He Is Trying To Control Me: Resistance Is NOT Futile
By Dr. Laurie Weiss. Posted on .
What choices do you have if your husband is doing something that’s bad for him, bad for you, breaking agreements that you have made, refusing to acknowledge that there’s anything wrong, and blaming you, telling you that you’re crazy for calling the problem to his attention?
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Marilyn couldn’t decide whether to take the kids and leave him, act like a flaming bitch to get his attention, just go ahead and live her own life and ignore his behavior or just go along with his new obsessions.
Six weeks earlier, she and Jackson were both delighted that he had completed a major project. The project had kept him too busy to allow him to spend much time at home with her and their two small children for several months,
He was planning to take some time to figure out what he really wanted to do with his life and start working toward a career change. They were also looking forward to spending time together to renew their relationship.
Suddenly, without consulting her, he started a second low paying, full time job. He was working 80 hours a week; he had decided that they needed to save more money. He cut her household allowance and her access to emergency money, She felt helpless and victimized! Marriage was not supposed to be this way!
Jackson refused to accompany her to therapy so she went alone. With the help of her therapist, she decide that she needed to help her spouse become as uncomfortable with his decisions as she was. Her most creative girlfriend helped her figure out what would make it worth his while to pay attention to her.
Marilyn was already refusing to make Jackson lunch, and refusing to alter her schedule. She discussed and discarded the possibility of getting a new charge card and spending money on things she wanted because of the negative impact on her and the family. She thought about going on strike and not taking care of the house, but she decided that would be too hard on her and the children.
She also ruled out refusing sex because she enjoyed it so much.
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Finally Marilyn came up with an extremely creative solution. She brought home a fifteen-pound bag of dry navy beans, showed it to him, and told him that if he didn’t listen to her concerns and focus on finding a job that was meaningful and appropriate for him (instead of acting like a workaholic), she would serve him bean soup every night for dinner until he went back to their mutually agreed upon objectives.
It worked! He listened. Within a week Jackson put in several applications for the kind of job he really wanted and agreed to quit his second job in a reasonable period of time, He also stopped trying to control her access to money for appropriate expenses.
The beans are still visible on the kitchen table. He’s asked her to put them away, but she says not until he has completed his part of the agreement about actually spending time with the family.
