"I hinted at ..."
"He should know that ..."
"I emailed him some ideas ..."
"I told him I'd love this to happen ..."
"I said to him that this needed to get done ..."
See a common thread? Ideas are being floated, needs are being hinted at, wants are described - but why isn't there a simple request of "darling, could you please do this, if possibly in X timeframe ..."?
I'm told repeatedly that men are simple creatures - don't be fooled, they are complex human beings just as women are, but what is true is that they often have a more direct communication style, and if you learn to use that, they will simply struggle less to understand whatever message is being conveyed.
I've mentioned before that expecting the other person to read your mind is a most inefficient way to communicate, that mostly leads to frustration.
So why don't we just ask for our needs or wants to be met?
The answer is simple yet reflects all the complexity of what goes on in our brains.
Whenever we express a direct request, we make ourselves vulnerable to being told "no" which we interpret as rejection. So by tiptoeing around what we really want, we try and keep safe from a possible refusal.
But the price we pay is only getting our needs/wants met by fluke, when your conversation partner happens to think along the same wave-length and at the same time is tuned into the fact that you may be trying to ask for something.
How about we try to cut out this whole layer of guesswork and just trust that our partner is receptive to requests? Knowing that it is his right to say "no" and that the beauty of good communication in a relationship is to say it lovingly?
We may just save us all an huge amount of frustration...