Love Is Not Enough by Mark Manson
2020, book 22: “‘It’s not easy but it’s simple.’ And that goes for all conflict and conversations within relationships.” — Mark Manson
Finished on April 7, 2020
This was a strong book. It was passionate and clear and very important. I can’t say that this book impacted me in an incredible way — but it was good.
Tough. This is tough. We often don’t see this at the moment either. We might not notice until months down the road or maybe we’ll never notice. Can you think of times in your life where you let your loneliness or hungriness overpower your better judgment? I can.
When people are a bit starved for affection they become willing to overlook all sorts of questionable behaviors that might be going on in the background.
Both are incapable of what? Feeling good about themselves by themselves. This is a tough pill to swallow. Yes, people are stronger together and oftentimes, it’s great when we can spend time with others. However, we must understand that when happiness is sourced from somewhere other than ourselves and God, we will never be truly happy nor satisfied.
Narcissists have a never-ending need to be saved and fixed. At the same time, codependents have the never-ending need to save and fix others. They attract each other. It’s a toxic cycle. Both are incapable of feeling good about themselves by themselves.
Healthy conflict, 100% agree. There need to be expectations set. There needs to be consensus on what this means to each partner. There needs to be balance and consistency. Without conflict, when conflict comes, there will be no more than a minimal foundation.
If getting to a healthy place in a relationship is about having healthy boundaries and having healthy boundaries requires having conflict… then one could say that getting to a healthy place in a relationship requires healthy conflict.
I love this. It’s doing the simple things every day. It’s looking past the difficulty and overcoming it for the sake of your partner. We need to push harder, to do more, and to look forward to all that God has for us.
“It’s not easy but it’s simple.” And that goes for all conflict and conversations within relationships.
I gave this book a 3/5
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