If you want to improve your relationship, you must start with yourself. After all, you only have the power to change your own habits and behaviours. In the process of pursuing self-improvement goals and working to become the best version of yourself you can imagine, you will learn to be realistic about your needs and expectations and communicate these clearly. Working on yourself can inspire your partner to make positive changes in their life as well! Here are some tips from ReBuildingYou to help you improve your relationship by looking inwards.
Go Back to School
Your job can have a direct impact on your relationship. According to TheLadders.com, our partners can easily feel neglected when we spend more time nurturing our careers than our relationships. Finding balance is key! If you’re working a job that’s taking all of your attention and energy away from your partner, consider making a career change.
You can jump-start your career change by going back to school and enrolling in an advanced degree program. For example, if you want to shift toward a career in business, earning a bachelor’s degree in business will open the door to many exciting career prospects. You’ll learn key business concepts from accounting and management to decision-making and marketing. Consider enrolling in an online program so you can continue working while learning on the side. This will also make it easier to spend time with your partner!
Start a New Career
If you’re feeling burned out or dissatisfied at your current job, it may be the perfect time to consider shifting into a new career by starting a new job. The stress you’re experiencing can easily bleed over into your personal life. Before approaching potential employers, you’ll want to update your curriculum vitae (CV) to detail your academic background, career experiences, and skill set. Create your CV by using a free online CV builder. Choose from a library of professionally designed templates, and then insert your text, graphics, and choice of colours.
Follow Your Entrepreneurial Dreams
If you’re feeling unsatisfied with traditional employment, consider starting your own business. Becoming an entrepreneur can boost your self-esteem and encourage the development of self-discipline. You and your partner could even go in on a business together! Starting a business is easier than ever, thanks to the numerous online tools and resources at your disposal. For example, you can find apps to automate marketing, accounting, and customer management, as well as online services that offer affordable business formation and legal support.
Develop Healthy Coping Strategies for Stress
Stress is inevitable in the modern world. Unfortunately, external stressors can easily drive a wedge in your relationship. Develop healthy coping mechanisms so you can prevent stress from spilling over and affecting how you interact with your partner. For example, Psychology Today suggests finding calming activities to relax your mind and body when you’re up against stressors that you have no control over. Yoga, meditation, reading, and other calming hobbies are great for this purpose.
Establish Better Sleeping Habits
Unhealthy sleeping habits can be detrimental to both your health and your relationship. Some studies show that couples with different sleep schedules tend to report less relationship satisfaction and more conflict than those who sync up their sleep. It’s also hard to get high-quality shut-eye when someone else in the house is awake and making noise. If you like to stay up late and your partner goes to bed early, see if you can compromise and adjust your sleep schedules, so you’re going to bed at the same time.
Hold Each Other Accountable
If you and your partner are exploring individual health and wellness goals at the same time, try to hold each other accountable! Communicate your goals to your partner and learn how to be a supportive accountability partner yourself.
Sit down with your partner and create an accountability plan, discussing exactly how you can hold each other accountable for following through with your goals. This will help you avoid coming across as nagging, judging, or aggravating. Communication is key!
Taking care of yourself, your needs, and your goals is vital to the health of your relationship. Whether it means going back to school, starting a business or new career, adjusting your sleep habits, or developing healthier methods for coping with stress, the actions you take in pursuit of self-improvement will spill over into your relationship. Better yet, jointly working on self-improvement and holding each other accountable will strengthen your relationship and help you feel a deeper connection to your partner.
For counselling to enable you and your partner to really ‘feel’ each other again, visit ReBuildingYou today!