Me [32 M] with my wife [31 F] of 5 years, I'm a regular old dummy, my wife is a certifiable genius and I think it is ruining our marriage, any advice for mis-matched intelligences?

Your wife is making you feel inferior to her, which is not cool in the slightest, no matter how "smart" she seems.

There are different kinds of intelligence and "being smarter than someone" is entirely a subjective statement. For example, my IQ (138) is considered "highly intelligent" and that has given me the ability to have an excellent memory when it comes to numbers, spelling, tasks, etc...things with which my SO struggles, but my SO is much smarter than me when it comes to being handy around our house and fixing/building/programming computers (he's a dual software/electrical engineer). There is a balance in our relationship and yes, there are times when I get frustrated with him or he gets frustrated with me due to what we're "smart" at and the other is not, but we respect each other and ensure we do not make the other one feel "less intelligent."

You and your wife need couple's counseling because right now, you're on two different levels of communication, which has nothing to do with intelligence levels. Your wife makes you feel "dumb" when she talks to you and then you do not communicate with her at all. That's not healthy and for the sake of your marriage, you two need to figure out a communication strategy that works for both of you.

/r/relationship_advice Thread