OK, now that you have a plan in place for getting through the day to day during this quarantine, it’s time to focus on how to nurture your marriage.
Stress in your daily life will take a toll on your marriage unless you proactively work to safeguard your relationship.
Getting on the same page with how the day will flow, is essential to minimize arguments, but you also have to NURTURE your marriage in order to keep your relationship healthy.
You’ll Be More Likely to Work Together
When you nurture your marriage, you will feel less sensitive during a miscommunication and will be more likely to work together to solve unforeseen challenges, which will allow you to enjoy the time you have together at home.
Below are 10 tips for nurturing your relationship with your husband while stuck at home during the quarantine. Share this list with him and start repairing your marriage tonight!
NURTURE YOUR MARRIAGE DURING QUARANTINE
- Listen More – Stop talking and listen. Listen to your husband’s fears regarding his job. Listen to his feelings about being home with the kids. Listen to his desire to have more affection from you. When you stop and truly listen, you will get to know more about who he is, wants, needs, and feels. This will make him feel heard, seen, and loved, which will make him more compassionate with you.
- Get Physical – This doesn’t have to mean sex. Being physical with your husband is a great way to reduce stress. When you have physical contact with someone you love, your brain releases a powerful hormone that minimizes the effects of stress. So snuggle up, cuddle, hold hands, hug until your shoulders relax, kiss for 7-seconds, make love, just start touching each other more!
- Laugh Together – Laughter is another activity that releases stress-reducing hormones. Laughter also brings us back to the playfulness of the beginning of our relationship. If you hang out after the kids go to bed, do something that makes you laugh. For example, watch a comedy special, play a board game together, reminisce about the old days (i.e., your first date, the first time you traveled together, your favorite relationship memory), share your most embarrassing moment, talk about something silly one of the kids said or did, etc.
- Make a List of Accomplishments – Sit with your husband and make a list of your accomplishments as a couple from getting married to buying a home, having a child/children, new jobs, growing closer, improving communication, making new friends, implementing healthier habits. List anything that feels like a “win” throughout your relationship—remembering your strength as a couple is powerful, as it instills hope and confidence that you can get through anything together.
- List Your Goals – Create a list of future goals. Again, list anything from buying a house to getting a new job, traveling the world, raising confident children, retiring at age 50, buying a new car, remodeling your home, putting away college funds, etc. Some goals may feel realistic, and others may feel like a stretch. Start talking about them, put them down on paper, and begin discussing how to make these goals a reality!
- Share a Compliment – A simple way to nurture your marriage during the stress of quarantine is to give each other compliments. If you focus on what you love about your husband, what you appreciate about him, what you admire, value, and hold in high regard, you will feel happier around him. And when you compliment him, he will feel appreciated, which will increase his participation at home! Win-Win!
- Exercise Together – Get active! Again, another great stress release, but also a great time to connect. Men tend to be more open in conversation when they are out walking, so put on your running shoes and get outside. While you’re on your walk, ask your husband one open-ended question that sparks a new conversation in your marriage.
- Eat After Bedtime – Pick one night during the week/weekend to eat after the kids are asleep. When you eat with your children, you likely rush through the meal, have broken conversations, and focus more on the children than each other. Since you are quarantined to your home and cannot go out for an adult meal, plan a date night at home. Light candles, put on some music, make something the kids don’t like to eat, and just enjoy a quiet night in.
- Read a Book Together – Now is a great time to brush up on your marriage skills. Order a marriage book on Amazon and commit to reading it together. Work through an exercise at night, read a chapter out loud in bed, talk about your marriage, and how it can improve.
- Watch Your Wedding Video – There is nothing more powerful in keeping a marriage healthy than remember why you married your husband. However many years ago, you said, “YES” or “I Do!” or both! You agreed to love one another in sickness and in health, in good times and bad. Well, here we are, bad times, sick times, so you need to love one another. Watching your wedding video or looking through pictures will remind you of your reason for getting married, the power of the love you shared early in your relationship, and the hopes and dreams the two of you set when you walked down the aisle.
QUICK RECAP: Yes, your marriage is strained due to the quarantine, but that doesn’t mean it has to suffer. Use this time to repair, improve, and strengthen your marriage with the exercises listed above!
