
Jon Gordon
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M y wife and I celebrated our 22nd
wedding anniversary last Friday…For me, it was love at first sight.
For her it took a while but 22 years later we have grown a lot and I
want to share 7 lessons I learned
1. My wife is always right. 2. My wife is always right. 3.
My wife is always right. 4. My wife is always right. 5. My wife
is always right. 6. My wife is always right. 7. My wife is
always right.
W hile I hope this made you laugh,
and my wife IS always right, here are 7 lessons I learned in 22
years of marriage:
- You Know You Are With The Right Person When They Give You
Strength. Looking back on my life and marriage, there's no
way I could have done it without my wife. Her love, support,
belief and encouragement gave me strength. She believed in me
when no one else did and gave me the confidence to pursue my
dreams.
- Be Willing. Early in our marriage our relationship
wasn't very good. I was young, selfish and quite negative. One
day she had enough. She said "I love you but I'm not going to
spend my life being married to someone who is so negative and
miserable and who makes me miserable. You have to change." I
looked at myself and my life and realized she was right.…I was
willing to change and it led me to do the work I do now.…So, be
willing to improve and grow. You'll benefit your marriage and
the world.
- Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Most
relationships initially break down because of poor
communication. It's so important to keep the lines of
communication open. My wife and I have had our share of
disagreements over the years but we always communicated and this
allowed us to grow strong together.
- The More I Love My Wife the More I Love My Life. I'm
not talking about the popular phrase happy wife, happy life. I'm
talking about the fact that the more I focus on loving and
serving my wife, the better I feel about myself and my marriage.
It's not about what she does for me. It's not about keeping
score. It's about me deciding to be selfless and love her, serve
her and be there for her. I've found when I do this we both get
better.
- Encourage Instead of Compete. My wife and I have met
a lot of couples over the years who seem to compete with one
another. They get jealous if their spouse is getting fit or
enjoying success rather than encouraging and supporting them.
Instead of being one team they act like they are two separate
teams. To have a great marriage you have to be one team who
supports and encourages each other. When you support and
advocate for each other you grow as individuals and also
strengthen your team.
- Have a Shared Mission. My wife and I knew that we
weren't together just for ourselves. We felt our mission was and
is to raise champions in life that will make a difference in the
world. This mission and purpose influenced every decision we
made and continues to influence us.…
- Keep Working At It. Don't Quit. As everyone knows,
marriage isn't easy. There's an ebb and flow. Sometimes marriage
is great and sometimes it isn't.…When you plant yourself in your
marriage and nurture your relationship and invest your time and
energy in your spouse, over time you grow into the person you
are meant to be. Marriage is where you learn to give and take
and compromise. It's where you work on your individual issues
and heal together. It's where a strong family begins. Over the
years there were times my wife and I went to counseling, took
parenting classes, argued and disliked each other but we never
stopped loving each other and we never stopped working on our
marriage. There might have been a few times where it would have
been easier to give up but thank God we didn't. I call it
relationship grit. You stay the course. Keep working at it.
Don't give up. (Please know if you are dealing with abuse,
that's a different story and I encourage you seek expert advice
immediately.)
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