From the Desk of Dana Nolan:

Because I closely monitor my teenage boys’ social media use, I was puzzled several months ago to find one of them refer to their new girlfriend as “Bae.” Concerned that this was something inappropriate, I investigated what it meant. I was relieved to find out that it is a acronym for “Before anyone else” and used like the term “baby” or “honey”…..Awe, isn’t that just sweet?

I do a lot of couples counseling in my practice and find it very sad to see and hear couples tear each other down in an effort to be “right.” They recount stories of their arguments where they verbally attack each other, call each other horrible names and even get physically aggressive. Defensiveness, contempt and dishonesty are all too common in unhealthy marriages. One client told me: “I don’t understand why my wife can be kind, generous and easygoing with neighbors, friends or even complete strangers, but then she comes home and begins to yell at me for not starting dinner or criticizing me for some other trivial issue. I am supposed to be the love of her life and I think she treats me worse than anyone else!” Day after day, couples who vowed to love, honor and cherish each other slowly descind into treating each other like the enemy.

One of the first steps in my marriage counseling sessions is to educate couples how detrimental it is to talk to each other with contempt, to call each other names, curse at each other or to treat their partner like they are lazy, stupid or ugly. Astoundingly, some couples tell me that being married means that you are allowed to talk to each other angrily or disrespectfully because you are together for better or for worse!

I really like the idea of “Bae” in committed relationships or marriage: The concept of putting your partner needs “before anyone else.” Of course, it only works when both people in the relationship make an effort to think of their partner before others. In the long run, I think its much more important that we treat our spouse/partner with respect and kindness and not care so much whether our neighbor thinks we are nice person. Our spouse is the one person we count on to be there for us through thick and thin, so it kind of makes sense that we treat our “bae” like we value their presence in our life.

Marriage is tough at times. Treating your spouse with kindness and respect is only one component of maintaining a healthy relationship. But, I promise that if you treat your partner like your “bae” that you will experience way more happiness than those couples who tear each other down!

For more information on how to improve your marriage (or serious relationship,) I highly recommend Dr. John Gottman’s book “The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work.” I trained with John Gottman several years ago and have found his work to be very helpful to couples who are williing to do a bit of work (i.e. CHANGE THEIR BAD HABITS) to improve their marriage.

Dana Nolan
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
Owner at Healthy Living Counseling