Today is Valentine day and it’s time to celebrate love and relationships. It is the day when people in relationship are happy to show and share their love. However for the single ones, it’s another story. A girlfriend of mine told me: she hates Valentine because it reminds her singleton, and stresses her out. I do understand her feeling.
I am not going to give you some tips about Valentine day but about relationships as it made me wonder how to manage a strong relationship with a busy career and lifestyle. With never endings projects, meetings, late work, having a boyfriend can be quite stressful and appear to be a real challenge.
Despite the fact that it seems complicated yet it manageable with a little bit of organisation. Here are a few tips:
– Schedule: Plan time with your partner in your usual weekly schedule; add love time with your loved one. It doesn’t sound glamorous but it will help you ensure you allocate time to your partner. Plan activities together, book theatre /cinema tickets in advance so that both of you commit to those activities.
– One Day: Pick One Day during the week where, it’s only you and him. No TV, no computer, no blackberry. Just You! You could spend the night in or night out but for sure you will be together, and give one another some quality time. You could change the day every week and do different activities. The options are wide: having a great meal in a restaurant, cooking together, playing games at home. The objective is spending time together without any external distractions.
– Holidays: Holidays is the best way to relax and enjoy time with your partner. It’s just a matter of organising time away together.
We all know holidays are the best way to focus on the other half. You can talk, you can relax and enjoy yourself. However it depends on the destination, it is better to go for a quiet holidays destination not the crazy noisy party destination.
– Short breaks: Also, a good option is short breaks a few times a year. It is said that they can be more refuelling that long holidays. So try and book one or two night away every other month, so you can refresh all the time and spend quality time together.
– Sportive activities: Practising sport together is a good way to spend time together after work or during the week-end. You could sign up for gym club and go there together on a weekly basis; alternatively you could just take ‘pay as go’ and practice once in a while. It allows you to share physical activities yet get fit while relieving your work stress. Suitable exercises to do together are yoga, Pilates, running, swimming. From experience, I would suggest to avoid tennis or badminton that tends to create conflicts if you’re both competitive.
So you just need to choose the most convenient activities for you and enjoy yourself!
Lisiane Ndong 