• We are both Black so we are going to take the approach of speaking from the perspective of Black men and Black women to apply to this episode.
• What is the strong Black woman?
• Who is her strong Black man?
• We both started reading a book that is very familiar: Beyond Mars & Venus, a sequel to Women are from Mars, Men are from Venus. The author says:
  • Gone are the days where women had to be submissive and dependent on men and the man had to carry the burden of providing for his family on his own.
  • What we need to experience in our relationships has changed.
  • We need a new set of skills to deal with new relationships. 
  • Men now participate in raising kids, doing house work, and some of the more traditional female roles.
  • Women are working more, sometimes serving as the breadwinner, and also undoubtedly taking on some traditional masculine tendencies.
  • Our happiness should not be based on changing our partner, but rather allowing him or her to be themselves but where is the boundary?
  • Author recommends changing how you feel about certain things so you do not cause so much conflict with your partner.  We had to listen and reflect on this a few times. He provides a few steps on how to do this.
    • Do not depend on your partner to change. 
    • Give your partner what they need first so discover what that looks like.
    • Ask for more in small increments and reward your partner for what they do.
• Closing Remarks: Strong Black woman, Strong Black man

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