We’re all the same… but different.
The same in that we are all human and we all have expectations. Different in that we come from differing backgrounds and have developed our own custom blend of what we expect from our significant others. My partner comes from a background where formal sit-down family dinners are important. I, on the other hand, am quite happy for everyone to sort themselves out and eat separately whenever they’re hungry.
‘Family dinner together’ is pretty high up on Heather’s list of expectations.
I discovered this early on in our relationship when I decided to help myself to an early dinner one evening. The ensuing exchange was more heated than my early dinner. After some cooling down and introspection I decided that it was a reasonable expectation on her part and probably quite selfish on mine to think only of myself when it came to dinner. We now sit down to dinner together every night.
The moral of this story for me has been:
- The importance of communicating our expectations to our partners.
- Having a conversation and deciding whether the expectations are reasonable (If not, find a compromise).
- Following through with action.
