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How can you get your self-absorbed partner to change?
Sep 19, 2011
Trying to get your partner to change is like convincing an elephant to fly. But there is a way! Find out how.
If your husband is still acting like a sullen teenager, my guess is that someone is still making his meals and doing his dirty
laundry. If you want to see change, it's time to change your behavior.
![]() My husband is so self-absorbed, I really wonder if he's got some mental disorder. Maybe he's a narcissist. No matter how many times I try to tell him what I need, he does the exact same thing over and over: Basically, nothing. He still makes plans without me and complains if I ask him to at least call when he's going to be late. I thought he'd grow out of this behavior, but it's been eight years, we've got two kids, I work full-time, and he's still acting like a sullen teenager. What can I do to get him to change? Signed, Michele from Milwaukee ________________________________________________ Dear Michele, How many times have you tried to lose weight, stop eating chocolate or set firm limits with your kids? Isn't it crazy to think we can change our partners' behavior when we can't even change our own? To be successful in your relationships, you don't need to change your
partner. You need to change yourself. This doesn't mean putting up
with put-downs, procrastination, infidelity, abuse or broken promises.
It means doing something different when your partner disappoints or harms you. If your husband is still acting like a sullen teenager, then my guess is, someone is still making his meals and doing his dirty laundry. If you want to see change, it's time to change your behavior. For example, my dad is a guy who for 90 years has driven everyone around him crazy by showing up late to everything. When I was a kid, he would come home late for dinner every night--in spite of the fact that my mom complained bitterly about it. Every night, she would rant and rave, and every night my dad would promise to do better. But nothing changed. They had an agreement. My mom would make dinner. It would get cold. My dad would come home late with some excuse. She would go nuts. We would eat cold food in chilling silence. Ten years later--after my mom died--my dad remarried. Marcia, who apparently wasn't hip to my parents' agreement, got my dad to change overnight. But how? Certainly not by trying to change him. Instead, she changed her response to him. The first time he came home late, she was concerned. The second time, she was angry. Nothing new there. But the third time he showed up late happened to be a night when the two of them had tickets to a concert. When he didn't show up in time for dinner, Maricia--who plans ahead because she gets anxious easily--ate without him. When he still wasn't there in time for her to get to the concert without rushing, she went by herself. When my dad got home he was shocked. No one was there to holler at him and there no dinner was waiting for him. In fact, Marcia's car was missing. I remember that he was frightened. This had never happened before. Eventually, he called Marcia on her cell phone. She told him she was at the concert and would see him when she got home. When he tried to express his disappointment, she said, "The concert is starting. Good-bye." According to Marcia, that was the last time my dad ever came home late for dinner, or for anything else. By refusing to make herself sick or miss out on things she was determined to enjoy, Marica interrupted the pattern and changed the agreement. Instead of ranting and raving and trying to convince my dad to change, she simply went about her business. And in the process, he changed...fast and forever. Category: Default category
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Last updated: Dec 09, 2010 07:01pm
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If your husband is still acting like a sullen teenager, my guess is that someone is still making his meals and doing his dirty
laundry. If you want to see change, it's time to change your behavior.





