If I were to deal with them like I do sometimes with my kids, would it work?

Sometimes my daughter who's 4 will make a feeble attempt to trick me. Or just say something obnoxious to get a reaction. I tend to just ignore her completely and walk away to do something else. Then she will pursue it harder or give up on that idea.

If she pursues it, I just escalate my disinterest in what she's doing. With my kid this works because she wants validation from me.

My wife seems to not care about validation. At least mine. Wife just runs off and tries to ignore me the same as I ignore her bullshit. Essentially devolving into a game of hide and seek where I don't care enough to go look for her.

Sometimes I fear this tactic is a result of low energy, instead of the wise approach. Will my wife ever seek validation from me? I've made a lot of changes but I've got a long road of lifting and running ahead.

Unplugging so far has been easy in its theory. It makes complete sense, but visualizing a future that's different than the last 5 years is the toughest part. I'm not crying or whining, I'm just wondering when all these changes will feel more normal.