Holiday stress and COVID-19 may have you walking around in a state of overwhelm. As a result, all of the stress may be negatively impacting your relationship. So, as you prepare to celebrate the new year, you may wonder if you’ll be celebrating together or if you’ll stay socially distanced from your partner.
It’s no surprise that stress can negatively impact relationships. Likewise, although intended to be full of memory-making events, the holiday season isn’t all festive and fun for everyone. For example, many people experience financial stress, grief due to loss, and loneliness this time of year. Between a difficult 2020 and then holiday stress, it’s no wonder you and your partner seem to have drifted apart. So, how can you strengthen your relationship amid so much stress?
Let’s discuss ways to help strengthen your relationship as you prepare to ring in 2021.
How Can Stress Affect My Relationship?
It’s easy for stress to negatively impact relationships. If you and your significant other seem to be having a hard time seeing eye to eye, it may be due to stress.
There are many ways stress can affect a relationship. Generally speaking, stress can make you feel more irritable and quicker to react. Likewise, it can be the culprit behind more conflict and less resolution. Furthermore, when you’re stressed, you are more likely to feel less affectionate.
Couples seem to have less of an ability to offer support to one another and instead feel alone. As a result, you may notice you feel less fulfillment within your relationship.
3 Ideas to Help Strengthen Your Relationship When You’re Feeling a Lot of Stress
Ideally, in a relationship, you view each other as an equal partner, with the same goals in mind. However, when stress levels rise, you may begin to feel like you’re doing all the heavy lifting while your partner stands by.
Before resentment sets in, let’s talk about what you can do that might help strengthen your relationship when you’re on stress overload.
Evaluate each other’s list of to-dos and adjust accordingly. Harmony within your relationship is more likely when it feels like there is an equal balance of responsibilities.
Plan weekly one-on-one time. Although schedules this time of year seem to be packed, finding time for a weekly date can do wonders for your relationship. Keep in mind, playing a board game in your home after the kids are in bed can count as a date. You don’t have to spend money or leave your house to spend quality time together.
Communicate. A problem that can come with stress is we’re more likely to misinterpret each other’s intent, words, and behaviors. So, to prevent this, over-communicate. For example, clarify how you’re feeling, ask for help, and try to seek clarification instead of assuming.
At Fort Worth Counseling and Intervention, we understand the negative impact stress can have on relationships. If social distance seems to have made its way between you and your partner, we may be able to help. We would love to see if we can help the two of you reconnect. To learn more, visit our website, fwcai.com.
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