How Relaxation Can Help Improve Your Marriage While Quarantined
Can you resonate with being too busy? Overwhelmed? Stressed? Running to the store, going to work, cleaning the house, cooking, laundry, dishes, setting aside time with the kids, setting aside time to spend with the spouse, cutting the grass, etc. It seems to never end. Right? We all feel like we are on never ending treadmills. How many items on our list of tasks did we not complete today, and how many tomorrow and the next day will be left incomplete? What are we chasing after? If you are on that chase, and it is hurting your relationship or just causing you to not succeed, maybe it’s time to sit down, relax and allow yourself to assess and rework your day to day life.
Relaxation is important, as well as work is. Sometimes we get so caught up in what seems important to us that we do not take time to relax and take a break. When we are busy and do not take time to slow down and relax, we may find ourselves worse off than we thought we would be. Have you ever forgotten something or did poor work? Maybe it was because you overworked or overbooked yourself. Sometimes when we get too busy, we actually get less done and the quality of our work suffers.
These same concerns can come into marriage when life gets busy. Kids involved in every sport, racing to get to the next event, trying to just keep up with life and do it all. Are the mistakes and incomplete tasks piling up? Slowing down and taking things off your plate can be helpful. Taking the time to EXPERIENCE the moment instead of RUSH through it, can do wonders for increasing quality workmanship and relationships. Are we sacrificing depth for quantity?
Anxiety tends to be more prevalent in our world than in history. Why? Many leaders in the world believe it is due to the constant need to complete and compete to keep up. We don’t want to fall behind. What are we sacrificing just to keep up? Might this contribute to the divorce rate being 50% in America? Are we too busy and too overwhelmed to enjoy what we have right in front of us?
Here’s what you can do: Slow Down! Cut something out of your life. Take the time to see, smell, taste, hear and touch what is right in front of you. Experience your life! It will be well worth it. I have had clients that after working with them for a while, we come to realize their problem is that they see each day as a list of tasks to complete, but never really become fulfilled. Humans were not meant to be fulfilled by tasks, drugs, sex, or anything else that is finite. Experiences are not finite! God made us to enjoy Him and His creation. Do you enjoy your life? Even the tough times? Have you ever thought, “Wow, so this is what this feels like?” If you don’t know that quote, go watch Sweet Home Alabama and fast forward to the end. At the wedding, the main character stops the wedding and tells the groom he does not want to marry her. He is stunned. However, he does not react how most of us would. He was supposed to be angry. Instead, he marveled at the feeling of rejection. Whether we fail or succeed, is it possible to slow down and experience either outcome so we can know what REAL LIFE FEELS LIKE.
When you slow down in marriage and take the time to relax and experience each moment, your spouse will see a person who is genuine and real. Connection will be possible. Listening will be possible. Empathy will be possible. Love will be possible. Having a true life will be possible. You want your marriage to improve? Slow down and take the time to attend to each moment so that you don’t make mistakes and you go into every moment fulfilling your full potential in that moment. Surface level interaction never goes deep. We can talk about a lot of subjects, but until you take the time to stop, and focus on one subject deeply, you will never truly get anything out of anything. I can do a lot of things in a short amount of time, but it may not be quality work. I can do one thing in the same time and it will be quality and well done! How well do you want to do life? How well do you want to do marriage? Choose to slow down and do the simple things in marriage well!
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