“We grew so far apart that we no longer knew why were together.”
We’ve long followed Khalid Al Ameri’s humorous and heartstring-pulling Instagram account.
The Emirati columnist, motivational speaker and youth coach has amassed more than 150,000 followers with his insightful snaps and sage words on family life.
However the writer has admitted his life isn’t always picture-perfect in a recent post, offering some inspirational advice to fellow couples who may feel like they’ve lost their way.
Al Ameri and his wife Salama – who share two children – have been married for 10 years, and regularly share a glimpse of their day-to-day life on their social media pages.
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But the couple have had their ups and downs, Al Ameri reveals, telling his followers recently that “the greatest thing you can do for yourself and for your relationship is to silence the noise”.
“For so long Salama and I’s marriage wasn’t our marriage, it was everyone else’s,” Al Ameri posted on Instagram earlier this year.
“It was relatives who told us what was best, it was ‘friends’ who told us what we should do come out the strongest amongst each other, it was people we didn’t even know that we were trying to be like because they fit in.”
The speaker, who holds a MBA from Stanford University, admitted that he and his wife “grew so far apart that we no longer knew why were together”.
“It was the lowest point of our marriage, until we decided to try something new, and that was to put ourselves and our love for each other first, and everything else second,” he said.
“We were going to do what we felt was right, we were going to do what brought us closer together, we were going to do what made us happy regardless of what other people said or thought about us. We turned off the noise.”
Al Ameri’s wise words led to an outpouring of admiration from fans, with many lauding he and his wife for their #couplegoals.
“It was the single greatest thing we did for our relationship, we made our marriage our marriage, and nobody else’s, because at the end of the day we are the ones who came together to build a life with each other,” he wrote.
“We are the ones who wake up and go to sleep next to each other every day and every night, we are the ones who want to be together for the rest of our lives, just us together, with a love stronger that the noise of others.”
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Salama advised in a recent vlog that “tolerance” is key in any marriage, and later revealed that the most annoying thing her husband does is “leave a wet towel on the bed, and it wets the bed”.
“He also takes my good spot on the sofa when we watch TV,” she added.
Al Ameri has also penned a blog post on the topic of keeping a marriage happy, urging spouses to make small gestures and “take every opportunity to be kind and good”.
“It could be a simple rose, a hug, a walk on the beach, telling them how proud you are of them, just doing whatever you can to be a source of joy in the relationship, to make them smile and know that you feel blessed every minute they are in your life.”
That’s advice we can definitely live by.
We’ll leave you with some of our favourite snaps from the pair…
Image: Khalid Al Ameri/Instagram
