Blake Robert Templeton argues men often mistake material provision for what women actually want: ongoing emotional pursuit. His wife says she'd be happy in a cardboard box if he kept courting her. Provision should enable pursuit, not replace it.
Most men think providing is their entire assignment. The bigger house, better cars, better school for the kids. But a paid bill has never replaced the pursuit of her heart. And all she ever wanted was you to pursue her heart. My wife would always tell me, she's like, man, I can live in a cardboard box if you'll just pursue my heart. So the number one thing to do in that scenario, when you get stuck in like, my value that I bring to the table is provision, like I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing, why is that not good enough? It's time to literally call a timeout, cut the emotions of how you're processing, and then shift an extreme role back to how you were in high school, realizing pursuit was actually the name of the game. Provision was just so that you could pursue her the rest of your life.
