Irina Zhuravleva

Here’s the strange truth about attraction: an avoidant person is pulled toward closeness as desperately as they need air, yet they recoil from it as...

Your body tells the truth about relationships in ways your mind often won’t. While you rationalize their inconsistent behavior, try to explain away their emotional...

People with avoidant tendencies seldom repeat “I love you” a hundred times a day, yet that fact doesn’t mean their feelings are shallow. Quite the...

Do you ever notice something almost nobody will admit aloud? Some of the cruelest forms of harm in close relationships are quiet, nonphysical, and they...

Listen: marriage can sometimes feel even lonelier than single life, and it’s easy to be swept up in the fairy-tale emotions of the wedding day....

Have you ever loved someone who withdraws each time closeness grows? Someone who appears composed on the outside, yet you can sense the quiet tempests...

All right — many ask for communication strategies that actually help their partner hear them without becoming defensive, shutting down, or erupting. This is a...

Few things shape the quality of life more than the condition of our closest relationships. Keep in mind that a year from now your relational...

Have you ever known you were being mistreated and reacted by trying to become exactly who you thought the other person wanted? Changing yourself completely...

Many people insist that they should never have to change for their partner. To be clear: change is often necessary. As Tim Keller observes in...

People fall in love every day — it’s effortless and happens to anyone with a heartbeat — but staying in love is a different challenge....

Have you ever spoken up in a group and felt like no one registered your words, only to hear someone else repeat the exact same...

If you take a look at the people you keep inviting into your life — friends, partners, coworkers, landlords — and notice an unusually large...

What Kelly is trying to convey, as I understand it, is that she needs more affection from you that isn’t sexual. I’m sorry — did...

You may believe you’re prepared for a true, committed relationship, but if you keep pouring all your emotional and romantic energy into someone who is...

When someone with an avoidant attachment realizes you’ve stopped caring, everything shifts — their sense of control falters, their world becomes unsteady, and today I’ll...

Anger is an instinctive emotion; it exists to prompt action when you face danger, humiliation, or injustice. It motivates you to resist, to speak up,...

How can someone know if an avoidant person actually feels regret about losing them when no words are spoken? Pause on that — it’s the...

Men — a fair warning: at some point in a healthy relationship your partner will approach you from a place of vulnerability, asking or hinting...

Why does she appear to get on my nerves even more when I have to wrap up work at home? For instance, I might be...

Have you ever paused to ask what finally makes someone with avoidant tendencies stop running? Like, what moment pushes them to confront themselves, do the...

You follow every piece of advice you’re given—go to therapy, practice breathing, stay optimistic, exercise, repeat affirmations, be gentle with others, grieve, honor your feelings—yet...

Okay — imagine you bring up something that matters to you in a calm, respectful way, but your partner still reacts as if you’ve attacked...

We triple-dare you to bring up these questions the next time an argument erupts. Are you seriously that upset? I’m fired up, man — there’s...