Build a Thriving Partnership at Home

(upbeat music) Headspace Studio. Hi, this is Dr. Latifah Watford, and welcome to Radio Headspace into Thursday morning. As you know, this week is all about navigating major life transitions, and today we're talking about when you take the step to living with someone else, cohabitation. Look, I've met with a lot of people over the years, and something I think that people really overlook is how to properly transition into living with their partner. Unfortunately, when people come to me or people like me, it's because there's a problem, and while a lot of it has to do with compatibility, there are definitely things people need to think about and things that they can do to make that move a bit easier. So moving in together is a big step for a variety of reasons. It literally means you are combining your life with someone else's. That's a huge change for most of us. I remember when I first moved in with my husband, we realized there was still a lot to figure out, like how are we gonna split the bills? Or what chores are we gonna be responsible for? Or perhaps how do we manage our very busy schedules, but also include time for us? One of the things that now makes me laugh, but at the time was kind of a big deal to me, was the chore thing. You see, I grew up in a household where taking the trash out was the boy's job. So when I came home, I expected that my then boyfriend would've taken the trash out. Now, don't get me wrong, he usually did, but he seemed to be more of a equal opportunity take the trash out kind of person than I was for sure. In fact, I remember one time he very gently kind of in passing said, hey, babe, when you go out, can you take the trash out? I can tell you right now, I remember to this day, I stopped and turned and looked at him and was just blown away that he would have the audacity to ask me to take the trash out. Now, that could have exploded into a huge argument and fight, fortunately, it did not. Because apparently the way I looked at him was funny, so he just started laughing, which instantly diffused my confusion and irritability. But then it also led to us talking. I very simply said, trash going out is a boy's job, to which he said, a boy's job? So does that mean you gonna do all the cooking and cleaning? That made me realize how ridiculous I was being about trash and boys' job, and gender roles. But we did agree that trash is going to be a boy's job, but we also agreed to some other flexible things around our chores. Most importantly, we talked about it and we figured out a system that worked for us. So if you've made that move or...