Keep your problems smaller than your life. A flat tire is a flat tire. A bad meeting is a bad meeting. A canceled flight is just an extra two hours. These things become catastrophes when you let them. But they stay manageable when you remember the depth of your real life- the people you love, the work you care about, the beautiful years still ahead. Zoom out. Fit your reaction to the size of the problem.
We were in the car after a long day, both of us exhausted. He was on the phone with a friend through the speakers, and they were talking about life, work, stress… all of it.
At one point his friend joked, “Man, marriage must be tiring.”
Without even thinking, he said, “Nah. Marriage isn’t tiring. Life is tiring. My wife is the part that makes it worth it.”
I froze in the passenger seat.
He kept driving like he didn’t just shift my entire world with one sentence.
Later that night I asked him if he really meant it.
He looked at me confused and said,
“Of course. You’re not my responsibility. You’re my reward.”
And I swear, in a world where people talk about marriage like it’s a burden…
He talks about it like he won the lottery.
And that’s all the reassurance I’ll ever need.
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