Day Thirty-Five - Stepping Back Nearly Cost Me Everything

The competition and the nastiness were getting worse. I could feel the resentment.

I never tried to make him feel less than me. I paid my own bills, my mortgage, and my expenses. But somewhere along the way, it felt like he needed to prove he was smarter or better than me.

I wanted us to be a team.

I kept trying to make things better because I took marriage seriously. I believed you worked through your problems. I didn’t believe in divorce, and I wasn’t ready to give up on us.

So we went to counseling.

I remember the counselor saying, “You’re a strong woman. Maybe he feels inferior. Maybe you should step back a little.”

I wanted our marriage to work, so I tried it.

And I almost lost my whole company.

Stepping back showed me how much the business depended on the organization, responsibility, and daily attention I had been giving it. Things were being handled carelessly, and I couldn’t keep overlooking what was happening.

This was my livelihood. It was how I supported my family. I had spent years building it, through long nights, setbacks, and pain.

I had hoped that giving him more room would help our marriage. Instead, I found myself back where I had been so many times before—picking up the pieces.

Looking back, I wish I had understood that working on a marriage shouldn’t mean stepping away from my own judgment or putting everything I had built at risk.

I could make room for a partner without making myself smaller. And being capable was never something I needed to apologize for.

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