I was recently interviewed on a podcast and asked what men need to do in order to have better relationships.

One of the things I said was men need to build emotional relationships with other men.

Without men building emotional relationships with other men, there is zero possibility these men will build amazing relationships with romantic partners in their life.

This is because – how we do relationships in one area of our life is how we do relationships in ALL areas of our life.

You don’t have low-level habits of relating and communicating in your friendships and then walk into a romantic partnership and suddenly have incredible high-level habits of relating and communicating.

You don’t revel in gossip with your girlfriends and then move into a relational container having this uncanny ability to adeptly carve out deep, introspective, nourishing and emotionally intimate conversations with your partner.

FUCK NO.

You don’t walk through life having difficulty...

I remember dating this girl one time who tried to tell me a relationship should never have disagreements, conflict or arguments.

I was like, “I actually believe that is what defines great relationships. How you work through conflict. How you both process your anger, individually, and together.”

As you can imagine, things ended soon after that conversation. As I am someone who has not only met his monster, but overindulged in his monster on far too many occasions.

She was the sweetest, kindest woman but she had not met her monster. She was not willing to meet her monster. She was not willing to work with her monster.  In fact, she didn’t even believe she had a monster.

But, WE ALL HAVE A MONSTER. Some of us are just more acquainted with it than others.

So you might be wondering…

WHAT IS YOUR MONSTER?

OUR MONSTER = OUR ANGER

OUR MONSTER = THE DARK CORNERS OF WHO WE ARE

Our monster is the explosive, reactive part of us....

Lovers, we need to give our partners permission to be an asshole sometimes.

Now before you throw a hissy fit, it’s important we differentiate between being a bona-fide asshole versus occasionally displaying asshole behaviour.

There is an asshole person. Just general dicks. Their dickishness is very much permanent.

Being a bona-fide asshole means your heart is shaped like a dick. Or it’s shaped like a butthole, either or. Meaning being an asshole is just WHO YOU ARE.

Then there is asshole behaviour. This is human reality. Dicks on occasion. Your humanness gets the best of you sometimes. You’re a good person who sometimes does not act so good.

We all have bad days. You say the wrong thing. You do the wrong thing. You don’t show up in the way you’re capable of. You act out of integrity. You say something hurtful to someone you care about. You get triggered, you break down, you act on impulse, you overreact.

Even Mother Theresa was probably an asshole...

Great love requires great respect.

Without respect you have nothing real to build from. No great love story is without its challenges, and without great respect those challenges become wildfires that burn the story of your love to the ground. Before you give your heart, before you dive deep, before you build your life around someone, make sure you respect the fuck out of their soul and they return the sentiment. Great love that lasts a lifetime must be built on solid ground, solid foundation, and there is nothing more potent than a partnership built on the grounds of mutual respect.

Listen up friends, I’m fairly sure we can all agree that love isn’t always a walk in the park. It’s also true that  love on it’s own is often not enough to sustain the ups and downs of the relational terrain. Love is essential yes. But so is respect. Far too many people place too much emphasis on the initial butterflies of lust instead of paying attention to whether at the...