As a couple, when you’re dealing with the many demands of day-to-day life, it can feel like the fun has been zapped from your relationship. But contrary to popular opinion, you don’t necessarily have to do anything spectacular or pricey to bring the enjoyment back.
Below, Susan Heitler, Ph.D, a clinical psychologist in Denver who specializes in couples and author of The Power of Two: Secrets of a Strong & Loving Marriage, offers a simple 2-step plan to perk up your relationship.
1. Do a joy audit.
Ask yourself ”How much time are we devoting to doing things that we enjoy as a couple?”
Consider a further question. “How enjoyable are we making time together when the activity we need to do isn’t essentially fun?” For instance, you can easily turn “have-to” activities such as cleaning, cooking or running errands into enjoyable shared time, Heitler says.
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Site last updated: 18 May 2013
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Tried, tried & tried it hasn’t worked after 8 year of trying. It’s so darn frusterating
At first, this article sounded a bit cheesy to me, but upon further consideration, I think about these things a lot, and not necessarily just in these contexts.
We can give ourselves honest joy audits instantly and even incorporate joy ideas instantly.
For example:
I have honestly noticed I need to spend my blogging and writing time early in the morning or before she is home from work, so I can spend more time with her.
And instead of her channel-surfing while I web surf when we get home from work, we could go play a game of basketball or hit the pool together at our apartment in the summer.