What do I do when my partner competes with my work?

Your partner feels like they are competing with your work for your time and attention, and you know they are right. That is a hard thing to admit, and admitting it honestly, instead of arguing or explaining it away, is worth a great deal. It means the part of you that loves them is still awake, even if your schedule has been telling a different story. Work will take everything you let it, because it is demanding and it rewards you and it always wants more. A relationship is quieter. It does not send urgent emails or set deadlines, so it loses the fight for attention by default, not because it matters less. If you only give your partner what is left after work is done, they will always come last, because work never runs out of things to ask. So start giving them time that is protected, not leftover. Choose a regular window, an evening, a morning, a walk, that belongs to them and is not up for negotiation with your job. Be present in it, phone away. It does not have to be large to matter. What your partner needs to feel is not that work disappeared, but that they are chosen on purpose, and that is something you can start doing this week.