What Happens Behind Closed Doors Shows Up Everywhere: From the Bedroom to the Boardroom to the Breakup

Recently, I was speaking to someone at an event, and our conversation took an unexpected but deeply insightful turn when we started talking about intimacy and relationships, and how the way we behave in the bedroom can often reflect the way we operate in the boardroom.

Using phone in bedroom

boardroom chairs and table

It struck me that this is something worth sharing.

At first glance, it might seem unrelated. One is private, emotional, and intimate; the other is professional, strategic, and public. But when you look closely, the patterns of trust, communication, and resentment carry over from one space to the other.

In my work with clients at Piya Law Chambers, where we practice a trauma-informed approach, I often see how unresolved emotional wounds affect both personal and professional relationships and especially how they play out in divorce. For example:

• Trust: If trust has been broken in a personal relationship, it can manifest as control in professional settings. In divorce, this often shows as extreme suspicion over finances, accusations about parenting, or monitoring communications with children. Similarly, a partner who struggles to be vulnerable in the bedroom may struggle to negotiate fairly in settlement discussions.

  
  

• Resentment: Lingering resentment doesn’t stay contained, it leaks. In the bedroom, it may show as distance or frustration; in the boardroom, as passive aggression or micromanagement. In divorce, resentment can turn ordinary disagreements into courtroom battles, or make co-parenting unnecessarily difficult.

  
  

• Communication: How we express desires, boundaries, and frustrations privately often mirrors how we communicate in professional settings. Those who avoid difficult conversations at home may avoid addressing conflicts at work, creating larger issues over time. In divorce, this often translates into misunderstandings in legal negotiations, or an inability to reach agreements about custody, support, or property.

  
  

A trauma-informed approach helps us recognize these patterns not as flaws, but as signals of deeper unmet needs or unresolved experiences. Healing and understanding in one area can ripple into the other. Learning to build trust, communicate effectively, and release resentment in your personal life can directly strengthen your professional presence and even ease the legal and emotional complexities of divorce.

I found our conversation so illuminating. How we nurture our emotional intelligence, vulnerability, and authenticity in private spaces can empower us in our public and professional spaces too.

From the bedroom to the boardroom to navigating a breakup, the way we relate is often consistent. The question is: how can I break old patterns and foster trust, communication, and understanding in every area of my life?