How to Navigate Through Hard Times in Your Marriage

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) - Whether you've been in a relationship for 5 months or for 50 years, you're going to go through difficult times. Having challenging issues pop up in a relationship is normal.

On Sunday evenings, spouses Brandon and Hannah Comeaux host "The Modern Marriage" on Newstalk 96.5 FM KPEL. Combined with Brandon's 15 years behind the microphone, Hannah's experience as a Licensed Professional Counselor and as a Marriage and Family Therapist allow for the couple to tackle issues that couples face every day.

"As a couple, my wife and I are always learning how to be better spouses for each other," says Brandon Comeaux. "In our radio show/podcast, we discuss areas we struggle in, how we learn from our mistakes, and how great therapy techniques can be very beneficial for spouses."

In this episode of "The Modern Marriage," Brandon and Hannah discuss ways to become stronger together during these trying times.

• Communicate, Communicate Communicate: If you are not satisfied in your marriage or you are struggling in your marriage or individually, let your spouse know what’s going on. Distance and growing apart can be a big problem in marriage.
• Focus on Changing Yourself and Not Your Partner: Trying to change your spouse is pointless because we don’t have control over other people’s behavior, response or change factor. Focusing and improving yourself can often help your marriage because as you become healthier, a lot of things around you become healthier.
• Know When to Seek Out Help: Reach out to a licensed counselor. They have strategies that can help improve your relationship and help you to communicate better and resolve conflict.
• Surround Yourself with the Right Support Systems: Marriage can be tough and having good marital relationships around you can be so good for your marriage.

• Work on Meeting Your Spouse's Emotional Needs or Love Language: A lot of times, relationships become distant and grow apart because needs in your relationship often are not getting met.
• Work on Building Trust in the Relationship: So often, trust can easily break down but be much harder to build back. Trust takes open and honest communication and time in order to be restored back into your relationship.
• Heal Your Own Past Traumas: A lot of times we are triggering our spouse or being triggered by our spouse and don’t even know it.

• Show Appreciation: Love your spouse and yourself as you began to work on rebuilding your relationship.
• Spend Quality Time Together that is Uninterrupted: Work on prioritizing the relationship and each other.
• Practice Forgiveness: If you are marred, that means at some point you have either been hurt by your spouse or hurt your spouse yourself. Chances are you have done both.