The new year is just a few days away. For many people, 2021 has been a stressful and complicated year. Stress about staying safe from COVID-19, knowing people who have gotten sick and social distancing have disrupted a lot of lives around the world. When people are stressed and going through a hard time, relationship satisfaction can decrease, and conflict as a couple can increase. If you feel your relationship could use improvement in 2022, here are some tips on how to stay close and connected in the new year.
Spend quality time together
People are busy! Whether it's work, family obligations, or friends, a lot of people have a lot going on, and juggling everything can be quite the task. Add in distractions by social media and time you prefer to spend alone, it’s not hard for time with your partner to fall by the wayside. It takes a concerted effort to not only spend time together but to spend quality time together. The difference is spending time together could be both of you sitting in front of the tv silently or sitting at the same table while preoccupied with your phones. Quality time would include talking, intimacy, laughing, or enjoying a fun activity together such as a board game. It is also helpful if some of that time is less serious or what would be like a date night, the key thing being to have fun. Pre pandemic would include things like going out to dinner or a show, concert, a movie. With a surge in COVID-19 some of those activities are unrealistic so try to have a date night at home which could include ordering in dinner, having a pizza night, or watching some movies at home.
Try new hobbies or activities together
Often, people in relationships have separate hobbies that they do independently or with their respective friends. Try to find some new activities or hobbies you can both agree on and try to do together. A simple suggestion would be to go for a walk together. Walking together accomplishes a few things simultaneously. You can improve your mental health by releasing endorphins, talking to each other to improve communication, and feeling closer as a couple. As each couple has varying interests, try to be creative when it comes to other activities you can do together. Perhaps it could be trying to improve cooking. If one partner is better at cooking than the other, and usually cooks alone, try to include your partner as a sous chef with tasks they can manage. Or decide on a recipe together to cook and watch a cooking demonstration on youtube. If one of you has a passion for video games and the other is not so interested, see if you can teach your partner a game and try to play together. The worst that could happen is the partner is not interested and nothing is lost!
Communicate your love for each other
Show your partner you love and appreciate them. This can be done in different ways. For example, cook them their favorite meal, write them a love note, draw them a bubble bath or buy them chocolate. It is important to know what your partner considers to be a gesture of love and then try to do that to show you care. This can be particularly helpful if your partner is struggling with work or something else in their life.
As we enter the new year, it can be helpful to do certain things to improve your relationship. If you are looking for some ideas, start with spending quality time together, trying new hobbies together, and communicating your love for each other. If your relationship is still struggling, marriage counseling can help. Contact me today for assistance.