Mid-life Relationship Issues

You certainly don't have to reach mid-life to have relationship problems, but if you've managed to maintain a fairly decent relationship for 10 or 15 years or more, you may be surprised when things you've tolerated in your partner for years suddenly seem intolerable.

One reason is that in perimenopause women often stop putting the interests of others first and start paying more attention to themselves. As women begin claiming more power and asserting themselves in their relationships, there is an increased potential for conflict.

If your needs aren’t being met in your relationship, if the two of you don’t deal with problems openly and constructively, if you aren’t treated with respect and fairness, if your partner is self-absorbed or self-destructive — these common patterns can destroy the intimacy and trust that keep sexual desire alive over the long term.

It's usually easier to address these problems than to switch partners. I'll talk about that tomorrow.