{"id":558,"date":"2021-09-19T14:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-19T14:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/?p=558"},"modified":"2021-09-19T14:24:41","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T14:24:41","slug":"delay-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/?p=558","title":{"rendered":"Delay Conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2327-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-559\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2327-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2327-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2327-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2327-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2327-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2327-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>The secret to love is just kindness<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For decades, when Liz Cutler\u2019s husband, Tom Kreutz, did something that bothered her, Cutler would sometimes pull out a scrap of paper from the back of her desk drawer. On it she would scribble down her grievances: maybe Kreutz had stayed late at work without giving her a heads-up, or maybe he\u2019d allowed their kids to do something she considered risky. The list was Cutler\u2019s way of honoring a promise she and her husband had made. They would talk about their frustrations only in scheduled meetings\u2014which they held once a year for a time, and later, every three months. It\u2019s a system they\u2019ve adhered to for more than 40 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any psychologist will tell you that conflict is both an inevitable and a vital part of a close relationship. The challenge\u2014which can make the difference between a lasting, satisfying partnership and one that combusts\u2014is figuring out how to manage conflict constructively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Conventional wisdom treats the passage of time as an adversary. We\u2019re told not to \u201cbottle up\u201d hard feelings, let annoyance fester, or go to bed angry. Stockpiling grievances, many therapists warn, invites resentment and sets the stage for partners to erupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cutler and Kreutz, and other partners who have systems of scheduled disagreement, have discovered that delaying hard conversations has the potential to fortify, not corrode, relationships. For them, pre-planned meetings in which both parties are prepared for difficult discussions drain some of the most painful emotions from conflict. Partners are then able to focus on solving problems and to do so cooperatively and creatively\u2014sometimes even finding delight in the process. Researchers and clinicians have also come to discover what Cutler and Kreutz figured out on their own\u2014that when tackling challenges in relationships, having a little distance and a recurring calendar invite can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first time Cutler and Kreutz spoke, she was standing behind him in a cafeteria at Duke University in 1974. She tapped him on the shoulder and asked, \u201cHey, how come sometimes you\u2019re so nice, and sometimes you\u2019re such a jerk?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Taken aback, Kreutz said, \u201cI don\u2019t even know you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two walked through the cafeteria, trays in hand, arguing. Cutler was convinced that Kreutz was the guy with whom she\u2019d spent an entire night dancing\u2014and who sometimes acted as if he didn\u2019t know her when she saw him on campus. (She would later realize that the true offender was a Kreutz look-alike.) Over dinner, this argument shifted into a debate about the opposing moral principles of Cutler\u2019s Judaism and Kreutz\u2019s Catholicism. A few days later, they continued that debate for five hours while perched in the branches of a camellia tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI remember sitting in that tree and just falling in love right there,\u201d Kreutz told me. He marveled at all that Cutler had done: ballet, karate, camping, canoeing, climbing. Cutler felt that she had met her match. It was hard to find something Kreutz couldn\u2019t do: One day, she\u2019d learn that he knew how to scuba dive; another, she\u2019d discover that he put his climbing skills to use by scaling the side of Duke\u2019s chapel. Kreutz even took it upon himself to learn things that she cared about, like teaching himself Hebrew while working on a factory line one summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new couple became known for their inseparability. Even when Cutler walked on campus by herself, people would call out, \u201cHi, LizandTom!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were equally well known for their operatic conflicts. \u201cOur friends couldn\u2019t stand it,\u201d Cutler recalled, \u201cbecause we would escalate to the point where one of us would get in the car and drive away.\u201d Once, Kreutz put his fist through a wall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShowing anger in dramatic ways was clearly part of our back-and-forth,\u201d Kreutz said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Cutler studied abroad during her junior year, they kept in touch through pay phones and letters written on wispy blue aerogram papers. But when she returned to Duke, after spending nine months on her own, Cutler felt stifled by Kreutz\u2019s desire to be with her constantly. She didn\u2019t want to lose him, but she didn\u2019t want to be \u201cswallowed up\u201d by the relationship. They decided to make a contract: They would stay together for another year, and as part of that agreement, they\u2019d try to resolve what wasn\u2019t working well, including their frequent fights and insufficient boundaries. When the year was up, they would determine whether to continue the relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This conversation, in which they spent a full day wandering around Duke\u2019s campus hashing things out, brought the couple a sense of relief. They each had their say and felt the other took their concerns seriously. When they hit the one-year mark, they agreed to continue the relationship for another year\u2014and to re-up the contract discussion. Soon it became an annual event, which they dubbed \u201ccontract talks.\u201d About a decade in, they realized that a year was long enough for their problems to calcify, so they made their contract talks quarterly affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They set norms governing the space, time, and tone for their discussions. They\u2019d escape to somewhere quiet and pleasant\u2014a path where they could take a long walk, or occasionally the house in Michigan where Cutler had spent summers as a kid. They established \u201crules of engagement.\u201d Among them: Don\u2019t shut down the other person\u2019s observations. If one person says that something is a problem for the relationship\u2014even if the other person doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s important\u2014it\u2019s a problem. Prepare to hear criticism, admit your faults, and be grateful for your partner. Commit to working on the relationship for the long haul, and accept that change might come in baby steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"546\" src=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2457-1024x546.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-564\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2457-1024x546.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2457-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2457-768x410.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2457-1536x819.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2457-2048x1092.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2457-600x320.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>Build a life together now and stop waiting for your soul mate<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By their late 30s, Cutler and Kreutz were reserving most of their problem-solving for contract talks. With those talks scheduled, they didn\u2019t feel compelled to raise issues in the moment. And they noticed that by waiting, they could avoid the pain and gamesmanship of impulsive arguments; in the midst of a fight, they were too preoccupied with \u201cwinning\u201d to attempt to solve problems. For Cutler, the distance often brought clarity. By the time she had read through the paper in her desk drawer to prepare for an upcoming contract talk, she would deem some of the entries too trivial to raise. Their \u201crules of engagement\u201d specified that they had to be \u201cin an emotionally calm state\u201d\u2014a stipulation that the two say they\u2019ve found easy to follow. The pause between the initial frustration and the discussion, Cutler told me, \u201cgives you time to put your little ego to bed and to be the grown-up, and not the child inside you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once the couple had kids, both the substance and structure of their talks changed. They added on family contract talks to give their boys a space to speak openly with them. Their two oldest sons went on to voluntarily conduct \u201cbrother contract talks\u201d with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The support structure of contract talks began to take on new significance for the family when their youngest son, Isaac, was 2 and a half. Isaac had several strokes, was in a coma, and was diagnosed with cancer. Cutler remembers that a social worker cautioned her and Kreutz that their relationship might be tested by the stress of seeing their son in pain and round-the-clock care-giving. They were told that the majority of couples who have a child as ill as Isaac break up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Twenty-four years later, Cutler and Kreutz are still together. \u201cDo I think contract talks saved us?\u201d Cutler said. \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>James C\u00f3rdova, a psychology professor at Clark University, wants people to treat relationships the way they treat their teeth. People don\u2019t only go to the dentist when they have a toothache; they get preventive treatment to remove the buildup of plaque and tartar that causes tooth decay. By contrast, many partners seek help only when their problems are so acute that the relationship is irreparably damaged. At that stage, couples receive the equivalent of emergency-room treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>C\u00f3rdova believes that, as with teeth, \u201cinside intimate relationships, there is also a naturally occurring corrosive process.\u201d We hurt each other. And when we\u2019re hurt, we tend to do one of two things: We hurt our partner back or withdraw. \u201cNeither one of those natural instincts is particularly conducive to long-term intimate health,\u201d C\u00f3rdova told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We can hurt one another when disagreements shove the regions of our brain that are responsible for rational thinking into the back seat. When we react without taking time to cool off, we might sting our partner to score points or defend ourselves. And, chances are, that behavior won\u2019t bring a feeling of catharsis. At best, venting may provide a temporary mood boost\u2014but in many cases it doesn\u2019t accomplish even that. In a seminal psychology study, participants who sat quietly right after their anger was provoked became less angry than those who were instructed to vent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of treating anger as steam that needs to be released, we seem to be better off running out the clock on it. Research points to the value of taking a time-out\u2014specifically in order to \u201cpause and calm down, not pause and reload.\u201d When people use the time-out to take an impartial view of the incident or even distract themselves\u2014rather than stew in their frustration\u2014their anger tends to subside, and they\u2019re less likely to try to punish the other person. The mindset that both parties have when they reconvene matters too. Morton Deutsch, a prominent conflict-resolution expert, explains that partners can have constructive disagreement if they foster a mindset focused on learning rather than winning, reframe conflict as a mutual problem to be solved jointly, and set norms of cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two decades ago, C\u00f3rdova designed a process that threads together these insights. He describes it as the marital-health equivalent of the six-month dental visit or annual physical. Over two sessions, the \u201cMarriage Checkup\u201d helps couples assess their strengths and weaknesses. In randomized controlled trials on a variety of populations, C\u00f3rdova and his team have consistently found that partners who use the Marriage Checkup report improved marital satisfaction and intimacy as well as other important indicators of relationship health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2345-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-562\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2345-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2345-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2345-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2345-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2345-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2345-600x338.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>Find the most effective ways to thank your significant other<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike Cutler and Kreutz\u2019s contract talks, the Marriage Checkup is conducted by a trained third party. It also doesn\u2019t encourage partners to confine all conflict to these sessions. The clinicians I spoke with said they wouldn\u2019t recommend that most couples wait months to discuss every relationship problem. Urgent issues or small annoyances that can easily be fixed, they explained, are generally worth raising relatively quickly, though it\u2019s still worth waiting a few hours or even days for heightened emotions to dissipate. Partners can address bigger issues\u2014such as a change in expectations in the relationship\u2014weeks down the line, or longer. But, they said, if more spaced-out discussions such as contract talks work for a couple, nothing\u2019s wrong with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2262-1024x473.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2262-1024x473.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2262-300x139.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2262-768x355.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2262-1536x710.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2262-2048x947.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2262-600x277.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>C\u00f3rdova says that what the Marriage Checkup shares with contract talks is its fundamental premise that partners need regular, scheduled times to tend to the knots in their relationship. This can help people like Cutler and Kreutz, whose propensity for heated fights might prevent them from having clearheaded, productive conversations about their disagreements. It\u2019s also useful in relationships in which people\u2014such as business partners Erica Cerulo and Claire Mazur\u2014hide from conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides being close friends, Cerulo and Mazur have a relationship that can be summed up in a string of words with the prefix co-: They\u2019ve been co-owners of a business, co-authors of the book Work Wife, and co-hosts of a podcast. After they sold their start-up to a larger company, they used their newfound resources to hire the management coach Ben Michaelis. Michaelis, who\u2019s also a clinical psychologist, quickly noticed that, like many people, they tended to avoid conflict. (Cerulo ascribes this tendency to her \u201cextremely midwestern\u201d upbringing.) He said they needed to figure out how to deal with disagreement or the tension would break their partnership. Cerulo and Mazur had sensed that this avoidance made their partnership feel fragile and slowed them down when it came to solving problems for their business. They lived in fear that one fight would wreck everything. Michaelis told them to start by vocalizing low-stakes gripes. It was exposure therapy for the conflict-averse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Friendship Files: Work-life balance has to include friendship<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In time, Cerulo and Mazur were able to tackle thornier issues that could breed resentment if left unaddressed\u2014questions of who\u2019s in charge, who is respected more by their team, who gets to do more exciting work. (These areas of friction aren\u2019t so different from those in romantic relationships.) Their weekly drive to their parent company turned out to be an ideal environment in which to talk about these topics. The Brooklyn\u2013to\u2013New Jersey trip was a regular event, which removed the dread of finding a time to discuss a tough subject; the length of the drive set a time limit on the conversation; and sitting side by side meant they didn\u2019t have to look each other in the eye. For Cerulo and Mazur, these were ripe conditions for practicing what Michaelis calls \u201ccontained disagreement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On one car ride\u2014during a trip in California\u2014Mazur opened up about a source of anxiety for her. She and Cerulo had recently had a business meeting with a woman who\u2019d brought her child along at the last minute. The kid was distracting, and Cerulo complained that they should have rescheduled. These comments about a working parent inflamed a sensitive subject for Mazur. She thought she might want to have kids and knew Cerulo didn\u2019t. Part of what made Mazur unsure about parenthood was her concern about how having children would affect her partnership and friendship with Cerulo. On their drive, Mazur explained what had been going on in her head. Cerulo told Mazur she was looking forward to being part of her kids\u2019 lives one day, and shared her own correlating insecurity: that people in their social circle were becoming parents, and Cerulo worried about being isolated. In that conversation and others, they planned for how to make space in their partnership and friendship for parenthood. When Mazur eventually did have a child and went on maternity leave, Cerulo visited her twice a week. Those drop-ins allowed Mazur to keep up to speed on their company, and Cerulo got to witness her friend\u2019s life as a new parent.<br>\nA hand holds glasses on a table next to a piece of paper<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scheduled disagreement forces high-conflict partners to cool down and conflict-averse pairs to broach difficult topics. This system also helps partners who have mismatched tendencies. Ayanna Abrams, a psychologist who works with couples, says many partners assume the role of either \u201cthe pursuer\u201d or \u201cthe distancer.\u201d For instance, the pursuer might want to address conflict immediately for fear that their partner won\u2019t come to the table later, while the distancer might feel overwhelmed when asked to deal with disagreement in the heat of the moment and want to postpone. A chase ensues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kristen Berman and Phil Levin, a couple based in Oakland, often find that one of them is more eager to talk through a hard topic than the other. Their \u201cplay days\u201d\u2014quarterly meetings in which they tackle anything they deem important to their relationship\u2014have helped resolve this difference. The partner who\u2019s itching to have the conversation can be patient because they know they\u2019ll be able to talk about it in an upcoming meeting. The person who\u2019s less keen to immediately talk knows they have time to prepare for the conversation. \u201cI think it\u2019s taken a lot of the weight and the stress and the differential urgency on these topics out of the equation,\u201d Levin told me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Play days share key features with Cutler and Kreutz\u2019s contract talks. Berman and Levin go on a mostly fun and romantic retreat; they look forward to the day. And, like Cutler and Kreutz, they use the time to get a bird\u2019s-eye view of their relationship and come up with work-arounds to recurring pain points. One play day, Berman and Levin decided to identify persistent sources of tension. Two stood out. The first, in Berman\u2019s diplomatic terms, is that \u201cPhil and I look at the clock a bit differently\u201d\u2014she\u2019s more concerned with timeliness than he is, and they tend to feel different levels of urgency about shared projects. For instance, they disagreed over how quickly they should respond to my follow-up questions for this article. They gave this type of disagreement a name: Steve. The other recurring argument they identified is about who does more of the thankless tasks around their home. And thus was born Fred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe sort of say we\u2019re in a relationship with the two of us and also Fred and Steve,\u201d Levin explained. \u201cThese are parts of our relationship, routine fights that we have in different ways over and over again.\u201d Berman and Levin use these characters to identify and laugh about these disagreements when they\u2019re unfolding. If they\u2019re having a spat about how important a task is, one might say, \u201cOh, it looks like Fred has arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"389\" src=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2318-1024x389.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2318-1024x389.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2318-300x114.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2318-768x292.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2318-1536x584.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2318-2048x779.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2318-600x228.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption> Most play days are not focused on christening an argument<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Most play days, they\u2019re not focused on christening their arguments. Their main agenda item tends to be a big decision\u2014such as where to live, whether to get married, and whether to have kids. These questions could easily come up in conversation anytime they hear that someone is moving or they go to a wedding or learn that a friend is pregnant; they could end up dominating day-to-day conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, Berman recently visited a friend who has two children and returned home \u201cwildly overwhelmed\u201d by the idea of being a mother. When she shared how she was feeling with Levin, he could have taken it as a message that she was leaning away from having kids. The couple could have plunged into a long discussion about whether they should be parents. Neither happened. Instead, Levin was a sounding board for Berman\u2019s feelings. And they were able to limit their attention to the particular event in front of them because they knew that the broader discussion about whether to have kids was already on the calendar. By containing difficult decision making to play days, Berman finds that the conversations that happen in between have \u201cmore lightness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>C\u00f3rdova says their setup is wise because relationships flourish when they\u2019re filled with far more positive moments than negative ones. He cites research from the psychologist John Gottman, who has found that stable and happy marriages have a roughly 5-to-1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. If arguments and hard conversations pervade a couple\u2019s time together, a healthy ratio can drop off. C\u00f3rdova likens Berman and Levin\u2019s system to \u201cworry time,\u201d a technique used in cognitive behavioral therapy in which patients note what they\u2019re feeling, set their worrying thoughts aside, and reengage with them at a designated time. It\u2019s the difference between having dirty clothes strewn across a room and having those same garments tucked in a laundry basket. The laundry has to be done either way, but if it\u2019s in a basket, you don\u2019t have to be reminded of it every time you open the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nearly 50 years after Cutler and Kreutz got into a row at the college cafeteria, they\u2019ve come to a place of repose in their marriage. Sitting at their dining-room table in Princeton, New Jersey, in 2019, Cutler and Kreutz rifled through a pile of notes from several decades worth of contract talks, their commitments and problem-solving techniques scrawled on napkins, jotted on a paper place mat, and, in more recent years, typed up. I could see the trajectory of their relationship contained in those scattered papers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kreutz picked out a page. It\u2019s from 1990, and like the others in the stack, it has a series of admonitions and reminders. Several bullet points are the couple\u2019s pleas to themselves to tamp down their sniping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDon\u2019t take advantage of self-revelation,\u201d Kreutz read aloud. Cutler explained: If one of them was to admit that they acted like a jerk at a particular moment, the other shouldn\u2019t jump in to say, \u201cYeah, you sure were!\u201d Reading through the list, Kreutz observed that at the time, they were clearly struggling to communicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The notes\u2019 content evolves over the years. The earlier contract talks revolved around behaving more generously toward each other. Once their children come into the picture, the pages turn into a bevy of logistical commitments, attempts to relieve each other\u2019s stress and carve out time as a couple and as individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent years, their conversations have changed again, this time focusing less on the relationship and more on how to help the other person thrive. Cutler told me about contract talks they had in the summer of 2018, walking along Lake Michigan on a windy night. Cutler asked Kreutz, \u201cSo do we have anything we need to talk about between us?\u201d They looked at each other, shrugged, and said, \u201cNot really.\u201d It had been a great year. So they asked each other how they were feeling about work, how their health was, how strong their friendships were. Decades before this particular contract talk, Cutler had stopped listing grievances on a piece of paper. She didn\u2019t need to anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2386-1024x520.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2386-1024x520.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2386-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2386-768x390.jpg 768w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2386-1536x780.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2386-2048x1039.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/IMG_2386-600x305.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption><em>Better experiences arrive one day at a time<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Cutler said contract talks create a feedback loop. \u201cThe more you do them, the more you feel heard. The more you feel understood, the less you argue.\u201d And the less you argue, \u201cthe less you need them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s hard to imagine a time when the couple would have needed contract talks more than in the past year and a half. Since March 2020, their son Isaac, who\u2019s 26, has been in and out of the hospital more than a dozen times. For a while, Cutler and Kreutz believed their son might die. They shifted their priorities to focus on Isaac and paused contract talks for the first time. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have five minutes to be people ourselves,\u201d Cutler said. Working on their relationship \u201cbecame not secondary, but tertiary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead, the couple has had to rely on the scaffolding that contract talks constructed\u2014even as Isaac\u2019s health has improved somewhat over the last few months. When Cutler recently got annoyed, she used a code word that Kreutz had devised in contract talks decades ago. Rather than getting short with each other, as they often did early in their relationship, their reflex in tense moments is to ask how they can support their spouse. Amid the stress and grief of living through a parent\u2019s worst nightmare, the scaffolding is keeping them upright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>== Rhaina Cohen ==<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For decades, when Liz Cutler\u2019s husband, Tom Kreutz, did something that bothered her, Cutler would sometimes pull out a scrap of paper from the back of her desk drawer. On [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/d2fpc.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}