Could Stress Be Ruining Your Relationship With Your SO?

There’s no denying that these are stressful times. Although many of us are starting to emerge from our homes more frequently, we’re carrying the stress of months of pandemic lockdown around with us. Many of us have had to take a significant pay cut over the past few months after being furloughed or instructed to work from home. Some of us may have lost their jobs altogether and making ends meet can be a never-ending struggle. It’s enough to fray even the steadiest of nerves. And when we’re in this state, we tend to lash out at those closest to us. And when our significant other chooses the wrong moment to do something irritating like put a red sock in with the whites, blunder into your home office when you’re trying to work or reply with “I’ll do it later” in response to a grease-encrusted pile of washing up, it can be a match to a powder keg.

Even outside of lockdown, stress can create significant relationship problems, but when you’ve spent months in close proximity with none of the usual outlets for stress relief, it can be catastrophic. Here we’ll look at how stress can affect your relationship and what you can do about it to put yourselves back on a blissful path to lifelong romance... 

How stress affects your relationship

We all encounter stress to some extent or another. But when we don’t have the proper infrastructure in place to deal with it, our stress can seriously impact on our romances, as well as turning us into someone who we generally don’t want to be. It can make us quicker to anger and exaggerate familiar arguments. It can make us tired and distracted so that we’re much less appealing to spend time with. It can make communicating with you more difficult as well as sapping your libido and making intimacy between you and your partner more difficult. 

Keep on doing nothing about your stress, and you could find yourself closing the door on a relationship that might otherwise have thrived. 

So, what can you do about it?

The good news is that there are lots of ways in which you can relieve stress, even when you’re under lockdown. One of the most important and effective things you can do is also the simplest thing in the world to do… take a deep breathe. Deep breathing is the foundation of mindfulness meditation which can prove extremely effective in getting perspective on your stressors and alleviating the stress you feel. The great thing about mindfulness meditation is that you can do it anywhere, at home, at work or even in the car.

If breathing alone doesn’t cut it, there are lots of effective herbal supplements which can naturally help to curb stress, for instance CBD oil is a natural supplement that can prove highly effective in the management of stress. It’s also very important that you make time for yourself to do the things you want to do. Give yourself you time for a soak in the tub or to lose yourself in a great book. When you have personal space and time to yourself, resentments are less likely to build up.  

Communication is key

It’s so very easy to internalise your stress, anger and frustration, especially in these difficult times. It’s also extremely easy to fall into passive aggressive patterns that only make matters worse. Honest, open and sensitive communication on both sides is essential, no matter what other matters you put in place to alleviate your stress. 

Next up, Top 3 Couples Arguments