Get up, get everyone ready for work and school, make breakfast, come home, cook dinner, get everyone ready for bed…. Start over… Once the bliss of being married wears off, you start to fall into a boring routine. Doing the same things over and over again can really take the life out of a marriage. Sure routine is necessary for getting important things done on the day to day basis, but feeling like a robot can really begin to wear on the relationship. Keeping the flames of your marriage alive will certainly present challenges as time goes on, but it is not impossible.
Switch Up the Routine
We know that routine is an important part of life, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get creative with your routine. Find ways to switch things up in your household. Here’s some ideas I’ve tried on my own:
- Switch Up Meal Choices – Yup, every day I am responsible for making sure that my family gets three meals. While it is easy for me to create meals that I’m familiar with making, it can also get pretty routine. So I decided that at least once a week I would try a new recipe. It presented change to a typical routine while still getting the job done.
- Ask for Help – My husband is usually the one that picks my daughter up from school. While he enjoys this special bonding time, having a break from time to time wouldn’t hurt. So I asked my mom for a bit of help. Now, once every other week, my mom picks my daughter up from schools my husband can do something else with his time.
Spend Time Apart
Believe it or not spending time apart can really spice things up in a marriage. You spend your every waking moment with each other. Why not do something on your own for a change? It allows you to explore your individuality, gives you guys time to miss each other, and gives you something to talk about later on.
Pick Up a New Hobby
The two of you are constantly on the run providing for the family so why not have some sort of release that you both can enjoy? Whether you decide to take a cooking or pottery class, or go bowling once per month, having something that you can look forward to on the regular basis can make a routine a whole lot easier to deal with.
Find Some Married Friends
In the first few years of our marriage, we realized that a lot of our friends were single and without children. As a result, they could come and go as they please and always had money, time and energy to explore whatever they wanted. It made the mundane routine of married life seem even more daunting. So we decided to hook up with a few couples that were also married and had children our daughter’s age. We were able to connect with adults as our children entertained each other, and there was also a sense of relief that we weren’t missing out on “the single life”.
In closing I say, always find a way to switch things up in your marriage. You must always find a way to let your spouse know that you care. Place a note in their lunch, send them a sexy pic of yourself, or stop by their office for a quick lunch break. Whatever you can do to spice things up will go a long way. It makes those dull moments seem less demanding and more worthwhile.