I love exercise. I run every day, regularly work out, and go to spin classes. It's the only way I've found to keep my mental health in check (I've struggled with severe PTSD symptoms from a childhood accident), and it's great for my physical health. I like the way I look and how strong I feel. My fiancé also likes the way I look, but he wants me to spend less time at the gym.
My boyfriend has trichotillomania (he pulls out his beard and mustache hairs when he's anxious or bored without thinking about it). He considers it to be relatively mild because it has never caused any serious physical harm like an infection, and while I've suggested that therapy might help, he thinks that the stress of finding a therapist will just make it worse, but that is an issue for another letter.
Jake and Alma had yet another argument about money-budgets, who was spending what-but, like the others, it led to nowhere productive. But for other couples, it might not be about money but sex, or children's bedtimes. What they all have in common is that problems are not being resolved. This, unfortunately, is a common problem and pattern that, over time, can erode the relationship. These unsolved problems act as landmines that everyone learns to walk around, but which create an atmosphere of ongoing tension.