EmPowered Couples with The Freemans

Stressful situations are inevitable, but how you handle them together can either strengthen or strain your relationship. In this episode, we talk about the kind of external stress that sneaks up on you: sick kids, surprise job changes, financial curveballs, or even your dog throwing up after eating crayons. But the real breakdown doesn’t come from the s...

What if the key to a deeper, more connected marriage wasn’t just about communicating more, but communicating in the right way? In this episode I sit down with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and bestselling author Charles Duhigg, whose newest book Supercommunicators breaks open the science of how real connection happens. We explore how couples often end up having two totally different types of conversations — practic...

With all the conflicting relationship advice floating around, like “you shouldn’t need your partner” versus “you should be able to lean on them emotionally”, it’s no wonder couples feel confused about what a healthy marriage really looks like. In this episode we unpack the real difference between codependence, hyper independence, and interdependence and why understanding where you and you...

What if being a happier couple had less to do with big changes—and everything to do with small, intentional daily habits? In this episode, we’re breaking down five simple but powerful actions that bring more connection, lightness, and emotional closeness into your marriage. These aren’t just “nice to do” ideas—these are the habits that shift the atmosphere in your relationship and help you feel like true teammates agai...

Women’s needs in marriage evolve—and if you're not paying attention to those changes, disconnection can creep in even when there’s love. This is especially true in the seasons of motherhood, when emotional, physical, and mental demands are at their highest.

In this week’s podcast episode, we break down the 5 key categories of needs most women have in marriage right now—especially mothers in the thick of pa...

It’s easy to assume that love alone should keep you feeling connected, but day-to-day life has a way of pulling couples apart without them even realizing it. In this episode, we break down why feeling loved and being committed are two different experiences — and what really determines whether you feel close or distant from your partner.

You'll learn the surprising factor that affects how you interpret ever...

Suppose that  something is bothering you about your partner. The two options are to express it or to suppress it. Likely you have had moments where you have chosen both options. At times when you have expressed it your partner received it well, other times it caused tension or even conflict. 

Over time maybe you have started to hold things in instead for the sake of keeping the peace. But then down the lin...

Marriage isn’t static; it evolves, and to thrive in it, you have to evolve too. Often, it’s the resistance to this truth, not just the circumstances you face, that makes marriage feel more difficult. Satisfaction goes down, frustration goes up. That’s why personal growth and self-awareness are non-negotiables in a long-term marriage.

“Throughout the course of your life, you will be married 2–3 times. For some, this will be to the same person.”This sentiment is becoming more widely recognized, and it means you need to be ready for your marriage to evolve. Those who aren’t ready (or who don’t accept this) often go through harder seasons and are more likely to split from their partners. We will all face difficult chapter...

You can love your spouse and still feel overwhelmed by the unspoken responsibilities constantly running through your mind. The mental load is the invisible to-do list in your head—and when roles and responsibilities feel imbalanced, it can quietly erode connection, create resentment, and impact intimacy.

In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Morgan Cutlip— author of the upcoming book A Better Share: How Cou...

This is the logical followup from last week’s episode about emotional intimacy differences, which is about maintaining physical intimacy with your partner the longer you are together. It might seem obvious to say that men and women are different in this area yet in this episode you will hear a breakdown of some of the modern challenges that lead to a decline in physical intimacy for men and women. Many of these things ...

Emotional intimacy is a key part of your having high satisfaction in your marriage. The challenge becomes maintaining this the longer you are together with your partner. There are a number of reasons for this that you will hear in this episode, one of the obvious ones being that each partner feels connection in different ways. 

In this episode you will hear a breakdown of the differences in emotional intim...

Things are going to happen in your life and marriage. When they do, are you on the same team or find that you turn against each other? This is one of the most important ideas when it comes to having a successful marriage. As hard as we try we just can’t avoid conflict or even external situations happening in our lives that we do not like. But the differnece for successful marriages is that they stay on the same team an...

Everyone should have the appropriate expectation that things in life won’t always be easy or go your way. This is the same in marriage. Having harder seasons of marriage is a part of the journey a couple needs to accept. Now these harder seasons can come from two places: external circumstances and from poor interactions of your own making! 

In this episode you will hear about the 3 changes that need to be ...

Set aside all the things you DO in your marriage and answer this question. Is your heart more open or closed to your partner? It is easy to get stuck in all of the tasks and responsibilities within a marriage and even think that getting these done is the main goal. But what is your experience like most of the time? You can get all your tasks done, but have a heart that is closed off to your partner and you experience d...

Last week was our LIVE Marriage Webclass on effective communication, de-escalating conflicts, and repairing after an argument. If you missed registering for that FREE event, you can still access the replay link here. There was so much that we covered that we did not have time to answer any of the questions pertaining to the Before, During, and After skills that we taught. 

So on today’s episode we will cov...

When you are not having the same type of conversation it is very easy to misunderstand each other. When there is misunderstanding it is easier to get frustrated and have the conversation escalate into a conflict. It is important to know which type of conversation you are having, a logical or emotional one, so that this doesn’t happen. 

As much as any one of us thinks we are logically minded people, there i...

Raising one’s emotional intelligence (EQ) is a critical factor in the long term satisfaction and maturity within a marriage. Without this, the depth of a couple’s connection will be limited and small emotional disruptions will turn into bigger conflicts (and likely never address the root cause). This is a term you have likely heard of before in terms of marriage and other important relationships in your life. But it ca...