A mother was left stranded at the airport with two toddlers and heavy luggage when her husband, Tom, promised to return in a few hours but never showed.
“Are you serious, Tom?” she asked over the phone, managing frustrated children. Tom replied dismissively, “You’ve got this.”
Frustrated, she decided to teach Tom a lesson during his poker night. She set everything up perfectly and then left, telling him, “You’ll manage, right?” Hours later, a frantic text from Tom read, “The kids are driving me crazy!” She returned to a chaotic house, and Tom admitted, “I don’t know how you do it.”
This led to an honest conversation about responsibilities. Tom apologized, “I’m sorry for leaving you alone,” and promised to be more involved. Over time, he started helping more with daily tasks, and the family noticed the positive change.
To make amends, Tom planned a family trip to a cabin in the mountains, handling every detail. The trip was a success, strengthening their bond. Tom said, “I want to make sure we keep this balance.”
Looking back, the airport incident was a blessing in disguise, teaching them about communication and partnership. Their love emerged stronger, with Tom promising, “I’m in this for the long haul.”
Interesting to read
An unexpected reason why you often have nightmares
We share why you may see frightening dreams, and how to bring your sleep back to normal.
It is important to sleep for at least six hours – after all, this is the key to an active day and good overall health. However, it is not so much the duration of sleep that is important, but its quality.
And one of the factors that makes sleep unbearable is constant nightmares. They are different: sometimes we wake up in the middle of the night with a terrible feeling, sometimes we wake up in the morning, but do not feel at all that we have slept, and sometimes after nightmares, people experience a rejection of sleep as such, which turns into insomnia. In general, in any case, it is important to eliminate nightmares from your life, but how to do it?
Dr. Colin Hesse from Oregon State University is sure that the main cause of nightmares is loneliness: “When people’s need for strong relationships is not met, they suffer physically, mentally and socially. Just as hunger or fatigue means that you haven’t gotten enough calories or sleep, loneliness has evolved to warn people that they need to meet their needs for interpersonal relationships.”
So, according to Hesse, loneliness affects our sleep for several reasons:
When our needs for communication are not met, we start to think too much about unpleasant things, worry, and feel on the verge of a nervous breakdown. And these thoughts mostly occur during the period of going to bed, since this is the time when nothing distracts us and we are alone with ourselves. Thus, before going to bed, we reach a certain level of stress, and the psyche must somehow process it. And in order to do this, the brain creates nightmares, since we need to vent all the fear of loneliness and negative emotions somewhere, and also get a discharge.
In addition, if we are alone, then fears, dreams, and thoughts begin to accumulate only in our heads. Accordingly, they do not find an outlet during the day, and nightmares only intensify (read also: What sounds help you fall asleep faster, overcome stress and feel more confident).
It should be said that the findings about the connection between nightmares and loneliness are confirmed by research. Colin Hesse asked respondents several questions: “How often do you feel that you lack communication?” and “How often do you feel lonely?” In addition, the study participants rated the frequency of their nightmares on a five-point scale. The results showed that people who often feel a lack of communication and other people’s presence also often experience nightmares. And those respondents who could not complain about loneliness were distinguished by good sleep.
If you also believe that your communication needs are not met, psychologists advise finding friends with similar interests – after all, this is the easiest way to find like-minded people with whom you will definitely have something to talk about. Another option to get your share of communication is to get a pet. This way you will satisfy your need for care and empathy (read also: Nothing is working out: 10 reasons why you can’t find friends (but it’s fixable)).
