
4. We let negative, anti-marriage colleagues influence how we view our own marriages.
When we spend as many hours as we do at work, we are bound to make some pretty good friends of the same gender. In fact, I hope all of us do. It makes the work day go by so much faster when you feel as though you are working among friends. Depending on the nature of our job, we may have long periods in our day when we can have conversations with our work friends. As with any of the relationships in our lives, we need to make sure that our work friends are people who encourage us in our marriages and family life. If we find that we often end up in a spouse-bashing session with our work friends, we need to find better “friends” and spend our work time around others who share our family values. We are so affected by the company we keep, so let’s have positive and encouraging company. It’s uncanny how we can become more like the people we are around the most. If your friends constantly see their husbands/wives in a negative light, you will start viewing your spouse in the same way. When we come home after a long day at work, we don’t need that negativity ringing in our ears. We need to see our spouse in the most positive light possible and greet them with a genuine smile.