Your Marriage During the Pandemic
With the exception of daily outdoor exercise I have been at home 24/7. Surprisingly, it has gone fairly well. Last week I took some time off of work to focus on my kids. This week I resumed online counseling sessions with clients. I have my moments of complete exhaustion yet we are finding our new rhythm.
Yet if I am being completely honest, my love life could use some attention. If you have worked with me privately, you know that I occasionally talk about my love relationship, this is something most marriage counselors won't do. I thought I would write about how to keep love relationships and marriages strong in the midst of an intensely stressful time. This will serve as a great reminder for me and I hope some of it will help you too.
Find your groove
Do what works for you. Some couples are winging it day to day and cherishing the forced down-time. Others are working more hours than ever before as they aim to keep businesses or jobs afloat and help kids with online schooling. Many currently exist together in a blur of work, kids, meals, cleanup and laundry. There is no way I could maintain peaceful relationships right now without a daily routine that also flexes for extra lounge time, zone out time, and connection time. Figure out what works best for you and your spouse and how your kids fit into this.
Create structure
On the one hand I am saying do what is best for you. I mean this. On the other hand I am encouraging you to create structure. Because the truth is, most couples working-from-home-with-kids-doing-online-schooling-at-home need structure if they don't want to lose their minds. But like all of my suggestions, take what works for you and leave the rest.
Establish hours
If you want more structure, what will this look like for you? A great place to start is by establishing working hours, breaks, and non-working hours. If you and your spouse are both working from home, can you take shifts? Can one of you be with the kids while the other works? Such as, one parent may work from 8am - 2pm and the other parent could work from 2pm - 8pm. Even if only one parent works, establishing hours will create important boundaries. During non-working hours both parents are equally responsible for taking care of the kids. And depending on the ages of the kids, the entire family can be responsible for taking care of the home. Talk and make some agreements for your specific family and work situation. Consider making a plan with your spouse for each of you to fit in exercise, down time, or personal time to do whatever it is that one may want to do while the other cares for the children.
Find small ways to connect daily
You and your partner have probably been together a lot over the past few weeks! But being together non stop does not mean you are having engaged quality connection time. Under normal circumstances, I suggest that couples commit to weekly kid-free time. Right now, depending on the ages of your children, this may be impossible. So get creative. Small moments of physical affection go along way. Hugs, kisses on the cheek, and love pats on the bum are easy ways to connect. Find ways to focus on each other while hanging with the kids. Swap shoulder rubs while watching a family movie, sit on the patio while the kids play, sneak into the bedroom during your babies nap time. Remember that work and housework will always be there. But if you don't take care of your marriage, it won't be there. Make it happen.
And give each other space
Be explicit about your need for quiet or alone time. Get clear about what you want and articulate this to your partner. Help each other get much needed space. Long baths, walks in the neighborhood, video chats with friends, reading in the bedroom alone are some ideas for carving out time away from kids and your spouse.
Compliment and acknowledge
Express gratitude whenever you are moved to. Words of appreciation are like fuel for our tanks. They fill us up, keep us going, and feed our souls. It only takes seconds to genuinely share with your partner what you love about them. Make this a regular occurrence.
Lean on healthy coping strategies
Exercise, journal, read inspiring books, video chat with uplifting friends, deep breath, do yoga, meditate, and practice mindfulness. These are all effective methods for reducing stress, tending to your self, and improving relationships.
Feel feelings
All of us will feel all sorts of feelings. Feel them. This includes frustration, sadness, hurt, and fear. When we consistently create space for our feelings we will begin to notice over time that they are not as intense nor do they knock us off kilter so much. When we get used to feeling our feelings, we no longer need to avoid, ignore, numb, suppress, distract, or run away from.
Let the small things go
Choose your battles. Seriously. It could be easy to get on top of your spouse for every small thing. Don't do this! We all have annoying traits and characteristics. Develop tolerance wherever you can.
Accept acceptable differences
Maybe you are an early to bed and early to rise kind of person but your spouse is most creative and energetic at night. Or you want lots of time to talk and your spouse prefers peace and quiet. Perhaps being in the house all day makes you a bit nutty and your spouse finds it relaxing. Neither of these are good, bad, right, or wrong. Practice acceptance.
Develop healthy communication
I am going to be direct. If your communication was struggling prior to the pandemic, it is likely to get worse. Healthy communication patterns create the foundation for healthy and happy marriages. If most of your interactions are laden with blame, judgement, criticism, contempt, defensiveness, or shutting down consider couples therapy. Or, look for future posts that will focus specifically on helping couples communicate.
Have some fun
Clearly we will not be going on dates, hitting up adventures, or meeting with friends right now! Joy is so important for our wellbeing. Find ways to connect through humor, great sex, being goofy, board games, or declaring a very early happy hour. Find the humor in this outrageous situation and share it as much as you can.
What are you doing to keep your relationship strong during the pandemic? I would love to hear from you in the comments box below.
Hi, I am Cristina Trette. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the Founder of Integrative Family Therapy. I help others improve their most important relationships. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know in the comments box below.
