I’m very impressed with this woman’s Lao Tzu-inspired approach to preventing her marriage from falling apart:
Sure, you have your marital issues, but on the whole you feel so self-satisfied about how things have worked out that you would never, in your wildest nightmares, think you would hear these words from your husband one fine summer day: “I don’t love you anymore. I’m not sure I ever did. I’m moving out. The kids will understand. They’ll want me to be happy.”
But wait. This isn’t the divorce story you think it is. Neither is it a begging-him-to-stay story. It’s a story about hearing your husband say “I don’t love you anymore” and deciding not to believe him. And what can happen as a result.
Now, I’m skeptical that this would work for a man dealing with a wife determined to leave, but it makes a lot of sense when the core problem isn’t rooted in a desire for change or strange, but merely a personal struggle to humble oneself enough to accept one’s mortality and mediocrity.