Couples Therapy Intensives in Atlanta and online across Georgia, Florida, and Colorado

You're Not "Too Much" - Your Marriage Just Needs the Right Tools

Your whole life, you felt like you were too intense, too emotional, too much for everyone around you.

Until you met your spouse. They made you feel normal. Loved. Like you could finally exhale and just be yourself without constantly apologizing for existing.

But now chronic illness has moved into your relationship like an unwelcome houseguest. And suddenly you're back to feeling like you're too much again - apologizing for symptoms, hiding pain, tiptoeing around your own needs because you're terrified of being a burden.

Meanwhile, your partner loves you but has no idea how to help. They want to fix what can't be fixed. They're walking on eggshells too, afraid of saying the wrong thing, secretly frustrated but guilty about feeling frustrated.

Rainy days are normal in every relationship. Chronic illness just causes more storms than we'd like. But there are tools to help us weather them together.

The Thing About Emotional Safety and Chronic Illness

We're all hardwired to need a secure, emotional connection with our the people around us - that feeling of "I've got your back no matter what."

But chronic illness threatens that sense of safety in ways most couples aren't prepared for.

When you're in pain, your nervous system goes into fight-or-flight mode. When your partner feels helpless watching you suffer, their nervous system activates too. Before you know it, you're both acting without thinking, defending yourselves instead of connecting with each other.

You start thinking: "They're tired of dealing with this. I need to handle my illness alone so I don't lose them."

They start thinking: "Nothing I do helps. I must be failing as a partner."

And neither of you is talking about what's actually happening underneath all that fear.

What This Looks Like in Real Life

Maybe you've been to therapy before - done all the personal development work, learned about boundaries and communication. You're the one who understands emotions and attachment styles and nervous system regulation.

But your partner thinks therapy is for people with "real problems," and your marriage is fine, thank you very much.

Here's the thing: your marriage probably IS fine. You're not headed for divorce. You love each other deeply.

But chronic illness has created this invisible cycle where you both try to protect each other and end up feeling more disconnected instead.

You hide symptoms because you don't want to worry them. They pretend they're not overwhelmed because they don't want to hurt you. You both end up feeling alone in your own relationship.

Maybe you have kids and you're trying to balance parenthood with unpredictable symptoms. Maybe one of you has anger or impatience issues that flare up when stress gets high. Maybe you're both exhausted from trying to be the "perfect" couple who handles life’s hardships gracefully.

The truth is, there's no perfect way to handle chronic illness in a relationship. But there are ways to handle it together instead of separately.

How Therapy Actually Helps

I'm not going to tell you that better communication will solve everything or that you need to "accept" your chronic illness and find gratitude.

What I will do is help you and your partner understand the emotional cycle you're stuck in - how your fears trigger each other's fears, how your attempts to protect each other actually create more distance.

We’ll focus on the emotions underneath the behaviors. When your partner gets frustrated about cancelled plans, we look at the fear driving that frustration. When you withdraw and stop talking to them, we explore what that withdrawal is really about.

You Don't Have to Choose Between Your Health and Your Relationship

The work we do together is about helping both of you feel emotionally safe enough to be honest about your experience. Where chronic illness can be part of your story without taking over your entire relationship.

Where you can ask for help without feeling like a burden. Where your partner can express their own struggles without feeling like they're failing you.

Where you both remember that you chose each other for a reason, and chronic illness doesn't change the fundamental love and connection you share.

We work on creating a foundation of mutual understanding with each other - that deep knowing that you can turn toward each other when things get hard instead of turning away.

This isn't about learning to manage chronic illness better. It's about learning to be emotionally accessible and responsive to each other even when chronic illness makes everything more complicated.

Ready to Stop Walking on Eggshells?

I offer couples therapy for couples working through chronic illness in Atlanta and online throughout Georgia, Florida, and Colorado.

Because the goal isn't to manage chronic illness perfectly. It's to love each other imperfectly and honestly, rainy days and all.

Schedule your consultation today. Your relationship deserves tools that actually work.

P.S. You're not too much. You're not a burden. And you definitely don't have to figure this out alone.

  • It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

  • It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

  • It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.