When Intimacy Feels Like Another Task in Marriage — How to Shift the Energy & Reignite Desire: Episode 408
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Release Date: 08/05/2025
Honesty vs Transparency: The Missing Piece to Feeling Fully Secure and Emotionally Safe: Episode 434
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Most couples believe trust is built by being honest—by not lying, not hiding anything major, and generally doing what you say you’ll do. And while integrity absolutely matters, many couples are surprised to find that honesty alone still leaves gaps in connection, security, and emotional safety. You can be faithful, responsible, and well-intentioned… and yet your partner can still feel out of the loop, uncertain, or like something is being held back. That’s because honesty and transparency are not the same thing and that difference matters more in marriage than most couples realize....
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How to Handle Stress So it Doesn’t Negatively Impact Your Marriage: Episode 433
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Stress is unavoidable. Between the state of the world, work demands, parenting, and the pressure to keep everything running, most couples are carrying more than they realize. The problem isn’t stress itself, it’s how easily it spills into your marriage. When stress goes unmanaged, it shows up as tension, miscommunication, defensiveness, and feeling like you’re constantly behind or letting each other down. And suddenly, the relationship that should feel like support starts to feel like another source of pressure. In this episode, we talk about how stress moves through your life and into...
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Why Intimacy Can’t Be Deepened Without Inner Healing with Stefanos Sifandos: Episode 432
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
So many couples are trying to fix intimacy by focusing on communication tools, date nights, or changing their partner’s behavior—yet still feel disconnected. In this episode, we sit down with relationship educator and behavioral scientist Stefanos Sifandos to talk about why intimacy can’t truly deepen without inner healing first. Stefanos shares his own journey and breaks down a powerful framework from his new book, Tuned In and Turned On, explaining how unresolved shame, avoidance, and nervous-system patterns quietly block emotional and physical closeness. We explore why romantic...
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Resentment: How it Shows Up, Where it Stems From & How to Work Through it: Episode 431
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Resentment is one of those words people hesitate to claim because it sounds heavy, harsh, even a little scary. But the truth is, resentment doesn’t usually start with big blowups or dramatic moments. It builds quietly. You can still function well, take care of the kids, show up to work, even go on vacation… and yet something underneath gets triggered. It comes out in sharper arguments than expected, old issues resurfacing, an undertone of irritation, or a growing emotional distance you can’t quite put your finger on. In this episode, we talk about why resentment is far more common than...
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How to Stop Reacting to Each Other & Regulate Your Emotions Instead: Episode 430
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
So many couples tell us the same thing lately: “We don’t even feel like we’re choosing to react—it just happens.” It can be a tone, a look, or a comment that lands wrong. And suddenly you’re responding to each other’s stress instead of actually talking about what’s going on. When this becomes the norm, marriage starts to feel exhausting. Not because of big issues, but because you’re unintentionally dysregulating each other in everyday moments. What should be simple conversations turn tense, and it leaves both people feeling misunderstood, defensive, or shut down. In this...
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Debriefing a Moment that Could Have Escalated For Us, But Became a Healing Conversation: Episode 429
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Sometimes it’s not the big issues that unravel a marriage, it’s the small, everyday moments that quietly stack up. A comment said with the wrong tone. A boundary expressed when stress is already high. A familiar frustration bubbling up again. In this episode, we walk you through a real moment from our own marriage that easily could have turned into a fight, especially in a season where we’re trying to leave old patterns behind and start the year differently. If you’ve ever thought, “Why does this keep happening?” or felt discouraged that the same tension keeps resurfacing, this...
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Falling in Love vs Staying in Love: The Science of Maintaining Your Romantic Connection Over Time: Episode 428
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
It’s easy to look at movies or social media and wonder why love once felt effortless, and now feels quieter, more routine, or even distant. No one prepares you for the reality that long-term love doesn’t stay fueled by novelty and adrenaline forever. As relationships mature, biology shifts, responsibilities increase, and especially after kids, connection can slowly give way to comfort… or worse, roommate energy. If you’ve ever thought, “Something’s missing, but I don’t know what,” this episode is for you. In this conversation, we unpack what’s actually happening beneath the...
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3 Places to be More Loving so Your Partner Feels More Loved: Episode 427
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Most couples want to feel more loved, appreciated, and connected. But the way we go about it often backfires. We wait until we’re running on empty to tell our partner what we need, and in that vulnerable moment, it’s easy for things to slip into defensiveness or comparison. This episode flips that dynamic entirely. Instead of focusing on what your partner isn’t doing, we explore the powerful shift of going first—initiating repair, creating small moments of connection, and becoming the kind of loving presence that naturally evokes more love in return. We’ll walk you through three...
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Do This “End of Year Check-in” Now to Get Aligned and Connected Before 2026: Episode 426
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
Most couples glide into the new year on autopilot, sometimes with excitement and optimism, hoping things will feel different, more connected, less chaotic… yet they end up repeating the same patterns that make it feel the same as last year . In this episode, we’re giving you one of the most powerful “end-of-year check-in” conversations we use with our private coaching clients. It’s a guided reset that helps you break out of routine, reconnect with each other’s dreams and needs, and get aligned before January even begins. Think of this episode as your personal coaching session; one...
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What is Emotional Intimacy, Really? and How to Create More of it: Episode 425
EmPowered Couples with The Freemans
So many couples love each other deeply… yet still feel disconnected. They talk every day, but the conversations revolve around schedules, responsibilities, and what needs to get done next. In this episode, we’re unpacking why emotional intimacy often fades in long-term relationships, not because the love is gone, but because genuine connection isn’t being fed. You’ll learn what emotional intimacy actually is (in practical, real-life terms), why so many partners misunderstand it, and the surprising psychology behind why couples get stuck in surface-level communication. Then we’ll walk...
info_outlineIs it normal for intimacy to feel like another item on your to-do list? You love your partner, but between parenting, exhaustion, and unspoken resentment… desire can fade.
In this episode, we're unpacking why intimacy feels like an obligation — and how to shift the emotional and physical energy in your marriage so that you both actually want it again.
We share real stories, emotional dynamics, and practical shifts that help couples go from feeling like roommates to rekindling passion — even in the busiest seasons of life.
Topics we cover in this episode:
-Emotional disconnection vs desire
-Why frequency isn’t the real issue
-How to rebuild emotional and physical intimacy
-Shifting from “obligation” to “wanting” again
Relationship resources:
Ready to reconnect and reignite the spark? Join our 30-Day Special Edition Couples Challenge — The Best of Us (only open 3x a year):
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New episodes weekly to help you communicate better, resolve conflicts, and stay on the SAME TEAM.
Episode timestamps:
00:00 – The real reason intimacy feels like a chore
00:28 – A typical day that drains your connection
01:28 – Intimacy isn’t just about frequency
02:08 – Emotional & physical disconnection = exhaustion
03:36 – Intimacy should fuel your life, not feel like an obligation
05:12 – What makes marriage different from other relationships
06:07 – Why passion fades (and how to bring it back)
07:06 – From obligatory intimacy to real desire
08:02 – The role of stress, overstimulation, and exhaustion
10:17 – Are you ignoring intimacy too long?
11:03 – Hormones, life seasons & libido shifts
12:10 – How unresolved tension blocks intimacy
13:00 – Top 5 blocks to intimacy (from our survey)
14:04 – Is intimacy actually enjoyable for both of you?
15:09 – Why honest intimacy check-ins matter
15:48 – Emotional tone shift #1: warmth, eye contact & presence
17:00 – Emotional coldness kills desire
19:00 – Micro habits that warm up emotional intimacy
20:08 – Shift #2: Physical touch outside the bedroom
21:36 – Shift #3: Initiation & anticipation matter
23:35 – Why women must also participate in creating desire
25:06 – Dating energy vs marriage complacency
26:35 – Would your dating self get a “yes” today?
27:53 – Shift #4: Intimacy starts outside the bedroom
29:19 – Check-ins and parenting stress affect desire too
30:12 – The power of fun and play in rekindling intimacy
31:27 – Relaxation and play spark openness
32:18 – Why our “Best of Us” Challenge is perfect for this
33:03 – Intimacy should be enjoyable — not expected
33:35 – Stop forcing frequency. Focus on connection instead.
34:13 – Subscribe + get ready for our upcoming Q&A episode