Relationship Cycles

Adri's aunt Rachel sent us a wonderfully thoughtful email on our wedding website, http://www.rocciwedding.com/, about the cycles and natural progressions of relationships. From the specific comment:

The Five Stages of a Committed Relationship: Everyone knows that relationships grow and change. What we don’t always realize is that their growth always tends to follow a natural progression. As our relationship develops, we naturally move from one stage to another. Although some of these stages are more pleasant than others, they are all essential to the ultimate fulfillment of every partnership. Understanding these natural stages helps us to work with them in the most constructive manner possible.

So, the stages are the Romantic Love Stage, the Power Struggle stage, the Doing stage and finally, the Being stage. It all made perfect sense. Adri and I agreed we are somewhere between the power struggle and the doing stage.

But, and there's always a BUT, now that we've identified that we are in the power struggle stage, we find ourselves clamping down even more. Before we knew what 'stage' we were in we were a bit confused about the emotional tug of war. Now that it is defined, I almost feel empowered for my struggle!

Does that make it worse or better? I hope it makes it better over time... but I hate butting heads with her!