{"id":3150,"date":"2016-09-28T11:18:46","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T10:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/?p=3150"},"modified":"2016-09-28T12:10:20","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T11:10:20","slug":"keep-talking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/3150\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep Talking"},"content":{"rendered":"

This<\/a> caught my eye in the wake of the Brangelina fallout:<\/p>\n

But perhaps the flow of headlines about unhappy endings actually gives us the wrong impression about Hollywood relationships, because there is a long list of high-profile couples who have proved stars can have staying power.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

The Sex and the City actress has been married to the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off star for 19 years. The couple have three children.<\/p>\n

Parker has admitted their marriage has been through “some rather treacherous train rides”.<\/p>\n

But in 2014 Broderick said: “We really are friends beyond everything else and we talk a lot.”<\/p>\n

Asked his advice for other couples, he said: “Just keep talking I guess. I know how cliched that is. Too much silence is definitely not a good idea.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is probably more wisdom in those last two paragraphs than there is in ten thousand dollars’ worth of marriage guidance counselling and a decade of contemporary\u00a0opinions on what a modern relationship\u00a0should look like.<\/p>\n

When I look back at the relationships I’ve had that have worked, and compared them against those that haven’t, the differences between them can\u00a0probably be linked to communication. \u00a0I can talk the hind legs off a donkey, and I believe problems can be solved by talking about them (and writing about them, hence the blog). \u00a0I start any relationship – platonic or romantic, male or female – by talking three times as much as I’m supposed to\u00a0and keeping that up indefinitely. \u00a0Listening is also important, and I have often been accused of not doing so. \u00a0Although every serious instance of that has been in a professional capacity when a manager has mistaken “listening” for “agreeing”. \u00a0There may have been a time when I thought I didn’t listen to people in relationships, but that long ago gave way to a\u00a0confidence that I know the people close to me very, very well indeed. \u00a0And you don’t get to do that by not listening, and thinking about what they’ve said.<\/p>\n

Communication is everything in a relationship. \u00a0When things are going well, communication tends to go\u00a0well. \u00a0But when things go wrong it often suffers, and you can quickly see who is in it for the partnership and who is in it for themselves.<\/p>\n

Whatever the issue is, no matter how bad, keep the lines of communication open. \u00a0Sure, take a ten minute break, or take a couple of hours to reply to a message. \u00a0But tell the other person you’re doing that, and let them know when you’ll reply. \u00a0The moment one party or the other decides they’re going to fall silent for a period of more than a few hours, or (worse) a few days, or (even worse) an indefinite period; or they’re going to completely ignore a message or an email; the relationship is over. \u00a0Dead. \u00a0It won’t recover.<\/p>\n

Sure, I get people say nasty things, and if a situation\u00a0breaks down into a slanging match of hate-filled invective and insults then it is wise to take a step back and have some time off. \u00a0But the lines of communication must stay open: clearly\u00a0say you’re having a break, and\u00a0that you’ll be ready to talk again the next day at the latest. \u00a0Get back to talking as soon as possible. \u00a0Stomping off into indefinite silence and dragging it out over days will result in only one thing: a failed relationship. \u00a0If one party doesn’t want to talk then better to just end the whole thing right there and then, because the outcome is inevitable.<\/p>\n

And if you are stupid enough to think that adopting a position of silence and ignoring a partner who is reaching out to you in order to punish him\/her, and require that\u00a0they come grovelling back with an apology and take all the blame regardless in order for you to respond, then you deserve all the misery that is coming your way. \u00a0A decent partner wouldn’t do this, and Matthew Broderick is right again when he says:<\/p>\n

We really are friends beyond everything else<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Your partner might not be your greatest ever love, but if they’re\u00a0your friend they’ll not fuck you over and will keep talking to you no matter what. \u00a0If he or she stops communicating, they’re\u00a0not your friend, they\u00a0don’t have your interests at heart, and they’re in it for themselves: walk away.<\/p>\n

Keep talking, as the BT\u00a0ads used to say.<\/p>\n

(No, this is not related to any current personal issue I have. \u00a0I just saw Broderick’s remarks and decided to look back on relationships I’ve either been in myself or those of others I’ve been around.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This caught my eye in the wake of the Brangelina fallout: But perhaps the flow of headlines about unhappy endings actually gives us the wrong impression about Hollywood relationships, because there is a long list of high-profile couples who have … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[85,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3150"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3150"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3154,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3150\/revisions\/3154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.desertsun.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}