When our connection tank is full, so many things in intimate relationship go SO much easier! When it's empty, even the smallest frictions can cause a lot of disharmony. Learning to love our partners well is a practice as much as anything else in relationship, and the Five Love Languages as described by Gary Chapman are a powerful tool for making that happen.

There's more and more discussion these days of how hollywood, instagram, porn, and more negatively impact the body image of women. What's talked about less is the impact all of it can have on men too. Cultural expectations for what a male body "should" look like have changed in pretty drastic ways over the last decades, and that has an impact on us men too!

When men aren’t given the tools or education about how to self-regulate and handle their emotions, stress, shame, and loneliness, we can often use sex as a way to feel better. Listen in to another episode of the Dear Men Podcast, where Melanie Curtin and I talk about how this dynamic can often play out, and how damaging it can be to our partners when we use them for regulation unconsciously.