Don’t Harp on Silly Stuff

It’s Marriage Monday at The Newlywed Life, when I write about the magic, the mayhem and how to create or avoid them. This morning I’m sharing some advice out of my book, Help! I’m a Newlywed…What Do I Do Now?, that is guaranteed, gasp! - yes, I said guaranteed - to help you avoid the mayhem if you follow it.

Don’t harp on silly stuff.

Yes it really is that simple. Who cares if the toilet seat is up or down, or if the cap is on the toothpaste? Get a grip, or your own toothpaste, and let the gripe go!

It’s so cliché to even address some of these stereotypical gripes, so I’ll be really brief. Life is too short to give the toilet seat so much of your precious time. Once you get into your marriage, you’ll realize that there are bigger fish to fry, hills to climb, battles to pick (since I’m being cliché, why not go there?), and that it really doesn’t make much difference if he lowers the toilet seat or not. The following is probably the simplest piece of advice that I can give: if you go to use the bathroom and he left the toilet seat up…put it down.

It used to drive me crazy when Husband would come home from work, step out of his pants, and leave them on the floor of our walk-in closet. I just knew it was the end of the free world. I tried to figure out how I was going to tell him to pick his pants up without sounding like a nag. Then I stopped thinking about me, me, me and I put myself in his shoes, or in this case his pants. OK, but seriously, I thought about how he might feel. Maybe it would drive him crazy that he can’t step out of his pants and leave them on the floor. After all, it is his closet, too. His house, too. If he can’t leave his pants on the floor of his closet in his house, where else could he possibly have the freedom to leave them?

After thinking about it like that, his pants on the floor suddenly didn’t seem so serious. Most of the time, I don’t even notice his pants anymore. If I see them on the floor and feel the need, I pick them up and drop them in the hamper. If not, after a day or two – amazingly, he picks them up himself.

Remember, there’s nothing wrong with not knowing what to do in your marriage, but there is something wrong with not finding out.

Winks & Smiles,
Wifey