In this episode, we talk about the importance of being a man of integrity, how to deal with a woman in your life, and what it takes to be a good father and husband. We also answer some questions from the Iron Council and the AMA.
00:19:15.300Because it's not fair to you to be in a relationship where you have built up contention, frustration, animosity, resentment, much of it justified, and still be in the relationship.
00:19:28.680Now, if you decide, hey, I do want to see if we can reconcile, do want to see if we can fix this, you have to determine what those boundaries are.
00:20:25.680But if you're going to make boundaries, you can't bluff.
00:20:29.480Like they actually have to be the real boundaries.
00:20:31.700So before you set what those are and before you start communicating what they are with her, make sure that that's really where you're planting your flag.
00:20:40.020Because if you say, hey, you know, I want to know where you're at during the day and she doesn't inform you or turns off tracking on her phone.
00:20:52.800You're just encouraging what you tolerate.
00:20:55.400And you're encouraging her to do it more and more and more and more.
00:20:58.680And that's not going to be a thing that works for you.
00:21:02.240I would also consider talking with people who you might know who have been through this scenario.
00:21:07.220I've got a couple friends who have been cheated.
00:21:10.580I have a couple friends who have cheated on their partner and I have a couple friends who have been cheated on.
00:21:17.220And you might talk with the person who's been cheated on that decided to reconcile to figure out how they did it, why they did it, what was their strategy, how did it work, what were they looking for in their wife.
00:21:30.040Because that might bring some clarity that I can't personally offer.
00:22:12.980And I'm not saying the issue might be you.
00:22:15.920The issue might be if she is highly insecure and she needs constant validation from external men and enough validation from you is not enough.
00:22:24.520And thus, she's going to constantly keep cheating on you.
00:22:28.280Or, you know, what are you doing or what are you not doing in your guys' marriage where you guys are not aligned, where she's not excited about being with you?
00:22:40.320And if you don't address that, the probability of it ever working in the event that you choose to make it work or try to make it work is really, really low.
00:22:50.520And this is so, because, oh, God, sorry, Kip, I thought you were done.
00:22:53.680No, no, no, that's all I was going to say.
00:22:55.300I just, you got to, you got to identify the issue.
00:22:58.280I agree with that, but where I take a little bit of issue, and I don't even think you're saying this, but I think it could be interpreted this way, is let's say that he has a conversation with his wife and they're trying to figure out why.
00:23:13.520And she says, well, I haven't been happy for years.
00:23:16.180You're distracted with work and you've, you know, let go of your fitness a little bit in some ways and I'm just not, I'm not happy.
00:23:25.140And so, you know, I, I found this validation somewhere else or what I was like, whatever, whatever.
00:23:30.260It's not Dalton's problem that she cheated.
00:23:56.260And if you were an abusive partner, by the way, I'm not saying that you are, but if you were, then her course of action should be to leave you, not to cheat on you and stay with you.
00:24:06.400So people can choose their own behavior and I would just be really careful of falling into the trap of her saying, well, you know, if only you did this better and only you did that better and only this.
00:24:20.120And if you change this then, and you've changed that, and all of a sudden her indiscretion becomes your responsibility.
00:25:08.640A friend of mine, Keith Yackey, he runs a program called The Married Game, and he comes to mind immediately as I hear this, is you got to work on yourself for yourself.
00:25:30.740They're still going to say dumb things.
00:25:32.160And if your performance is contingent on their behavior, you're going to be sorely disappointed in your life because you just will not perform to the degree you're capable of.
00:25:44.540Nobody's going to come and tell you good job for getting in shape.
00:25:48.180Nobody's going to come tell you good job for paying off debt.
00:25:51.520Nobody's going to come tell you good job for, you know, leading the family better.
00:25:55.400Do it because it's the right thing to do, because it's what makes you feel good, and because it's what you think a man ought to be doing and how he should show up.
00:26:04.840And then you can just let the chips fall where they may.
00:26:06.920And if anybody acknowledges you, great.
00:26:19.940I have a very difficult time with my wife and most of her decisions, which mainly stems from chemical dependency on alcohol that started around two years ago when we got married.
00:26:33.480We dated for about five years before this, and there was no indication that it would happen.
00:26:38.520I have a lot of difficulty with her because of almost everything she does is clearly unhealthy, and it creates a rough environment at home.
00:26:45.240I'm in a place that I would love kids, and it's a great time in my life to go forward with that, but I don't have any confidence in her to be a good mother.
00:26:54.240I've done well taking care of myself during this time, but it's hard to say this.
00:26:59.020She's holding me back quite a bit from making even more of an impact, and the impact I make on her feels negligible and pointless.
00:27:07.980There's always more that I can do, but I feel like I've tried just about everything to lead her to a living better, and she just hasn't picked it up.
00:27:17.500I want to do a separation to create some space and clarity, and it may also lead to me not wanting to come back to the relationship.
00:27:27.060Do you feel like a separation is a good option in my circumstance?
00:27:30.260What questions should I be asking myself and her leading up to this separation, and what questions should I ask myself during the separation?
00:27:43.620I've actually talked with three people in the past couple of weeks that are in a very similar situation, alcohol abuse on the part of their wife, which is not as common as the part of the husband.
00:27:58.780You know, I dealt with my own alcohol abuse issues, and so that's more common than a wife having addiction problems, which is interesting.
00:28:10.500I think what I'm not typically a huge fan of separations.
00:28:15.440You know, if you're married to her, you're in it.
00:28:23.640I don't, I don't really, I don't, I don't buy in it, like, find yourself when you're in the relationship, because that's what you said you would do.
00:28:31.240And, and if you can't, if it's that hard, I mean, look, I'm not telling you not to have a separation, but what I would say is that if you're planning on separating, that you have some, some things in place.
00:28:42.780Like, hey, we're going to separate for the next 30 days or 90 days or whatever it is, and this is what I need to see happen.
00:28:52.300This is what I need out of the relationship.
00:28:54.980I would be careful of saying, you need to change.
00:29:00.120You aren't a good mother or won't be a good mother.
00:29:01.980I would say, hey, what I need out of the relationship is I need a woman who I feel like I can have children with and will be able to take care of the children in these ways.
00:29:13.980What I need is somebody who's healthy, who will support me and stand by me and be in the mental headspace to encourage me.
00:29:22.540What I need, and you list all of the things that you need.
00:29:26.000I don't know if this is the case for you, but I think what happens a lot of the times is that women, when women are unhappy in relationships, they dance around it a little bit.
00:29:36.500They won't just come out typically and say, hey, I'm not happy with the way you're showing up and you need to change in these three to five ways or I'm out.
00:29:45.540I think if more women did that, more marriages would be saved.
00:29:49.420I really do because I think guys do want to generally be better in the relationship.
00:29:54.640I don't think they want to lose their relationships, but sometimes we just don't know the severity of the way she might be feeling because she's not clobbering us over the head with a two before and telling us to be better.
00:30:10.220I would wonder if you've done the same thing with her or if you've danced around it because it's an uncomfortable conversation where you're like, hey, babe, I'd really like you to be better.
00:30:19.280Or, hey, you know, it'd mean a lot to me if you didn't drink so much on weekdays.
00:30:23.820Or, hey, maybe can we limit our drinks to the weekends or one night a week or limit it to two drinks or whatever, whatever your rule is.
00:30:31.200But you just do it so softly and subtly that it doesn't really seem like there's much consequence to doing it.
00:30:39.760You know, that's what happened with me is my ex-wife would – and I'm not blaming this on her.
00:30:44.620My decisions are my decisions, so please understand this, guys, just like hers are hers.
00:30:49.580But she would say, I'm really worried about your drinking.
00:31:23.840I'm not going to pursue this relationship in any meaningful way if I can't get this from the person that I want to be in a relationship with.
00:31:30.940So this is me right now telling you that I would like you to be sober for the next 30 days.
00:31:39.420I'd like you to join AA locally, and I'd like to have you consider getting therapy.
00:31:46.520If you're willing to do that, then let's see where we're at after 30 days.
00:31:52.480Let's just see where we're at after 30 days.
00:31:54.460And after 30 days, if you're clean, you're going to your meetings, you're having therapy sessions, and I feel like progress is being made in that department,
00:32:02.740then I really want to be able to sit down and evaluate where we go from here.
00:32:07.420But I would just take a very hard line stance before you did anything else.
00:32:12.420Because what I don't want to have happen is I don't want you to bail on the relationship, and then in the next year or two years or five years, have the nagging thought in your head,
00:32:24.600you know what, I love that woman's shit.
00:32:27.320If I only would have done this, if I would have said that, maybe I could have been a little more strict or a little harsher or a little harder on the hard line stance,
00:32:37.200and maybe that would have, I don't want you to have that.
00:32:39.500I want the moment that if and when you leave, it's like, no, I gave her every chance, every opportunity.
00:41:58.340And then they went out and they completed an exercise or a series of exercises that was challenging enough that would really push the young men, but not challenging enough where they wouldn't be able to accomplish it.
00:42:09.500But there was a very real risk of, in many of these situations, their young sons dying.
00:42:17.440I'm not saying it should be that difficult, but I'm just showing you what is involved.
00:42:35.420If the boy came back successfully, let's say he killed the saber-toothed tiger or he stole the egg out of the bald eagle's nest and he came back and he did it.
00:42:49.100He was then welcomed with a seat at the table with the men.
00:43:42.520So you need to hunt successfully or you need to catch a fish or you need to answer these questions the correct way.
00:43:51.220You need to be able to teach me how to shoot a firearm correctly.
00:43:54.440Teach me the four firearm safety rules.
00:43:56.900Successfully complete this course that I put together for you.
00:44:00.080And then, so there has to be that, an element of sacrifice and risk.
00:44:03.700Because there is, if you're doing something dangerous, there's a risk involved.
00:44:06.720And then you have to acknowledge that with a ceremony.
00:44:09.800And that ceremony doesn't have to be this big, huge, ritualistic thing.
00:44:13.700It could just be at the campfire that night.
00:44:16.040All the men sit around because you've got like four, let's say you have four men.
00:44:20.260And they all have their boys with them.
00:44:22.140And all four men talk with the boys about what they've accomplished, what they've done, what it means to be a man, how they're on that path.
00:44:29.580And then maybe even saying something really affirming about their sons because they've completed it.
00:44:35.320And then there might be a little memento.
00:44:38.200And that's the acknowledgement, the scarring or the tattoo.
00:44:41.500I'm not saying that, but it might be just a little memento.
00:44:54.340I would also say there should be some level of secrecy.
00:45:00.180Not, I don't really quite know how to word this, but there should be a motto maybe like, hey, son, I'm going to teach you a motto that only we know.
00:49:04.500It's, you just have to start, there has to be consequences because the only way that human beings function and change behavior is on two things, incentives and disincentives.
00:49:17.420When they aren't behaving the way that you want them to behave, it's because there's not enough incentive to do so or a disincentive not to do so.
00:49:26.800So I would start pulling things away, but I'd give them the opportunity to contribute.
00:49:31.420Hey, if you want me to pay the insurance on your car, I'll do that.
00:52:07.520He's like, no, but can I work tonight?
00:52:08.720Yeah, you can work tonight and come back tomorrow and buy them.
00:52:11.620You're not buying Pokemon cards on credit with me.
00:52:14.700But these are principles that we need to teach our kids because if we don't teach them, then they're going to get out into the world and they're going to be so far behind, so hamstringed, and they're going to make really bad decisions.
00:52:27.980It is not in their best interest long term for us to coddle and play it safe and comfortable with our kids.
00:52:35.740And it's really hard because we are more prosperous than we've ever been throughout human history.
00:52:42.780So is buying a $5 pack of Pokemon cards a big deal for me?