I believe that communicating with a partner about everything and anything is important and it is something that I want in a relationship.

My partner is great at talking with me about lots of subjects: money, our kids, home improvements but when it comes to areas that are important to only me: my career, my body, my birthday celebrations etc he has very little patience. He gets easily irritated and frustrated and wants to shut down the communication about these topics as quickly as possibly. This makes me feel like he is dismissing my feelings.

This also makes things difficult because we often have to make decisions about these topics ie: who I am going to work for and how that will impact our family, and therefore I want us to be able to have an open and honest discussion about the topic without him cutting it short because he’s ‘done’ talking about it.

I realise I have a manual for him. But I also feel like it’s a request upon which I guess I can manage my emotional response. I have just sent a request to him asking him to be more patient with me when discussing topics that are important to me. I have not yet received a response. Is this emotional adulthood or am I still trying to control him to conform with my manual?