I walked into my high school reunion and a woman I'd never met slapped me across the face.

Emotional intelligence in relationships isn't about never getting triggered or staying calm through every disagreement. It's about what you do when your nervous system is activated and your partner's sitting across from you feeling the same way. The couples who make it aren't the ones who avoid conflict. They're the ones who can notice when they're slipping into defense mode, when they're about to make their partner wrong to make themselves right. They catch themselves mid-sentence and redirect.