed to keep your desire and affection for each other grows profoundly. Talking about sex, your sexual history and your preferences can avoid future misunderstanding and rifts.
Sex and intimacy issues can lead to divorce. Though there is no exact number on how many couples are inactive sexually, it is estimated that around 15-20% are not having sex in the past year. The moment you or your partner is constantly not in the mood, you will feel irrelevant and unattractive.
Healthy Communication
How you communicate with your partner heavily defines your relationship. Communication is a tool that will make or break your marriage. Premarital counseling instills what healthy communication is. How it will affect your behavior towards each other and your decisions concerning the whole family.
In premarital counseling, you will discover your communication styles. It highlights how important it is that your partner knows exactly how to channel their thoughts and opinions without compromising your relationship.
Family Matters
There are married couples who argue and fight because of their families. Misunderstandings arise when it comes to having or not having children or dealing with demanding parents and intrusive in-laws. Some have difficulty in cutting ties with their parents that completely annoys their partners.
Family is important but once they become a source of constant argument you need to take a step back and reassess. You and your partner must know where your family stands when you get married.
Money Management
One of the most common causes of disagreement among married couples is money. Surely money matters even before marriage and it becomes a priority when both of you tie the knot. Earning and managing your finances speak so much about your marriage. It defines your lifestyle, your status and even your children.
Yes, money is not everything but it is what keeps you going every single day. Discussing how you and your partner should handle your money and expenses is as important as sex and intimacy in marriage.
What are the benefits of premarital counseling?
This type of therapy near me for couples is a step closer to the reality of marriage. Sharing and discussing serious and important issues means that you are willing to learn and unlearn things to make your relationship last and strong. It is becoming selfless for the love of your life and sensitive to what they want and need.
It eliminates your fears and worries about marriage.
Premarital counseling includes your apprehension and anxiety about marriage. It preps you emotionally and mentally. Whether you have a bad experience in marriage or just plainly scared about it, this therapy calms and alters your mind that marriage is a good thing.
It develops skills in resolving conflicts.
Problems and conflicts come and go in marriage. You just have to learn the right and effective strategies to resolve such matters. There will be a big change in your attitude towards problems once you know how to face them.
It enhances your communication skills.
Aside from discovering you and your partner’s communication style, the therapy near me prompts you to be better in communicating your feelings and thoughts. Marriage is not a mind game. You need to learn how to speak and open up especially when it involves major life decisions.
It corrects unhealthy behaviors.
Through premarital counseling, you will find out more and more interesting, and even annoying, facts about your partner. Revealing the not so good side of you will help you realize that you have patterns and behaviors that may cause problems in your marriage.
It promotes unbiased and honest decision-making.
Marriage is also about compromise. Both of you have an equal footing when it comes to making big decisions. You must learn how to go about them especially when it is as important as having children, parenting or managing finances.
Who offers premarital counseling?
Engaged couples now feel that premarital counseling is a prerequisite in getting married. It is not exclusively about love anymore but marriage also involves maturity and stability.
Mindshift Psychological Services offer premarital counseling to residents in Riverside, California, Corona, California and Los Angeles, California. Their renowned and highly trained therapists and counselors promote individualized therapy that will address your concerns and ideals about marriage.
It is all about getting your heart and mind ready as you journey towards marriage. Learn more about their premarital counseling on their website and schedule for an appointment.
