Overfamiliarity
Are you in a relationship which seems to have mysteriously lost its magic? Has the experience of mystery and romance dissolved into thin air without an obvious reason?
If you’ve thought “Yes! Yes!” then you and your spouse or partner may be guilty of too much familiarity, and too many liberties taken with each other by allowing boundaries to get too squishy. Here are some examples of this you may have seen creeping into your partnership:
- Going to the bathroom with the door open, allowing your partner the charming pleasure of hearing and smelling the result
- Passing gas without any attempt to be private about it
- Talking about every minuscule detail of your day, however boring
- Continuous contact through texts, calls or emails
- Sharing every detail of your fantasies, regardless of consequences
- Revealing all the gory aspects of your deepest insecurities or areas of poor self-esteem
These are only a few illustrations of how partners mistakenly think that total openness without privacy will promote more closeness and comfort.
Esther Perel, author of the bestselling book “Mating In Captivity” makes the clearest case for how intentional space is necessary for eroticism, excitement and ironically, intimacy. She talks about how total democracy, lockstep teamwork and lack of space have eroded modern partnerships. Couples used to spend longer spans of time courting, longing, missing each other, having less symbiotic “togetherness,” and as a result, often experienced the critical tension the space provided for more romance and excitement.
So, if this issue of overfamiliarity seems to have seeped into your relationship, take a look at how together you may have allowed too many boundaries to have broken down, notice the effect, and explore how you can re-install some mystery and privacy – (NOT secrecy), but space in the name of closeness.
Trackback from your site.
