Dear Jeremy,
I am a blue married to a white and we are so struggling. Any tips for us?
Linda
Hello, Linda. I’m so sorry to hear that you are struggling. That is heartbreaking, but I ABSOLUTELY have some tips for you that can help if you are both open to hearing them.
First of all, I obviously don’t know you or your husband and we haven’t talked specifically about what is going on, so I’m going to speak in more general terms here. Whenever advising couples, the first questions I have to ask is “Do you both know the Color Code? Have you both taken the assessment, and have you read the book?”
I know sometimes one spouse is willing to do the reading and the other is not. In classic Blue/White couples, the Blue is generally more into self-improvement, but to the credit of Whites, they are introspective and interested enough a lot of times to do the reading as well as long as they don’t feel like you are forcing it on them. They are also very objective, which means that they will give what they learn a chance. I think that you could be in a very good situation in that regard.
The reason that I feel this is an important step one is that often times people gain such great clarity on both themselves (personal self-awareness) and on their partner. That clarity in and of itself can help unravel a lot of common misunderstandings and areas where just by nature, Blues and Whites see things differently. Sometimes that awareness can really aid in helping both parties to let go of petty grievances that really aren’t as important as they had previously seemed.
Now, let me get into some common dynamics of the Blue/White relationship and maybe give you some tangible tips that you can begin to work with. I’ll primarily address these to you, as you are the one who asked the question, but I’ll include the White perspective as well.
Generally speaking, the Blue/White relationship is pretty compatible. The reason why is that there is typically not a power struggle unless the White moves to stubbornness. Blues like to be in charge and are generally more controlling, and Whites focus more on controlling only themselves and refusing to be controlled by others. Both are typically quite well-mannered and strive to treat people with respect. Blues bring the compassionate side to that equation (with lots of heart), and the Whites balance things nicely with a lot of kindness and diplomacy.
This relationship, of course, can also go awry in certain ways. For example, Blue women a lot of times can begin to view their White husbands as being too lazy, stubborn, or non-committal. Whites husband can begin to view their wives as being too much of a “nag” or overly controlling/emotional and smothering. Incidentally, this doesn’t happen as much in the same relationship when the gender roles are reversed, though it still could.
When the relationship hits bumps in the road, the Blue, by instinct, wants to control things more tightly and demands more intimacy and connection from the White. The White views this as irrational, emotional control and wants to push back by digging in and becoming stubborn. So, the Blue pushes more, and the White pulls back more, and away they go.
My main suggestion to you:
I’ll put down some suggestions for Whites as well, though it might not be the best idea to hand these to your husband directly – at least not at first. If your husband were asking the question, however, this is how I would respond:
Thank you so much for your question on Facebook, Linda. I really hope that my answer can help you somewhat. If you need a recommendation of a counselor who understands Color Code, we can help you with that as well. As a family man myself, I understand how critical this relationship is for you, and I truly believe that the Color Code can help with a lot of it – especially in creating some more mutual understanding. You can start with that and use it as a building block to take your next several steps forward. You can do this!
Very best of living,
Jeremy Daniel