Episode 111 : Running on Empty : Why Exhausted Couples Drift Apart | Dr. Greg Smalley
Why Busy, Exhausted Marriages Drift and How to Reconnect Without Grand Gestures
One of the biggest myths about marriage is that relationships fall apart because of conflict. In reality, most marriages don’t implode. They slowly drift. Not because couples don’t love each other but because they’re tired. Overextended. Running on fumes. Giving each other leftovers at the end of the day and hoping things magically improve when life “calms down.”
In Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Greg Smalley, Vice President of Marriage at Focus on the Family, we explored what actually pulls couples apart and what quietly brings them back together.
The answer surprised no one who’s lived real life.
Exhaustion Turns Your Spouse Into a Threat
When couples talk about feeling disconnected, Greg pointed to something he sees over and over again: exhaustion.
Not dramatic betrayal…
Not lack of commitment…
Just chronic depletion…
When you’re worn out, empty, and stretched thin, even reasonable needs from your spouse can feel overwhelming. You’re an adult and you need something from me? I have nothing left to give. That’s when marriages slip into autopilot. Couples start hoping the relationship will “survive this season” while they pour energy into work, kids, responsibilities, and survival mode. The problem? That season rarely ends on its own. Greg shared a powerful reframing: when we’re empty, our spouse feels like a threat not a partner. And no marriage thrives in survival mode.
Why Filling Your Own Cup Isn’t Selfish It’s Essential
One of the most countercultural truths Greg shared is this: your marriage cannot be your primary source of emotional fuel. Two exhausted people cannot create a healthy marriage. That’s not how math works relationally. Instead, Greg and his wife, Erin, have learned to ask each other two simple but transformative questions:
What gives you rest in this season?
What brings you life right now?
Those answers change over time. What rested you at 30 may not work at 50. What lit you up before kids may look different now. For Greg, rest comes through music, worship, prayer, and spiritual grounding. Erin has her own rhythms that refill her cup. Neither expects the other to be their source of sustenance. When individuals are full, the marriage stops feeling like a drain and starts feeling like a gift.
Identity Is Stable and Always Changing
Here’s one of the paradoxes of marriage: we’re called to know ourselves, but we’re also constantly changing. Greg shared a tender example how a single phone call about his father-in-law entering hospice instantly changed who his wife was in that moment. Grief reshapes identity. Transitions reshape needs. Life reshapes how love needs to be expressed. If we don’t stay curious about who our spouse is becoming, we end up loving an outdated version of them.
Curiosity sounds like:
Who are you now?
What’s harder for you lately?
How can I love you better in this season?
This kind of attentiveness keeps couples emotionally current instead of emotionally distant.
Small Daily Connections Matter More Than Big Romantic Gestures
When couples feel disconnected, the instinct is often to wait for something big:
The next vacation
The next holiday
The next date night
The next time life slows down
Greg gently dismantled that idea.
A marriage can’t survive from vacation to vacation. That puts too much pressure on grand gestures and not enough attention on everyday connection. Instead, Greg and Erin rely on something incredibly simple: a daily ten-minute check-in.
They call it the High/Low game. At some point in the day dinner, bedtime, whenever they ask:
What was the high of your day?
What was the low of your day?
That’s it. Ten minutes. No fixing. No lecturing. Just listening. Those small micro-moments of connection do more for intimacy than any expensive trip ever could.
Playfulness Is a Skill, Not a Personality Trait
Another misconception couples carry is that fun and playfulness should come naturally. Greg was clear: even in marriages that value humor, it still takes intention. For him and Erin, that looks like inside jokes, shared glances, funny reels, ridiculous stories, and laughing at the absurdities of daily life like accidentally attending a stranger’s PTA meeting instead of bunco. Playfulness doesn’t require energy you don’t have. It requires attention to moments you already live. And laughter, even brief laughter, reminds couples that they’re on the same team.
The Marriage Skill That Changes Everything
If Greg had to name one skill that keeps marriages from drifting, it wouldn’t be communication techniques or conflict strategies. It would be curiosity.
Curiosity keeps couples learning….
Curiosity keeps them humble…
Curiosity keeps them emotionally current…
When curiosity stays alive, intimacy follows, Because the strongest marriages aren’t built on perfection or performance. They’re built on two people who keep asking, “Who are you now and how can I love you here?” And sometimes, that starts with just ten minutes and one simple question at the end of the day.
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Welcome back everybody to Marriage IQ.
Scott and I are really happy to have you here with us today as we continue the second part of our episode with Doctor Greg Smalley.
He's from Focus on the Family, the vice president over the marriage section of that great organization that supports families and marriage.
1:27
He's been so great in episode 1 to share with us some of the funny stories and very personal stories about his own marriage, the good and the bad parts of it, as well as the legacy that he comes from, which is very fascinating.
And we actually had a tattoo.
1:43
So if you haven't listened to that part yet, go ahead and go back and listen to Part 1.
In that episode, he talked about the value of humor and of conflict versus repair.
And it's not so much that we need relationships without conflict as much as we need relationships where we really know how to prepare.
2:01
We talked quite a bit about curiosity, too.
So we hope that everyone will enjoy the rest of this episode and welcome again Doctor Greg Smalley.
2:11
Speaker 1
My oldest daughter on her 3rd wedding anniversary, her husband they were going out to, she's thinking we're going to celebrate three years and he used that as a time to tell her he's met someone else.
It was done.
What?
Yeah.
So Aaron and I were on a date night.
2:28
Speaker 2
Back up, back up.
Wait.
Yeah, this is your wait.
Your your daughter.
2:31
Speaker 1
This is my oldest daughter who so three years.
2:34
Speaker 3
Taught everything about marriage and probably the son-in-law.
Oh.
2:38
Speaker 2
My gosh.
2:39
Speaker 1
That's Oh yeah.
2:40
Speaker 2
That's like a punch in the chest.
2:43
Speaker 1
Oh my goodness.
I mean, honestly, we were at a dueling piano concert, Aaron and I date night.
She gets the call, answers it, and you can just see by her face.
I mean, Aaron goes, honey, I what are you saying?
I can't understand you.
You're crying like what are you saying?
2:58
And we went out in the lobby and found out that he disaster for divorce and I so over the course of time I went to him and I said, listen, here's the deal.
The covenant that you have between you and Taylor and God is it's a big deal.
3:15
Let's put that aside.
You told me that you would never do this.
I told you guys were going to hit a really hard seasons and you assured me, you gave me your word that you would fight and that you would work through that, you'd get help.
And so I said you owe me a year.
3:33
I felt like you know, whoever in the Bible you know, you owe me 7 years, whatever.
But I said you owe me a year.
You will get help.
You will go to an intensive and then you will have weekly marriage counseling.
And if after one year you still want to divorce my daughter, then I release you.
3:50
I never saw that guy again.
So obviously I have no power of persuasion whatsoever.
But all this to say.
So this was a young man I loved, gave him my blessing, Aaron.
And I did.
He said all the right things.
4:06
And I believe in his heart when he assured me that he would never leave, that he would fight for his marriage with my daughter, that he meant every bit of that.
But I got super cynical and my middle daughter's now husband, when he came to ask, I said, here's the deal.
4:24
I said I wrote there, it's like 12 questions that every father and mother should ask their future son-in-law.
Like I wrote the book about that.
And I said, I don't even know what to ask you because you're going to tell me what I want to hear.
4:40
You're going to tell me what you think is the right thing.
I'm not buying it.
And I feel bad.
Now, looking back.
Yeah, I was so hurt by that that I was very cynical.
And I would say now.
So let me try to bring this back to what we were talking about, that I think instead of asking someone, will you fight?
5:00
Will you stay?
Will you not leave my daughter?
Instead, you look for evidence that they're teachable, that they're humble enough to have gotten help, that they've gone in to get counseling.
Like to me, commitment in truly exhibiting commitment is your, the the fact you've already reached out, you have mentors, you have counselors, you're curious.
5:23
So let's see, I'm bringing this back.
You're like, where are we going?
Where is this?
5:28
Speaker 3
Guy going oh, this is.
5:29
Speaker 1
Great.
But I see that's actually a stronger predictor for commitment.
If you're thinking about wanting to marry someone or if your appearance looking to give this young man your blessing, That's what you should be looking for.
Not saying, hey, you're going to stay with her with him, whatever for your life.
5:48
I get it like they they mean it.
But the stronger I think evidence is that I'm teachable and that I pursue knowledge.
And that's evidence that you're getting help in your reading.
And that's what I started to then ask in in my middle daughter's now husband.
6:07
That's where I went with him is to say show me how you pursue growth in your life and you're willing to be humble enough to say I don't have all the answers, so let me go to council and let me get a mentor.
Let me read.
And he had done that in spades.
6:25
And so again, I hate that we keep bringing it all back in, making Scott look like the hero that he is, obviously.
6:34
Speaker 3
But you're right like that.
6:36
Speaker 1
Right in mine now let's yeah, he's a harp wielding hero highlight now with with your brilliance around curiosity.
But I think that's another way that it plays out, that curiosity means that I don't have all the answers.
And I want to keep growing and learning and I'm willing to get help and to ask and to do that kind of stuff.
6:56
So I'll stop talking about it.
You got me all riled up.
7:00
Speaker 3
We love that you think he plays the harp.
Well, you should hear him play the piano.
Really.
In our pre marriage days he composed classical piano music.
7:11
Speaker 1
What?
7:11
Speaker 3
And I just couldn't resist him.
7:15
Speaker 1
How do you keep your hands off him like I?
Should we end this now and just let you guys have some private time to wow, I'm impressed.
7:25
Speaker 3
He did play last night.
He was upstairs playing while I was down in my office for a little bit and some Christmas music.
7:33
Speaker 1
Or love songs.
7:34
Speaker 2
No, I, I'm, I'm working on some.
I have to get some things memorized by the end of the year.
7:38
Speaker 3
To meet these goals, some.
7:40
Speaker 2
Of Debbie C and Rachmaninoff so.
7:43
Speaker 1
Wow, I don't know what that is or what it would sound like, but I'm sure it'll be amazing and it's good for you.
And I feel like a complete inadequate failure in my life now, so I'll need to spend some time asking God what's true.
7:56
Speaker 2
No.
7:57
Speaker 1
Look at sky.
No, no, look at me.
8:01
Speaker 3
You've got 30 years of your own path.
8:05
Speaker 2
I've written zero books.
8:06
Speaker 3
Wonderful things, Greg.
8:08
Speaker 1
Well, you just.
8:09
Speaker 3
Does that make us a failure?
8:10
Speaker 1
Music and yeah, no, it just means you invested in things will actually make you money, so that's good for you.
8:18
Speaker 2
Playing the piano does not.
8:20
Speaker 1
Make.
8:21
Speaker 3
Me money it could.
8:22
Speaker 1
Dueling pianos.
See I.
8:24
Speaker 2
Don't like?
8:25
Speaker 1
To see that.
8:26
Speaker 2
That is a great idea, The dueling piano Bar.
I think we're going to, we're going to be.
8:31
Speaker 1
Triggering for me now, but whatever.
8:33
Speaker 3
Back in the 90s, about the same time we got those tapes, he somehow connected with Apple Orchard or something like that, some company to try to publicize his CD that he recorded and we just kind of lost track of them.
But somehow it's showing up on Spotify and.
8:50
Speaker 1
It's a really.
8:52
Speaker 3
Probably Apple.
8:52
Speaker 2
I'm on spot.
8:53
Speaker 3
Everything he's never gotten a payment for.
8:55
Speaker 2
Anything they don't pay me a dime.
I right?
8:57
Speaker 1
But, well, I don't.
8:59
Speaker 2
I don't know.
9:00
Speaker 1
Blesses your heart, I don't.
9:01
Speaker 3
Need to stop.
9:02
Speaker 2
The money, I mean.
9:03
Speaker 1
Can I, can I hire him to do the new music for the relaunch of those videos that started the whole program?
9:10
Speaker 2
See, that's so funny.
That's great.
Great memories.
9:13
Speaker 3
He moved on to different things, but we got a guy there.
9:17
Speaker 1
You go I yeah, I'm impressed.
It's.
9:20
Speaker 3
Funny.
Yeah, he's he's amazing.
9:22
Speaker 1
I feel like we need to spend some time affirming Heidi though, so I feel like we've done a lot of scod affirmations.
9:30
Speaker 2
I don't like a spotlight.
9:33
Speaker 3
Neither of us do.
I'm more comfortable with him being in the spotlight.
9:37
Speaker 1
But well, that's amazing of you see, that's who you are.
That's the brilliance of who you are.
9:43
Why Empty Cups Can't Build a Healthy Marriage
What I hear you saying, Greg, is that it's important to prioritize the marriage.
Wait, what?
9:54
Speaker 1
Did you write that?
Is that one of you?
Did you compose that?
That's pretty impressive.
9:59
Speaker 2
Busy, busy, busy.
That's all we seem to be these days.
Busy, busy, busy.
10:04
Speaker 3
We are.
10:05
Speaker 2
We wearing like a badge of honor.
10:07
Speaker 3
We hear a lot of people, too, say I don't know anybody who puts their marriage before their kids.
10:16
Speaker 2
What you you think marriages should be more prioritized than kids?
10:21
Speaker 3
What do you think, Greg?
10:22
Speaker 1
Well, I feel and hear and sense the sarcasm with the snarky response from Scott.
So I think the right answer is you're absolutely right that people do that.
Like when I think about what causes the drift, I'd go first and foremost to exhaustion.
10:41
And I just think we, we should see so many couples who are so worn out, empty if nothing to give.
And So what maybe we give is leftovers at best.
But the problem is that when you're empty and exhausted, you look to your spouse and they're a threat.
10:58
Like, wait, you're an adult and you're telling me you need something.
We need something like the threat is I have nothing more to give.
So kind of.
So you take care of you.
Let's hope and pray that our marriage stays on autopilot and survives this busy season because certainly next year, next month, next week will be better.
11:20
And it never is in So when we prioritize our kids, our work, hobbies in everything.
True.
Like all these things.
I think first of all, the individuals suffer because we don't do a very good job.
11:36
I think as a culture, especially a Christian culture of understanding, how do I make sure I'm taking good care of me as an individual so that I'm full, so that I have something to give my spouse.
And that's why Aaron and I, we've really leaned into going, OK, this whole idea about taking care of you.
11:57
Let's just make this simple.
Like, what do we do?
And so we actively try to understand for each other, like the individuals, like what gives us rest and what brings us life.
And so for me, me, and when I'm listening to praise and worship music or when I've got music on of some sort now it's only going to be Scott Hasty music.
12:21
So that'll soothe and relax.
12:24
Speaker 3
Me, a window to the soul.
12:26
Speaker 1
Right, exactly.
But there is something about understanding in this season what helps me rest and then also at the same time going in this season, what brings me life, what gives me passion and helps my heart come alive.
12:43
I think when we devote time as individuals to doing those things, that's what fills us up.
And that's why we read the Bible, we spend time at church, we pray.
That's the stuff that keeps me full.
Not Aaron.
She is.
12:58
I always tell people I love my wife.
I want to spend my entire life.
I told her that I'm dying first so I don't have to live a moment without her.
But I don't need my wife, I need God.
He's the one that sustains me and fills me and He's the source and I want to go to Him.
13:17
So when we talk about, you know, the pop psyche kind of show of care, all we're saying plug into the Lord and find ways that gives you rest and life and allow Him to help you stay full.
Now I can turn around and my wife's no longer a threat.
13:34
My kids are a threat.
I have something to give up, you know, 2 healthy full individuals Creed a strong marriage, 2 negatives in math equal positive.
That's that's horrible math in a marriage because two negatives worn out, empty people will never create any sort of healthy, fulfilling marriage.
13:56
So I think it's combating that the busyness that we see everybody is into.
14:02
Speaker 3
So what you're really saying is the marriage can't come very first?
What needs to come very first is filling our own cup, making sure that we aren't showing up exhausted, which really makes sense because we always talk about self differentiation, that we need to have that individuality and it doesn't probably need to take a lot of time.
14:25
Embracing Constant Change and Spousal Curiosity
That doesn't mean that.
14:26
Speaker 2
It takes a lifetime I.
14:27
Speaker 3
Love a little at a time.
14:28
Speaker 2
I never fully know who I am well, although we teach identity very strongly on this program.
14:34
Speaker 3
So we may need to ask ourselves, what is it as part of developing our identity that helps me feel rested?
What is it that lights me up?
And put more of that into our lives?
14:47
Speaker 1
Because it changes, right?
Who I wasn't 20, very different than who I wasn't 30 and 40.
I always say when Aaron shares that, she's like, it's different than who I-40 and then who I was again at 30.
So somehow she seems to lose years.
15:03
I don't know how that works.
But right, we all change in obviously our identity is rooted in in who we are as a image bearer is a son of the most high.
But through life, I've got to keep up with how am I changing in this new season?
15:21
Like just before I got on to this podcast with you guys, you know, my wife's got a call from Hospice where her dad is just at the final stages of his life.
Well, it between this moment and when I get home, my wife is a different person, right?
15:41
Just that reality of because her mom is already with the Lord and all of what that means for her.
And if I don't, then pursue that knowledge of Aaron, of who you are now and what's different and how can I best love you now.
15:59
And that is a part of the identity within our relationship is going.
I want to stay on top of that stuff because we're always changing.
Yeah.
16:06
Speaker 3
Yeah, and that.
16:09
Speaker 2
That is true.
That is so true.
That is so true.
Again, we've hit on another paradox.
We're supposed to know ourselves, but we're always changing.
What?
I didn't sign up for this.
16:18
Speaker 1
What noise goes along with that one, huh?
16:20
Speaker 3
What noise?
What?
16:21
Speaker 1
What special noise track causes me to sit back like trick?
It's chirping and ponder.
I like that.
See, he's good.
16:31
Speaker 3
Yeah.
16:32
Speaker 2
Life's paradoxes, right?
I mean, we never fully know who we are, but yet we're always changing too.
So it's it's a constant quest and that's why you can never really get done with teaching about marriage because it's always changing.
16:47
Every everything is changing.
16:49
Speaker 3
Because as individuals, we're constantly we're.
16:51
Speaker 2
Constantly revamping our garden.
16:54
Speaker 3
My parents both passed away this summer.
And I think in the framework of what you just said, it changed me.
And Scott couldn't figure that out.
He hasn't experienced that yet.
And I think it kind of threw him for a loop, me for a loop.
And so exploring again those questions about what is it that turns me on, what lights me, what helps me rest, and what do I need to rest from?
17:16
It might not be the same kinds of things that I was resting from before.
17:21
Small Daily Connections Over Grand Gestures
But I also have a question for you about how to have a more playful and fun element to our marriage when we feel exhausted.
Any thoughts on that?
17:31
Speaker 1
Yeah, I think when Aaron and I really try to do, because that would be one of our defining talk about identities for our marriage is just humor and laughter and playfulness.
We just really value that.
And I don't always think that's going to come naturally or normally for someone, not even for us.
17:52
We have to really look for ways to do that.
And the couple things that that we really try to do is we do have all of our little inside jokes and our little pet names and, you know, the little glances to where we'll smile when someone says whatever because we're like, oh, that word that's, yeah, we don't even need to talk about it.
18:10
But we also have gotten really disciplined to take moments when we reunite, you know, either around the dinner table or maybe later when we're laying down in bed, we might watch something funny.
18:25
Inevitably, she's found two or three little reels from social media.
They cracked her up that she's going to show me and we're going to laugh together.
We're going to relay stories.
Just the other day, she called me and she goes, you will never guess what happened to me.
18:40
She was supposed to play Bunco, You know, which I'm like, I don't even know.
Bunco is some fun game she plays, women play.
18:46
Speaker 2
But she was only women, yeah.
18:48
Speaker 1
Right.
I don't know why that is, but she's going to this new house to play and got there.
There was a sign that literally said come on in.
So she walks in, looks around, didn't recognize the house where the people there and she's like, Oh well, again.
So it'll be she's an extrovert.
19:04
Let me preface that because I never would have gone there as an introvert to begin with.
But she's there, she's eating the food and talking to people.
And some woman goes, all right, every ladies, let's move into the living room so we can start the PTA meeting.
19:19
And she's like, wait, what?
And she goes the PTA meeting, she goes, this is bunco.
And she's like, this is not.
But what she's like what who plays bunco during the day?
First of all, only a bunch of haddocks what?
Whatever.
But she's like, who, whose house are you?
19:35
And so Aaron said the address, she goes, that's three houses out.
And so Aaron, they walked into some stranger's house, eating their food, connected with all these women and then only to find out that it was the PTA meeting which she was elected president.
19:51
I'm sure she was chapter so good for her, but that's so she calls and tells me that so that that's a part of how we just keep things light is will be even these stupid things that happened to us.
So I think if we're intentional with those kinds of things.
20:07
Hey, I heard a funny joke here.
I mean, sometimes they miss, but it's the point that we're very intentional to do the kinds of things that create some lightness and playfulness in our marriage that.
20:19
Speaker 2
Was great.
20:20
Speaker 3
I think that that would energize us during those really busy times.
I think our way of coping with busyness is to travel, Which then?
20:29
Speaker 2
A very expensive way to go.
20:31
Speaker 1
Just saying.
Yeah, but hey, spend money on your marriage.
20:34
Speaker 3
Right, very connecting the house is paid off.
That budget item now goes to travel.
But anyway, well, this has been really awesome.
20:40
Speaker 1
We could share our mortgage with you.
You're dying to all real live that kind of experience we would love you enough to do.
20:48
Speaker 3
That that's so kind, so kind to have a little piece of property there in Colorado Springs, right up against the mountains we love.
20:57
Speaker 1
When we're driving a beautiful view, just Colorado, the Pikes Peak, so.
21:01
Speaker 3
There you go, up towards Denver.
When we drive from Dallas, up we see, we love that area.
Garden of the Gods.
21:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, I went to the University of Oklahoma, so my son and I pilgrimage every year to a game there.
And so now we've learned in Amarillo, TX, there's a Bucky's now.
So halfway, so we that's so you're so lucky.
21:23
Speaker 2
Wow, Amarillo is, I'm sure.
21:25
Speaker 3
They're moving up in the world if they have a Bucky's.
21:28
Speaker 1
What I mean?
21:28
Speaker 2
They got a Bucky's.
21:29
Speaker 1
What else do you need?
I could survive there.
I could live in a Bucky's.
Exactly.
21:34
Speaker 3
Yep, maybe that's where we.
21:35
Speaker 1
3 meat sandwich I mean so for all I would never need to cook.
21:39
Speaker 2
All those listeners outside of Texas, you just got to come to Texas.
I know what we're talking about.
Yep, that's.
21:44
Speaker 3
Right.
Bucky's is amazing.
Well, we have loved what you've taught us, what you've shared with.
Can you share maybe one final thought that we haven't asked about, but that you think could really make that difference in helping people who are finding themselves overwhelmed, busy or just not as tuned into their marriage as they could be?
22:05
Speaker 1
Yeah, I would say that in those busy seasons, we feel disconnected.
The the temptation is to rely on the big grand gestures.
Well, we'll just wait for the next holiday, the next vacation, the next travel, the next date night in.
22:22
For me, a marriage will never survive from date night to date night, vacation to vacation, holiday to holiday.
It puts too much pressure on those things versus I think one of the best ways to begin to reconnect is to do what Aaron and I do.
22:41
We do this every day and it's play the high, low game.
That's just at some point dinner, maybe you're laying in bed whenever.
Just take 10 minutes, that's all 10 minutes and just ask each other what was the high of your day and the low of your day.
22:56
And that little 10 minute check in keeps you current like we talked about, keeps you curious like we've talked about.
It's such a simple, easy connector.
It's a little micro moment.
And those micro moments of connections will add up way more than the big grand gesture.
23:14
So don't fret if you're like, we don't have money to get a way to do this or to do that.
Just go man, what was the higher of your day and the low of your day?
And if you do that faithfully, I promise you guys will reconnect.
23:27
The High/Low Game and Holiday Reflections
What does our studio audience think of that idea?
23:33
Speaker 3
We call that poopsicle and popsicle.
What was your poopsicle of the damn?
What was your popsicle?
I don't.
23:39
Speaker 1
Know, See, you've added levels and dimensions I hadn't even thought about.
So yeah, I love that.
Do yeah, whatever you want.
I've heard rows and thorns.
23:49
Speaker 3
Whatever that too.
23:50
Speaker 1
Something will get you into that level of curiosity and you will stay current and that is the key to reconnecting.
23:59
Speaker 3
Great.
If our listeners want to find out more about what you do, where can we turn them?
24:05
Speaker 1
Yeah, you'll probably the best because we love doing it.
Ziern and I do a podcast called Crazy Little Thing Called Marriage.
So if you go there, you can ask a question, we'll answer it online, send you a book.
But we love to connect with people that way, so check us out.
24:21
Crazy, Crazy Little Thing Called Marriage.
24:23
Speaker 2
Called marriage.
Yeah, we.
24:23
Speaker 3
Listened to a few episodes we really enjoy.
24:25
Speaker 1
It in in the theme music and the sound effects are originals from Doctor Scott Hastings.
24:34
Speaker 3
Might be a little it will be.
Might be a little, it will be.
24:39
Speaker 1
Rather, that's a.
Would you call it a popsicle or a?
24:42
Speaker 3
Popsicle.
24:43
Speaker 1
Yeah, exactly.
It's it'll be one of them.
24:45
Speaker 2
Thank you so much for joining us today, Greg Smalley.
And wow, what a great discussion today.
And folks, we appreciated you listening, tuning in while watching.
If you have any questions, comments, complaints, reach out to us.hello@marriageiq.com.
25:02
We will be sure to answer you and share this with your friends would really mean a lot to us and just know that we love you so much.
We hope that you have just the best, most scintillating marriage and relationships together and we will catch you on another exciting episode next time on Marriage.
25:20
Speaker 3
IQ Hey everybody, As the Hastings family heads into the holidays this year, Scott and I are practicing what we teach Marriage and family thrive on, intentional pauses.
We are taking a two week break to be fully present with our kids who are coming into town and our family so we can recharge and live the principles that we share here on Marriage IQ.
25:46
But don't worry, we'll be back in January of 2026 with fresh episodes, some new research, and another year of helping couples build marriages that aren't just healthy, but are truly scintillating.
So until then, stay connected.
26:02
Make sure you listen to some of the episodes that you may have missed in the past and stay curious and intentional and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
