Is your relationship with your significant other 'starving' for time? Perhaps you feel you're in a rut?
Being in a rut, or being bored in the relationship, leads to less closeness, which leads to reduced satisfaction in the marriage. People often think that couples who ‘never fight’ are the happiest; these findings suggest that a happy marriage involves more than merely a lack of conflict (though knowing how to work through problems in a respectful way is also key).When couples go through new experiences and challenges together, marital satisfaction increases. “It is not enough for couples to be free of problems and conflicts, the take-home message of research is that to maintain high levels of marital quality over time, couples also need to make their lives together exciting.”
So how can you keep things exciting in a marriage--especially when life takes over and you have real responsibilities? The key is to not only communicate and work through conflict in healthy ways, but do things together that are new and exciting. Here are some ways to do that, and maintain a happy marriage:
- Have a date night once a week
- Try new things- regularly!
- Participate in each other's lives (be active and involved in their interests)
- Have more fun
Following these steps can help you to enjoy life more, feel less stressed, and experience greater levels of marital satisfaction. Sounds "win-win", doesn't it?
