How can I help
So our current situation is not ideal we moved across the country at the beginning of December for a fresh start. We moved in with my partners parents for a month or two max until he could find a job and we could move into our own place. (It was a very quick decision to move) but at the beginning of January her broke his arm he’s been unable to find a job due to this and had surgery on it last week meaning the job and house hunt is on hold again for at least 2-3 months. Our plan was for me to be a stay at home mum with our now 9 month old. If I had to get a job to help us out of this situation I would but he now cannot and is not allowed to do anything with his arm so taking care of the baby and all the housework is on me. Sometimes it gets quite a lot for me and I might leave some things laying around our room for a day or two this is fine unless he’s in a bad mood the minute he doesn’t feel good or is upset it’s like the whole world has come down on him. He says things like I don’t care about anything I can’t be bothered to clean up to me it feels like he’s saying I do absolutely nothing I just sit all day and moan that I don’t care about him. Which is very wrong considering I feel I do everything and he literally got irritated yesterday because I kept asking if he was okay and he felt I was treating him like a baby. We both come from unstable childhoods we struggle to tell each other deep feelings and he struggles with physical affection towards me which I have expressed is something I would really appreciate and would help me get through the day. He’s very affectionate with our daughter. I feel I could do more but I don’t know how we definitely don’t spend enough couple time together but I can never think of things to do besides going for a walk or watching a movie we aren’t in the best financial situation so date nights are very sparse. It’s like the minute he’s upset he forgets all the good things about me and just brings up all the bad things that I do or don’t do. I know he is really struggling with his mental health at the moment due to our situation but we can’t change that at the moment. Any advice ?? Sorry for the long post.
Thanks for sharing your story. That must be challenging to have those unexpected factors in your young family right now. It sounds like a big part of this is when he is regulated and overwhelmed, and then spirals into everything that feels overwhelming. Do you feel comfortable validating that he sounds overwhelmed and 1. Not take personally what he is upset about in that time and 2. Encourage him to have some emotional regulation skills so that it doesn’t feel like it hijacked the relationship or every good moment.