Women are emotional, men are visual, fact of life. Proceed as usual

Since the beginning of time, at least my time, women have presented themselves as truly unique creatures. I’m starting to think that we were born screaming because we had to leave our comfy place of slumber knowing all too well the responsibility and nonsense we would have to take on in our life. One would think that with age, the drama, jealousy and the emotional madness of women would pass, dwindle, go back to somewhere in space, like Venus perhaps. I’m not buying that. You put 20 women in a room together for several hours and it will almost for certain turn into an episode of The Bachelor, minus the goofy single guy. Women are emotional. Women can be dramatic. And if you make a woman mad and her claws come out, beware! There is nothing more frightening than a jealous, emotional, dramatic woman on the loose. A guy will run in every direction possible just to escape the craziness. But guess what, she always finds him.

Also since the beginning of time we have been presented with men and their unique gift of visualization, appreciation of beauty, or better put, the need to look at every pretty girl in a five mile radius. It’s like even if she isn’t there at the moment, they have radar that goes off and will start to lose interest in whatever you are saying and start looking around as if they know she is coming. Then boom, pretty girl alert, she’s there. One would think that with age that men could stop acting like juveniles when pretty girls are around (can we say Super Bowl halftime show). But this is doubtful. There is a reason that there is a thriving industry in gentlemen’s clubs, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. And, bonus topic, men have selective hearing and memory too. One would also think that with age that men would grow a deeper appreciation into women’s thoughts and feelings, but let’s be honest, they just want the halftime show.

So how do we learn to respect each other’s fundamental differences, and furthermore, learn to co-habitat together without driving each other insane? I can think of several ways, but the one most relevant to this blog is fitness. And to take it one step further, working out together as a couple.

Some of my most favorite clients have been husband and wife teams. Their goals could be different, their sizes and shapes not even close to each other, but their commitment to not only getting healthier together but to being each other’s cheerleader overrides any potential physical incompatibility. In other words, they make it work. They are more focused on encouraging and motivating each other, rather than who is doing more reps. Sometimes what starts out as a seemingly competitive activity between the two, turns into two people having fun together, decreasing stress, and getting healthier together. And look, being active means different things for different people. Maybe it’s not the gym. Maybe you golf together, or play tennis with each other or ski together.  It’s amazing how when we do something besides sit on the couch and watch Netflix, our brains change around each other and those basic men and women differences mentioned above become less prevalent.

So if you want to add some spice to your couple life without it being offending, emotional, criminal or crazy, try getting healthier together. Because like it or not, women are emotional, men are visual, and that is a fact of life. So proceed as usual, but try and get healthy together along the way. It might just keep us from driving each other nuts.