It's OK If Your Romantic Partner Doesn't Keep Up With What You Do At Work
How much does your partner need to know about what you do at work every day to be supportive? This polarizing question has many answers depending on what supporting and being supported by a romantic partner feels like to you.
Take a writer’s career, as did one recent viral tweet. If you have published work, does your partner need to make a concerted effort to read it? Writer Morgan Jerkins said yes.
Writers, do not date or invest any significant amount of energy into a person who does not read your work.
— Morgan Jerkins (@MorganJerkins) January 13, 2020
For some, this advice resonated.
Real talk…I knew my marriage was over when he stopped reading my work. In the beginning he couldn’t wait to dive in. And then he just…always had something more important to do. https://t.co/Ws01ZiMFLn
— A Cat In The Lonesome October (@catvalente) January 15, 2020
Others disagreed.
FYI... I've been married for 18 years a man who does not read my work. It hasn't hurt my career or my marriage.
There are so many other ways to support a writer.
He prioritizes my writing time. He ask the right questions. He's happy for my successes & sympathetic for the rest. https://t.co/2f8aA6Va7m— Mary Robinette Kowal (@MaryRobinette) January 13, 2020
Writing is just one kind of career, though. If you have any sort of job and a romantic relationship, deciding how much or how little to share about what either of you do at work is bound to come up.
HuffPost talked with an executive coach and a couples therapist about how partners can support each other’s career and what to say when you’re not getting what you need.
There’s no rule for how your partner needs to support you, but there should be agreement.
When people want their partner to know the latest on the drama at their workplace or the details of what they produced this week, that may be because they like to integrate their work and personal relationships. “We spend so much of our lives at work that it sometimes seems odd...
