At Relevant Magazine:

Going to counseling is a deeply personal decision for a couple–one that can dramatically and positively affect a relationship. Even if you’ve spent time in counseling, there’s still a curiosity factor about what other people talk about when seated on the proverbial couch. So, we talked to two marriage counselors about the issues they’ve encountered with couples of all types, and though every couple is different, there’s often a similar root to the problems they’re facing. Here’s what they’ve observed—and how to address it in your own relationship.

Dorothy Greco, author of a new book about marriage, Making Marriage Beautiful, comes across a similar issue with many of the young couples she sees: They’re fixated on comparing themselves to others.

“I can’t say I ever spent much time wondering what my next-door neighbor was eating for dessert or what concert my high school classmate was attending, but I now have the opportunity to do just that and more. Namely to try and keep up with them and produce my own Pinterest-worthy feed that garners just as many (or hopefully more) likes,” she explains.

Essentially, she says that couples often start comparing their own marriages and lives to the images projected on social media by their friends—images that are literally (and figuratively) filtered to perfection. Greco says these “years of voyeuristically watching others’ lives” blurs the lines between your social media feed and reality.

To read the remainder of this article, please go to Relevant Magazine.

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