Life can be pretty hectic at times, the stress of work and family can wear you out to the point of tremendous overwhelm. However, as long as you know how to deal with this stress, you will be able to bounce back in no time.
But, how do you recognize you’re overwhelmed in the first place?
Does it come to the point of breaking down and crying for you before you realize you are overwhelmed? What about freezing and not being able to do anything? For me, it’s a mix of all of that plus feeling like the world is all crashing down around me. I know, not fun at all! And then I can’t function and feel like anyone trying to help me is actually attacking me, making the situation much worse. Sometimes I need to take a sip of my own advice, so here we go with that and I hope you will also take a bit as well.
10 Signs You’re Overwhelmed and How to Fix it
1. Erratic Sleep Patterns
One of the primary signs that show you are overwhelmed is either when you have difficulty sleeping or when you start sleeping in excess. To fix such erratic sleeping patterns, try going to bed at a fixed time every day, a time that is not too late or too early.
2. You always feel exhausted
Another sign that you are overwhelmed is when you feel tired all the time, no matter how much sleep you get. The remedies suggested for problem 1 can also be applied here. Additionally, consuming healthy food and engaging in regular exercise also help.
3. Loss of Appetite
You are overwhelmed if you experience a loss in appetite or start overeating. This is huge for me. I already struggle with ensuring I eat enough and often enough, but overwhelm makes it so much worse! Remedy this by eating at fixed intervals during the day, and eating only healthy foods that provide nutrition to your body. I like to set a timer on my phone to go off every couple of hours so I actually take a break to eat and that helps with the overwhelm.
4. You are not in control of your emotions
If you are feeling excessively moody or emotional, it could be a sign of stress. However, it’s advisable not to take this lightly. Share what you are feeling with a close friend or a healthcare professional. Do not be ashamed to seek help when needed. As someone who has experienced loss because of a PTSD issue that wasn’t addressed or treated recently, I can’t express how okay it is to not be okay. And if you need any support and don’t feel you can talk to anyone, I’m always available to chat. Your feelings and emotions are valid no matter what others might be telling you.
5. Anxiety
If you are feeling anxious and stressed out, try to avoid or limit caffeine and alcohol in your diet. Exercise for your mental as well as physical well-being, and try to take small breaks throughout the day to help you relax your nerves. I have been exercising and meditating everyday for 2 years, sometimes as much as 90 minutes and others as little as 5 minutes. The important thing is being able to quiet the mind and for that amount of time, I can focus on not being anxious or the to do list or the not good enough thoughts that run on repeat when I’m stressed and overwhelmed.
6. You Lack Energy
When you are stressed out, it’s natural to feel depleted of energy. All of the tips mentioned above will work to solve this. Exercising regularly can also keep you fit physically and mentally, as exercise triggers the release of dopamine AKA “happy hormone.”
7. Lack of Motivation
When you are overwhelmed emotionally, you tend to lack the motivation to work or go about your day. To remedy this, you need to implement some self-care practices into your everyday routine.
Maintain lists and check items off the list when you finish the job. Break your large tasks into smaller ones so that you feel less overwhelmed. And take small breaks throughout the day to recharge your batteries. Taking a break to exercise or even walking away from the task can help get you the motivation you need to start and finish. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
8. You are Highly Stressed
When you are overwhelmed, stress levels run high. You overreact at the smallest of problems, and what once was a minor complaint, suddenly turns into something major.
To avoid this, try to bring about more balance in your life. Try to establish a balance between work and personal life, and as mentioned, break up your tasks into smaller ones so that you are not overwhelmed by work. If you can, leave your work at work. If you work from home, set boundaries with time and space to shut off work. And if you are an entrepreneur or a C Level Executive, sometimes this is difficult as I know as an AirBnB host who gets calls and questions all hours of the day. But it can help with giving a little balance if it can be left to the next day if after your set time.
9. You Keep To Yourself
You may have observed that you keep more to yourself these days. Because the act of socializing with others itself seems like a heavy chore that you are least interested in doing. You feel it is taking too much of your energy.
It’s okay to take time alone to recharge your batteries. Spend this time meaningfully by doing activities you actually enjoy like reading a book, etc.
10. Difficulty in Focusing
Too much stress can lead to experiencing difficulty in focusing and concentration. To remedy this, you need to lead a well-maintained and balanced life.
Apply the tips mentioned for #7, that is, break down chores into smaller tasks. And treat yourself to small breaks throughout the day. Implement the proper self-care activities to regain your focus and concentration.
To conclude,
When you recognize the signs of stress early on, you nip the problem in its bud and immediately work on restoring your physical and mental well-being. Leading a balanced life and investing adequate time in self-care are the key to living a stress-free life in today’s fast-paced world.
Exercising regularly and eating healthily also play a significant role in maintaining your physical, mental, and emotional health, and keep you stress-free.
I hope this article helped you in some way. How do you cope when you feel absolutely overwhelmed and burned out?
Sustaining a relationship is no piece of cake. It requires constant effort and hard work. And the key to maintaining a healthy relationship is by infusing it with positive habits.
Habits work like second nature to us. When we take the time to create a pattern of positive habits in a relationship, the impact is powerful. Falling in love is simply not enough; you have to stay in love. Staying in love depends on certain principles that both you and your partner believe in.
Growing up, I saw a relationship of my parents who are still married to this day, very strained and filled with dependance and not so much love. It was filled with anger, fighting, hatred, and yelling. I knew that was nothing like what I wanted when I found my forever partner. And I wanted something exactly the opposite actually.
I wanted love and appreciation and respect and open communication.
5 Habits of a Happy Couple who are Deeply in Love
Here are 5 habits of a happy couple who are deeply in love:
1. Expressing appreciation to your partner
Take the time to appreciate your partner in little ways daily. It can be as simple as bringing home a bunch of flowers or leaving behind a small love note.
Make it a habit to make your partner feel loved, noticed, and appreciated every single day. Take time out of the day to spend it with them, and strengthen your emotional bonds. There needs to be private time allocated for the two of you every day.
2. Communication is key
One of the most powerful habits you can form in a relationship, one that several couples struggle to maintain, is the art of communication.
Communication is the key to a healthy relationship. However, often, we feel scared to communicate our negative feelings in the fear of picking fights or end up communicating our feelings in the wrong way.
It must be remembered that your partner is not a mind reader. They will not know what’s bothering you until you tell them. And the way to tell them that is not by yelling, it’s by having a calm, rational conversation where you air your grievances.
No matter what, maintain the habit of never going to bed angry with each other. If one of you is hot-headed, the other person has to strive to maintain their cool in crisis situations. Listen, communicate, solve. As easy as that!
3. Respect your partner
Respect your partner even when you disagree with them. Mutual respect is an integral part of a healthy relationship.
Respecting your partner means acceptance of your differences in values. Respect is when you accept your partner as they are, even though they might have a different opinion or a past. Treat your partner the way you would expect to be treated by them.
4. Consider yourself a team
Engrave this in your mind – you and your partner are not in competition with each other. You don’t belong to opposite teams.
When you realize that you are on the same side, you can work together to achieve your goals more efficiently. Small or big, you should see each goal as a chance for you and your partner to connect deeper and work for your mutual improvement.
A couple in a healthy relationship helps each other grow instead of being jealous of each other. You and your partner can work on your goals better when you give a concerted effort, always remember that.
5. Say positive things about your partner to others
Do you know what is the opposite of a happy couple? A couple who is always complaining about each other’s flaws to people.
Once again, as a couple, you work on building each other up, not tearing each other down. Accept your partner’s flaws, and focus on their positive attributes instead of focusing on their negative ones. When you express the positive attributes of your partner to other people, your bond strengthens and the love between you grows.
Lastly,
Remember, no one is perfect. Love is all about acceptance and seeing the perfect among all the imperfections.
A relationship is like a seed you sow; you need to nurture the seed into a sapling and then into a fully blooming plant with constant love and care. By implementing the above-mentioned positive habits in your relationship, you make a conscious effort to deepen your connection and maintain a healthy relationship.
No one expects you to get it right the first round. Practice makes a human perfect, and it is with daily practice that you will be able to inculcate these crucial habits into your relationship, resulting in an everlasting and affectionate bond between you and your partner.
If you are struggling to keep the love alive or wondering how to get to a place where you are madly in love with your partner, or even in a new relationship, I encourage you to check out this post about how to start building and keeping the spark alive in your relationship.
At the end of the day, all we want is a good, healthy, and fun relationship with our families. We want to hang out with our loved ones, laugh over lame jokes, talk about our favorite movie characters, and go on fun vacations with them, it’s what everyone desires.
Yet such a relationship is not easy to establish. It takes effort; it takes understanding, and last but not least communication. If you are a parent, I am sure you want that kind of relationship. You want your children to walk up to you with their problems, hang out with you like they do with their friends. In a nutshell, you want to establish an interesting, and enjoyable relationship with your children.
But the question remains HOW. But why worry when we are here to help. The secret to a healthy family relationship is bonding. The more you bond with them, the more enjoyable your relationship will become. In other words, bonding is a great exercise to bring people closer together. So, here are some family bonding ideas you can keep in your toolkit.
50 family bonding ideas
1. Have regular movie nights.
While you are at it, make sure you pick interesting movies. Perhaps you can also have your debate after watching the movie.
Whether it is a game of UNO or Monopoly, don’t forget to roast each other. Go as crazy as you can. You can even mix it up now with all the different versions of UNO or Monopoly and include your pets in the pet version!
3. Cook together.
A family that cooks together stays together. So cook lavish dinners or bake cakes together, it will allow you some time with each other. It can also teach kids how to prepare food later, or even can be a bonding experience and memory with an elderly member of the family. I remember growing up making homemade noodles with my grandma and shaking out the dough to this day.
4. Solve crosswords together.
Most of us share a love for crosswords. If you all happen to be puzzle addicts, solving puzzles together is yet another great way to bond. You can challenge each other to make it more enjoyable.
5. Work on a scrapbook together.
If you happen to have little kids, then creating scrapbooks can be one of the most enjoyable activities for them. You can prepare a family scrapbook with all your family pictures, and decorate it with stars and mirrors to make the activity even more fun.
6. Go out for a drive.
When the air is fresh, and the atmosphere around screams out calling your name, why would you not go? Drives are the perfect opportunities to go on and enjoy the weather together.
7. Have a dance party.
Don’t let your age stop you. You are never too old to dance, even with your kids. Be your crazy self, show them your weird moves and let them show theirs. Dance like no one’s watching. We sometimes also do singalongs in the car because it’s fun and the kids know the song, and it’s different.
8. Challenge them with a book reading.
If you happen to have a family full of avid readers, books are a great medium to bond. Read a book together, and when you are done, engage in book-related conversations.
9. Write a funny poem together, make weird rhymes while you are at it, and laugh together.
10. Declutter together.
11. Have a family album time.
Just lie down, and reminisce about the old days. This could be flipping through your phone or a digital album now that most things are online.
12. Go go-karting.
13. Play video games together.
Need for speed, counter strike? Make your pick; video games are the best creations of humans.
14. Take weird pictures of each other.
Don’t forget to blackmail your family into putting it online.
15. Go for a long walk.
16. If you cannot keep the adrenaline in control, go hiking with your family.
17. Unleash the tickle monster inside you.
Start the battle, and make them gasp for breath.
18. Do random acts of kindness together, go to an old age center or orphanage, talk to people there.
Doing so will encourage your kids to be kind.
19. Exercise together.
Research shows that when you have an exercise partner, you are more motivated to get on track with your fitness.
20. Bake some muffins and cupcakes together.
21. Talk about business and financial markets with your family.
This is for the family with grown-ups. Turns out, the financial market is a great topic to have a conversation about.
22. Learn a skill together.
23. I bet this will be your favorite! Karaoke nights!
Just sing aloud at the top of your voice and have the time of your lives.
24. Go for a vacation.
After all, we all deserve a little break from our hectic, mundane lives.
25. Practice gratitude together.
Start a conversation about the three things you all are grateful for.
26. Go shopping together.
This has to be one of your favorites on the list.
27. Organize treasure hunts for the whole family.
28. Help each other in their work.
29. Create a budget together.
30. Create a family bucket list!
You must have done it with your friends, try your family for a change.
31. Have a bonfire night.
32. Become each others’ stylists for a day.
33. Enjoy a sport together.
Basketball, Football, or baseball? Playing YOUR FAVORITE sport with your family is a great opportunity to bond, and burn some extra calories together.
34. Paint rooms together. Does your room require much-needed paint?
Perfect, you all can paint rooms together, and while you are at it, perhaps paint each other as well.
35. Have a pillow fight.
Pillow fights are just FUN! So let the battle begin.
36. Have all the meals together.
Forget having dinners in your separate rooms. Have a rule that mealtime is bonding time.
37. Clean together.
You must dread this chore, yet when you do it together you might be able to enjoy it, and bond with your family in the process.
38. Have a musical weekend.
Sitting together with a drink in your hand, and listening to songs together as a family? How does that sound? Well, one word, peaceful.
39. Plan surprise birthday parties.
Birthdays are special days; use this opportunity to make your family members feel loved.
40. Indulge in teaching sessions with your kids.
Bond over mathematics, or science; be your kid’s teacher at home.
41. Go for car test drives.
Most family members share a love for cars. If yours does too, go for occasional test drives, or car museums for the matter.
42. Talk about feelings.
Your relationship with kids would be the strongest if you all talk about feelings with zero hesitation.
43. Tell them your stories.
Remember how I met your Mother? Kids love to hear stories from back to the days when you were young.
44. Leave notes.
It’s a great idea to take some time out to pamper your family members with cute notes.
45. Decorate the house together.
46. Go out on adventures.
Whether it is a simple boat ride, or paragliding itself, going out for adventures is the most thrilling.
47. Cuddle them with hugs, and make them feel loved.
48. Play the imitation game.
As the name suggests, imitate each other, and laugh together.
49. Do crafts together.
50. Mention each other’s qualities and annoying habits.
I will say, many of these items on this list are regulars in our house. Especially dance parties, selfie time, looking at digital albums, cuddling, crafting, and working out together. We also enjoy putting in sweat equity together which helps us all feel invested into the project and allows Steve and I to share things we learned growing up with Leila and Finlee. Every moment is a teachable moment as well as a memory and chance to bond. Don’t think because it’s not on this list, it doesn’t count! You may have your own way of bonding as a family completely different from mine!
How often have you found your kid being stubborn to get a toy they liked? And later for another, until it goes on and on, and there’s no stop to your kids’ desires even when they already have something similar right at home.
When it comes to raising children, an essential part of it is inculcating good values to ensure that they become kind humans when they grow up. One of these values is gratefulness. But even when every parent wants that; they think that it’s almost impossible because the world in which they live is driven by materialistic temptations.
While we cannot help but accept this harsh reality, at the same time, we must believe in the power of our values and upbringing. If we feed in strong values in them, they won’t rebound. They’ll stick to them because it will become their way of life.
In other words, if you’ll teach your kids to be grateful for things they have from the very start, then they might not grow up to be materialistic and ungrateful people. They will know their values, and they will live by them.
How to Raise Grateful Kids in an Entitled World
I have a personal story of someone in my immediate family who I believe was not given these tools to be grateful. And as an adult, and an older adult, they still haven’t learned how to be grateful. This person throws a fit when they don’t get what they believe they deserve, not need, even though money isn’t readily available to have the thing they want. Until they get something they want, they won’t talk to their spouse or will make their life miserable until the other person gives in and gets what they want, even if it means going without other necessary things like food or electricity.
It’s a hard thing to watch, honestly. And my girls have experienced it first hand from this person. And Steve and I remind them every day to not be like this person. It’s not a good look and it makes people really angry and not want to be around them.
Just in case, you are wondering how to raise them to be grateful, this article is all you need.
Here are 7 ways to raise grateful kids in an entitled world:
1. Stop rewarding them
Yes, rewarding kids makes your work easy – kids finish their milk, pick up their toys. And you save a lot of energy by not running after them. A win-win!
But is it really a win-win? Because even though you both get what you wanted, you cannot ignore that your constant rewards are inculcating no good value in them. In fact, you are training your kids to be materialistic and greedy in the future.
The thing is when you keep on rewarding your kids, they would never do things because they should. Right now, they are expecting something in return, later when they grow up to be adults they will never consider doing good things just out of their heart- they will always be greedy to want something or the other.
Thus, now is the time to reflect on your methods and tricks as a parent. Take extra efforts, don’t opt for rewarding schemes. Even if you have to, don’t offer material things as rewards – but some other privileges like allowing them to choose a restaurant for your next dine-out, a star sticker perhaps on their hands for being good. But even when you are at it, just limit it, ensure that you don’t use the reward system exceedingly, and make your child dependent on it.
2. Allow your kids to do their chores
Your kids might be kids, but it does not give them a free pass to not do their chores. On the contrary, when you do their chores, you are offering them comfort and privileges; kids never learn to be grateful when they are in their comfort zone. They must know what it’s like to be on their feet all day doing this chore and that. The only way to let them know is to allow them to do the chores themselves. You do not have to ask them to do all the work, but only their chores – like cleaning up their rooms, washing their dishes, etc.
For the record, when kids do their chores, they also learn to become independent in life; it also inculcates a sense of responsibility and maturity in them. At the same time, they become grateful because once they start doing the chores themselves, they realize and acknowledge all the efforts that you put in for them. If you need some support and help with this one, read my post on the topic HERE.
3. Practice gratitude with them
When you have to raise your kids to be grateful, practicing gratitude daily can significantly help. You can encourage them to create their gratitude journal wherein they write down two things they are grateful for, every day.
To heighten their interest, you can encourage them to be creative. You can ask them to doodle, paint, or calligraph their words so they enjoy the process as well. However, you do have to make sure that they do not see it as a kind of obligation. They should practice gratitude because they want to and because they mean what they write down.
Mind that, children learn more from you than the world outside. Thus, if you practice gratitude as well, perhaps they’ll end up picking the same habit. This is a HUGE one in my house because I grew up seeing the other side of this and knew I didn’t want anything to do with that.
4. Interact with kids
When you have a relationship wherein there’s unhampered communication; your kids will have a free, interesting, and healthy upbringing. You can use communication to raise them to be grateful. For instance, you can start a conversation wherein you begin by mentioning things you are grateful for. Then, you can invite them to do the same.
We recently went to Disneyland because both girls are finally old enough to remember the experience since we went in 2016 and Finlee (pictured here) was only 8 months old back then. Now that she’s 6 we could have a conversation and figure out what she really wanted to see and do as well as what Leila (almost 11 now) wanted to do/see to maximize our time and see everything. It was great getting to have a conversation with the both of them separately as well as together to get on the same page. I make a point every day to speak to them even if it’s in the car on the way to school or swim practice. Every little bit helps and I know they enjoy it and listen because it generally comes back later in conversation about what we spoke about and their lesson.
Simultaneously, you can make use of nighttime stories to inculcate good values in them. Children learn a lot from stories, so you can perhaps pick a story that communicates the good value of gratefulness. There’s always a lesson to be learned, even if it’s something you might not feel is important — kids are always listening and watching.
5. Change your ways of life
As mentioned before, children learn a lot from you. This means you have to change your habits which are promoting the opposite of gratefulness. Starting from your shopping instincts – you cannot be a spontaneous shopper in front of them; you would be promoting materialism if you do so.
Secondly, you have to teach them the importance of money. Your children need to know that money is hard to earn, which is why they must be grateful for what they have, and what you earn for them. You can’t just teach them to ask for something that costs money and it automatically appear. They have to know things aren’t free and money is require for them to get things.
6. Allow them to cherish moments
Looking for a birthday gift for your kid? Well, how about gifting them moments and memories instead of a brand-new remote-controlled car?
That being said, your goal should be to raise children in such a way that they value experiences, moments, and memories, not things. When they value these intangible aspects of life, they’ll bother less about tangible things. This is my number 1 suggestion and ask when my girls have birthdays, Christmas, or any other time they would get a gift. I always say we can provide everything they need, and even things they want at times, so their time and memories are more important with the gift giver than things. Sometimes people listen, and I’ve come to learn that those who continually get them gifts instead of spending time don’t want to put in the effort, sadly. And my girls are learning who they can count on and who they want to spend time with, for fun, not just on holidays.
7. Encourage them to be kind and giving
Kindness is the greatest gift. Unfortunately, we live in a world wherein parents do not emphasize the value of kindness. They teach them abacus and poems, but they forget preaching kindness.
If you have to raise grateful kids, you have to encourage kindness. You have to let them know that there’s a world out there that is not blessed with the privileges that they have, which is why they must be grateful and at the same time, do their best to make it a better place.
For the said purpose, you can do the following.
Go out for a donation drive every month as a family.
Encourage your kids to donate their extra clothes and toys.
Go out to orphanages and interact with the people there.
Encourage them to help out other kids at school.
Encourage them to share their lunch with those in need.
Encourage them to be good Samaritans and volunteer for good causes.
Lastly…
Gratefulness can neither be taught nor learned in a few days. It takes months, years, but most importantly, it takes a change of habits, and lifestyle to develop a grateful outlook. So, if you are a parent who is trying, we hope these tips help you out in the endeavor.
Household chores are regular tasks that enable the proper functioning and operating of the home as a system. Nobody actually enjoys doing chores. For adults, they are simply mindless tasks that have to be done every day. But what about kids?
Some parents want their children to enjoy their youth, playing in the garden instead of weeding it. Because childhood once gone, never comes back. Some parents think it is our job as adults to take care of our children. So why should we involve the children in our work?
However, research shows that kids who are taught to do the chores are more confident and self-dependent in their adulthood, and do not face a lot of adjustment problems. And the reasons for that are listed below.
Why your child needs to do the chores
1. Learning Life Skills
As children, they do not have to take care of chores like laundry, budgeting, and cooking. But they are going to grow up someday when they will run their own house. These skills are something which is not taught in schools and colleges but only at home. If kids are not taught their responsibilities at a young age, they will feel helpless when they go to college and have to live on their own.
2. Being more responsible
Why your Child Needs to do the Chores
By assigning household chores to your kids, you are reinforcing that they are held accountable for something. And thus helping them learn how to deal with bigger responsibilities better in their later lives.
3. Gaining Self Confidence
Kids become self-dependent and confident in their capabilities when they complete duties assigned to them successfully. Especially chores that are directly related to their life like cleaning their own room, arranging their toys, making their bed, etc.
This not only makes them independent and confident but also enables them to become more aware of their duties. They will become more mindful of their space and will buffer themselves from creating an unnecessary mess.
4. Learning Teamwork
Doing the household chores makes your child feel like an efficient member of your family, and teaches them that working in a team requires reliance on others as well as expectations on yourselves. These lessons of working in a team and bearing expectations and responsibilities on one’s self equip your kid for his or her future life in workplaces.
5. Learning time management
Sometimes, a person gets overwhelmed with all the work that needs to be done in a single day. Doing chores can help the children learn planning and time management. For older children, balancing schoolwork, housework, as well as extracurricular activities together, can be a really challenging task, but it is essential for them to learn how to plan their days, for they will face much more challenging schedules later in life.
6. Develops work ethics
Rewarding the children when they complete their chores, especially with an allowance, is a common practice used to motivate the kids to do the chores in the first place. This helps build a strong work ethic in them, and they are motivated to work harder at their jobs, a skill that comes in handy in the workplace.
7. Family bonding
Chores also allow you more time with your children during the day. When the parents are doing all the household work while the kids are playing, it’s easier for kids to get bored and develop a feeling of being neglected. The solution to this is to get the children to partake in the chores so that they can spend meaningful time together.
As a kid, no one likes doing chores until they are incentivized. But once older and more mature, children themselves realize the benefits of contributing to the family by helping in the proper maintenance of the household. Most importantly, doing chores imparts invaluable life lessons to the kids, teaching them the ways of the real, outer world and giving them the confidence they need to survive in the world as an individual.
When you have been in a long-term relationship for a while, it’s inevitable that you slowly see the spark fading. This happens due to the monotony of daily life, work schedules, to-do lists, household chores and many more.
Most couples struggle to maintain a balance between their personal and professional lives, which results in the fading of the spark. It’s also entirely possible to take each other for granted when you’ve been together for a significant period of time and stop putting work to keep the connection strong and alive. Add in kids, and all the different activities they require, and your relationship might be on autopilot.
Whatever the reason may be, there’s always time to rekindle the relationship and keep it alive for the long term. Let us help you get some new ideas.
Ways to Start Building a Relationship and Keeping the Spark Alive
Here are 5 ways to start building a relationship and keeping the spark alive
1. ‘I love you’ is overrated
Confessing your love for each other is an important practice to keep the relationship alive and healthy. But often, we use this phrase so mechanically in our daily routine that the phrase loses the intensity of its meaning.
While it’s important to remind each other of your love, it’s equally important to convey other emotions and affections to your partner, such as saying, “You make my life so special,” or “I’m grateful to have you.”
Impromptu confessions like this help keep the romance in the relationship alive and well. These simple phrases might even make your partner’s day better. I know hearing something special from Steve when my day has been terrible picks me right up and makes me feel better.
2. Start the habit of deep conversations
Open and honest conversations are the foundation of any relationship. However, how often do you have a deep and meaningful conversation with your partner that is not centered on kids or work?
I know what you must be thinking. There’s never enough time! Well, to maintain a healthy, rounded relationship, it is important that you make the time. “What is something you really want out of life?” or something along these lines can be the question you ask your partner at dinner, or maybe while the both of you are enjoying a glass of wine.
Try to make the conversations deep and meaningful, something that will let you know each other better. If you aren’t much of a talker, maybe writing things down might be better for you and your partner. I found a 3 year couples journal called, “The Two of Us” which offers a daily question and each person gets to write their thoughts or short blurbs each night on the topic. Sometimes they are serious, while others are funny. It really makes you think and learn things about your partner you wouldn’t have otherwise known because the questions aren’t the most common.
3. Laugh together, live together
Enjoying a good laugh with your partner reinvigorates your relationship like no other. After all, laughter is the best medicine. Try to find the humor in your arguments and fights, but not in a way that discredits your partner’s feelings.
Watch a comedy movie together, share memes and engage in banter like middle-school kids. Keeping that childlike innocence and humor alive in your relationship is very important to sustain it. Steve and I always joke around and laugh with each other — it’s probably one of my favorite things that keeps the spark alive.
4. Bring something new into your equation
It is so easy to fall into a rut and let your relationship become a part of your routine. To keep the spark alive, it’s important to change things up from time to time, and invest time in trying out something new.
Break free from your normal habits and do a new activity together. This will bring the fun and excitement back to your relationship, and seeing your partner in a new environment will also help you get to know them better. Experience falling in love with your partner all over again.
One activity Steve and I have brought in is The Adventure Challenge. We do this as a couple, as a family, with friends, and even started using their new, “The Adventure Challenge In Bed,” book to have a little fun when it might otherwise be boring. Click the link above and use my code SPICEITUP for 15% off your order!
5. Never too late to impress each other
When you have been in a relationship for a while, you start taking each other for granted and stop making the efforts to impress each other, like you would have done in a brand new connection.
If your partner appreciates you and tells you that you look good even in sweats, then they deserve a little more effort on your part. Dress up or surprise them with a gift, things you do in the beginning stages of courtship. Take the time to woo your partner all over again, and feel the spark come alive in your relationship.
Finally,
It takes effort to build and sustain a healthy, long-term relationship. You have to spice things up from time to time so that it doesn’t get boring and insipid. Most importantly, you and your partner have to be on the same page regarding this, so that your work doesn’t go in vain.
Try to remember the feelings you harbored in the very beginning, and attempt to recreate that same romance. Trust your partner, and communicate your needs and wants to them openly. If you want your partner to make more of an effort, discuss this with them. There is nothing that helps more than talking and sharing.
sleeping in excess. To fix such erratic sleeping patterns, try going to bed at a fixed time every day, a time that is not too late or too early.
lightly. Share what you are feeling with a close friend or a healthcare professional. Do not be ashamed to seek help when needed. As someone who has experienced loss because of a PTSD issue that wasn’t addressed or treated recently, I can’t express how okay it is to not be okay. And if you need any support and don’t feel you can talk to anyone, I’m always available to chat. Your feelings and emotions are valid no matter what others might be telling you. 
you need to implement some self-care practices into your everyday routine.
you not go? Drives are the perfect opportunities to go on and enjoy the weather together. 
not running after them. A win-win
healthy upbringing. You can use communication to raise them to be grateful. For instance, you can start a conversation wherein you begin by mentioning things you are grateful for. Then, you can invite them to do the same.
remote-controlled car? 
meaningful conversation with your partner that is not centered on kids or work?
important to change things up from time to time, and invest time in trying out something new.
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