When we first started dating or got married, things were great. We talked all the time, had sex a lot, stayed up late and had fun. But that was the honeymoon phase.”

Yeah. I get it.

But I gotta tell you something. The “honeymoon phase” is a myth.

We need to begin building an inventory.

Why an inventory, you ask? Well all-star, here is why. When a hardware store conducts an inventory, no one gives a flying fuck about why they have 33, 425 washers. The purpose of the inventory is only to establish that there are 33,425 washers. We deal with The Why later.

As a therapist, I often hear what seem to me horror stories of clients trying to go to therapy and get some help only to encounter a clinician whose approach begins and ends with “how does that make you feel?”

If you like that, go for it. Because you will not like me.

Did you sit down at the table for dinner and talk about ideas and experiences with your family or did someone hurl the chicken across the table in a drunken moment of assholia?

Now, when I say this in the beginning with my clients, sometimes people react a bit negatively because they think about rules or define rules as meaning “restrictions.” That’s not the definition I use.

Welcome to your first module. You just took the first step towards un-fucking your life.