The best times of your entire life have involved the women in it. Honor them. Your mom and her Thanksgiving cooking. Your wife's laughter from the next room. Your daughter and her silly stories that go nowhere and mean everything. Your niece, your aunt, the coworker who made an extra pan of stuffing for the office on Friday for no reason except love. She is trying to show you what love actually looks like, and you have got a lot to learn, brother. We all do.
Recognize Her. Appreciate Her Out Loud.
Recognize her. Appreciate her with your words and your actions, not just a vague feeling you never bother to express. Women are selfless, nurturing, and full of surprises. This weekend, I would bet there is a woman working herself to the bone just to please you, and all she really wants in return is to feel cherished. Your sister mailing a card from across the country. The empty nester who volunteered for the holiday shift at the store. The assistant who bought decorations with her own money to make the office feel a little more like home. Honor her. There is probably a woman at the center of most of the good things you quietly take for granted.
And If She's Become Sharp, Understand Why
And if she has become bossy or sharp, understand what you are actually looking at. She is injured. She was likely wounded by a man somewhere along the line, and maybe even by you. So help her. Serve her. Forgive her. Offer to wash the dishes while she finishes the work you have never once noticed. Peel the potatoes. Insist on contributing instead of waiting to be asked. Listen, and engage with what she is actually saying underneath the words. Notice the small things, because she is only trying to get your attention in the ways she has learned to.
Feel her stories. Consider the compassion that drives her to keep serving you even in the middle of your self absorption. The person you are tempted to call crazy is usually just a person trying to feel valued. So apologize for your wrongs. Tell her about her brilliance and her beauty, specifically and often. Expect nothing, and appreciate everything, even the weird stuff she does with her hair.
Celebrate her with the same fire you bring to your team on rivalry Saturday. An Alpha is a respecter of the feminine and everything she brings to a home, a family, and a life. True masculinity gives thanks to the women around you, in your kitchen, on your couch, in the stores, and where you work. Do not just feel it. Show them.