On Sunday night, you start wanting to ask about next week

Scenes

• I want to ask if we’ll still be okay next week — Your partner hasn’t even avoided talking about next week, but on Sunday nights, you find yourself wanting to check the answer about your relationship first.
• You keep holding on to “It’s okay” — Even after you’ve been reassured once, your heart returns to the same place. It may not be because the reassurance was too brief, but because you’re filling in the blanks on your own.
• “I think next week will be pretty busy” — At ten on Sunday night, your partner talks about next week’s schedule and goes to bed first. You type “Are we okay?” in the reply box, then delete it.
• Facts and meanings run together — “I think I’ll be busy” is a fact, but your heart quickly turns it into “It means they want to see less of me.” So checking brings brief relief, then makes you want to check again.
• Separate what you heard from what you made it mean — On paper, write just one line for what you heard today and one line for what you took it to mean. Once you can see the space between them, you don’t have to decide on an answer right away.
• A blank isn’t automatically an answer — Even if your heart wants to check again, you can start by separating the facts from the meaning you gave them. Together, we can look at where that knot begins to tighten.