You keep trying anyway.

Each time you desperately try to make yourself understood. This only seems to further inflame your spouse and before you know it, both of you are escalating, raising your voices, using words that cut deeper not because you are trying to hurt each other but out of sheer desperation to be heard.

Nothing makes a difference.

You’ve tried withdrawing, but living in the ice-cold realm of the silent treatment feels awful to you both. You’ve tried being logical, explaining where you’re coming from, what you need. This only leads to your spouse trying harder to explain what they need. You’ve even tried yelling, raising your voice in the hope that your spouse will register how much this matters to you. But nothing lands…nothing is received…and nothing is resolved.