Relationships are not easy!
January can be a difficult time for couples. When the festive period is over and the decorations are carefully packed away for another year, our attention turns both to reflecting on the past and facing yet another year and what we hope that may bring.
If Christmas time saw a further deterioration in your relationship and the memory of those festive arguments and hostilities are still fresh in the mind, life can feel very cold, grey and hopeless. As we return to our normal routines of work and children start a new term it can be easier to banish worries about our relationship to the back of our minds and just hope things will improve on their own, rather than face tackling them head on. It’s a bit like putting those faulty tree lights away in the attic, only to rediscover them later in the year in a worse state.
The start of a new year is the ultimate clean slate and the chance to take stock and create new beginnings. We may resolve to lose weight or become fitter but do we need to improve our couple relationship? That’s a goal we don’t tend to face or share so readily with our friends and family. Getting help to look after your relationship is still a bit of a taboo.
Relationships between couples can come under an immense amount of pressure in our busy modern lifestyles. When life changes (as it always does) and we think about all the challenges a relationship faces; bereavement, work stress, financial difficulties, becoming parents, empty nest, dependant parents or poor health, it should not surprise us that our relationship can flounder and too often fail. When other aspects of our life become problematic we quickly address them; the car gets a service or we book an appointment with the G.P. However, when it comes to the most important part of our lives, our closest relationship, we are reluctant to seek help EARLY. Often couples start to address their problems when hostility has grown, intimacy is absent and the joy and closeness we all need, has been sought and found within an affair. We work really hard to create a successful life but may fail to invest in the partnership that ensures happiness and keeps our families from breaking apart.
So as you move forward into the New Year and say goodbye to another festive season, vow to look after your relationship, take a good look and take action to;
- End the repetitive circular arguments
- Rediscover the desire and passion that was alive at the beginning
- Heal the hurts and re build trust
- Learn how to create and sustain a loving relationship with your partner.
This will safeguard your family, improve your health and bring about a bright future because Couples Matter.