Loving Bravely Newsletter

When your partner is struggling and you don't know what comes next.

A roundup of the month’s thought-provoking discussions from my podcast, Reimagining Love.

There's a particular kind of loneliness that comes from carrying questions you're afraid to ask out loud. Am I allowed to struggle when my partner is the one who's really suffering? If I admit how hard this is, does that make me selfish?

When life gets hard, it's easy to lose yourself in the effort to hold it all together. You manage everyone else's needs and analyze your partner's behavior while pushing down your own exhaustion because there's simply no room for it right now. You look at this as a way to protect your relationship, but it’s often what slowly erodes our capacity for genuine connection.

This month on Reimaging Love, we're exploring how to stay grounded in yourself as you stay connected to your partner/relationship.

As you listen to these episodes, use the related reflection questions to check in with yourself, and if you're up for it, bring them to your partner as a conversation starter. The goal isn't to "fix" anything—it's to create space for curiosity, understanding, and connection.

💗From the Office of Dr. Alexandra

Unpacking your big relationship dynamics and questions

Why Your Partner’s Struggle Affects You And Their Recovery

🎧 Listen to "What to Do When Your Partner is Struggling: Part One”
​When your partner is dealing with depression, chronic illness, job loss, or any significant challenge, their struggle doesn't stay neatly contained. It affects your income, work performance, health, and relationship satisfaction. In this episode, Dr. Alexandra shares coping strategies to maintain your well-being while fostering intimacy and connection, even in challenging times.

Reflection: How can you and your partner work together to protect what's good about your relationship from the impact of this struggle?

The Path Forward When Your Partner Is Struggling

🎧 Listen to "What to Do When Your Partner is Struggling: Part Two”​
You can't pour from an empty cup, but you also can't wait around for your partner to fill it for you. In part two of “What to Do When Your Partner is Struggling”, Dr. Alexandra focuses on what you can do to care for yourself as you support the person you love. Learn the internal steps for staying well and the relational steps for protecting your connection while avoiding resentment.

Reflection: How can you resource yourself when your partner is less available to you? Who can be in your corner during this difficult time? What helps you see this as a way of protecting the relationship rather than retreating from it?

💓 In Conversation with Dr. Alexandra

Thought-provoking conversations with special guests

Beyond Anxiety: What’s True For Me?

🎧 Listen to "For Love, In Truth: How To Live Authentically and Find Joy"
What if your body already knows what's true for you, even when your mind is confused? Life coach and author Dr. Martha Beck shares how truth feels like total relaxation in the body, why codependency shows up as endless storytelling about someone else's inner world, and what it means to live "for love, in truth." This conversation explores the terrifying freedom that comes from letting go of the need to fix, change, or analyze your partner and focusing instead on what's actually true for you.

Reflection: Where in your body are you holding tension right now, and what truth might that tension be protecting? Who in your life are you trying to change instead of simply asking "what's true for me?"

The Three Pillars That Hold You Up

🎧 Listen to "Why Self-Compassion is an Essential Practice"

Self-compassion isn't just a nice idea, it's the foundation that allows you to stay present without losing yourself. Psychologist Dr. Kristin Neff breaks down the essential pillars of self-compassion and explains how to cultivate it to break the pattern of self-criticism. This episode reveals why self-compassion makes you a better partner and how fierce self-compassion helps you pursue your goals while tender self-compassion helps you accept what you cannot change.

Reflection: Practice placing your hand on your heart and offering yourself 20 seconds of kind words when you're struggling.

Here's to treating yourself with the same compassion you offer others. Remember, caring for yourself isn't selfish, it's the foundation of genuine connection.

xo,
Dr. Alexandra