Hello! Welcome to episode 34 of I’d Rather Stay In. This week, in honor of Megan and Bob’s 15th wedding anniversary, we’re talking about that blessed arrangement, that dream within a dream: marriage!

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What keeps a marriage strong?

Other interests and friends outside of your relationship! As counterintuitive as it may sound, having important things in our lives beyond our spouses has helped keep our respective marriages strong and gives everyone breathing space.

We don’t need to share everything with our spouses. We also can’t expect our spouses to meet all of our emotional needs.

Also, be honest with each other about as many things as possible.

For Stephie and Alex, learning how they both communicate and process things differently and figuring out how to navigate those differences in a way that works for both of them has been key.

Respect what you can’t change about the other person.

Advice for newly-marrieds

From Megan: Practice counting to 10. Have patience as you learn new-to-you weird shit about your spouse.

From Stephie: Remember that your partner brings their own past baggage into the relationship that will affect how they react to things and move through this world. Your spouse is a human being, too, and needs the same grace you want them to give you.

Other stuff we mentioned in this episode

The dad in the book Hair Love is super hot. (Also the short film is amazing.)