Marriage counsellors deserve a lot of credit. They work with some pretty disagreeable people, trying to help them patch things up. The most successful among them have a unique ability to come up with creative ways to show couples how their marriages are failing. That leads to equally creative strategies for saving troubled relationships.
One example this writer has personal knowledge of is comparing the results of wearing a bad T-shirt to the symptoms of a bad marriage. For purposes of clarification, this post assumes that a bad T-shirt is defined by its message. We are not talking about the quality of the fabric, the manufacturer’s craftsmanship, etc.
Messaging is important for the simple fact that custom T-shirt printing makes it possible to put virtually any message you want on a T-shirt, hoodie, etc. With the right design tools and a printer capable of giving you what you want, you can create your very own T-shirts with all sorts of messages. Some of those messages are good. Other times, not so much.
Ambiguity and Innuendo
Just like a marriage is not well served by ambiguity and innuendo, custom T-shirt messages with the same characteristics tend to cause trouble. Think of a married couple that just cannot seem to communicate openly, honestly, and transparently. Their sentences are ambiguous. Their thoughts are littered with innuendo. What do they do? They muddy the conversational waters.
You might design a custom printed T-shirt with an ambiguous message in hopes of causing people to think. But what if you take the ambiguity too far? You might muddy the message so much that most people have no idea what you are trying to convey. And if innuendo is a problem, your message might encourage thoughts you never intended. The same thing can happen in a marriage.
Accusations and Incitement
Another bad habit among T-shirt designers is coming up with messages purposely intended to offend and incite. A political T-shirt, for example, might have an accusatory message aimed at a particular group. Another might offer a message that encourages people to do something they shouldn’t.
In a bad marriage, it is not uncommon for spouses to routinely accuse one another. One accuses the other of this; the other retorts with an accusation of that. Constant accusations only lead to arguments that incite the couple to escalate their disagreements. It is not a pretty picture.
Choose Your Words Carefully
The point of this post is not to draw a correlation between bad T-shirts and bad marriages and then stop there. Rather, it is to encourage you to choose your words carefully, especially if you are married. The marriage relationship is one of the most fragile due to the intimacy of the experience.
The Print Bar is an Australian company that specializes in custom T-shirt printing. They offer customers a state-of-the-art online tool that lets them design their own T-shirts from the ground up. Likewise, you have the ability to build your marriage relationship from the ground up. You can make it whatever you want it to be.
Never forget that words are one of your most important tools in a relationship. Coupled with actions, your words can make or break your marriage. Choose them carefully. Do not be ambiguous in your communication. Do not rely on innuendo and accusations. Instead, be open and honest. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
Above all else, make sure your message is one of love and kindness. There is no need for your marriage to wind up like a bad T-shirt on the closeout rack.
