Blog Layout
How To Navigate (And Survive) The Holidays With Your Partner
Kathleen Maiman • December 11, 2019
The holidays can be a stressful time for you and your loved one, especially if you have kids. From traveling to visit relatives to picking up last-minute gifts, you’ve got a lot on your mind during the holiday season.
Not surprisingly, all this added weight on your shoulders can lead to anxiety, stress, and depression. Sometimes, you end up taking out your frustration on your partner. It’s not uncommon for couples this time of year to fight, as stressors reach an all-time high.
Holidays are supposed to be a way to strengthen your relationship and not damage it. While everything that happens can have an impact on your life, remember that the holidays are only temporary and will pass. It’s more important that you keep up the strong foundation you and your partner have worked so hard to build.
Understand what parts of the holiday are impacting your well-being and how you’re responding to these difficulties. I’ve written this post to show you how to build up your relationship over the holidays rather than strain it. Here are a few tips I have for you.
3 Tips to Help You Be a Better Partner Over the Holidays
Focus on these three aspects of maintaining a relationship through stressful times: communication, setting expectations, and being empathetic.
1. Communication Is Key
Communication is the foundation of any secure relationship, and that rule is no different during the holidays. The idea of spending money, visiting relatives, and maintaining a busy schedule can stress you and your partner out.
Also, insecurities may pop up during the holiday seasons when it comes to any of these activities. You might disagree over gift-giving practices or believe your partner is spending too much time with one side of the family’s relatives than the other. Know how to communicate your concerns clearly.
Communication is the best tool you have to ensure that you both understand each other. Your partner should know why you feel a certain way so that you can determine an empathetic approach rooted in compromise.
2. Set Your Expectations Early On
Holiday activities can be expensive. While we all want to give gifts, it’s not uncommon to feel pressured into giving gifts when we don’t have the means to do so. Before the holidays start, you and your partner should talk about expectations.
Lay a framework for what you plan to spend, who you plan to spend it on, and who you’ll visit to develop a better understanding of how things will go.
Discussing these tricky topics early will help you to avoid challenging situations later that may catch your partner off guard.
3. Be Empathetic During the Holidays
Successful relationships require an empathetic approach. The rush of the holidays can bring out different behaviours in you and your partner. It’s in times like these where empathy reigns supreme. Try to understand why your partner is feeling a specific way. Someone may feel flustered during this time because:
- They feel like you spend more time with your family than theirs.
- They’re still upset about a traumatic experience from the past.
- They’re not that interested in the holidays.
Whatever the reason, understand that everybody has their own approach to this busy time of the year. Don’t sweat the small details and think extensively about whether the incident you’re fighting about will even matter in a few days. If not, then it isn’t worth fighting about, so focus on enjoying your time together.
Conclusion
Are you and your partner feeling stressed about the upcoming holiday season?
Consider setting up a consultation to improve your existing relationship for the holiday season and the coming new year. We can help you and your partner understand the problems you’re experiencing and develop an empathetic approach to overcoming these conflicts.
The Love of Attraction offers a variety of couples counselling
and retreats that are designed to strengthen your relationship.
Get in touch with us today by calling 403-809-8282 or to learn more about the couples’ retreats, counselling, and other relationship services.
Have a safe and connected holiday season.
Register for our Newsletter and receive a Free Love Chat Package
This Package Includes
- The 5 Steps to a Better Relationship
- Ongoing Monthly Relationship Tips
- If you want more love in your life, our relationship Love Chat Package is an easy cost-free first step.
With the holiday season upon us, aliveness and energy is in the air. The season can also be fraught with frenzy and heightened emotions. It is not uncommon for couples to be overwhelmed or disconnected during the holidays, especially if one or both of the partners gets triggered by certain events. The added stress can create relationship strife and difficulties.
In one of last articles, I outlined Five Losing Strategies which are destructive and damaging to your relationships, especially in our close loving partnerships. Here are Five Winning Strategies that Terry Real, creator of Relational Life Institute describes.
Blaming is a natural human tendency. When something bad happens, the first thing we want to know is, “whose fault is it?” Dr. Brené Brown considers why we blame others, how it sabotages our relationships, and why we desperately need to move beyond this toxic behavior. Watch her short on blaming below.
Explore how couples' communication workshops boost relationships by enhancing understanding, trust, and conflict resolution skills for a stronger, happier partnership
Learn how couples retreats can help heal the emotional challenges of divorce. Discover supportive therapies and tools to rebuild your relationship and find peace.
Under stress, we move into doing and saying things that are often unskilled and immature. These behaviours can cause harm to another and erode relationships over time. It is not that we are uncaring in those times; rather, the stress responses mean we have reached an unhealthy capacity or emotional limit.
Rekindle your romance with 10 creative date ideas. From hiking and picnics to stargazing and art classes, discover fun ways to deepen your connection and keep the spark alive.
Discover the benefits of date nights in sustaining relationships. Strengthen emotional connection, improve communication, and reignite romance with regular, intentional quality time together.
So, I think we can all agree that relationships are hard. When we are triggered, our responses during times of stress are often dysfunctional and fall into one of five losing strategies as identified by Terry Real, Developer of Relational Life Therapy. They are self-defeating, leading to more discord and disharmony and ultimately stop us from getting what we want in terms of closeness and connection.
Discover the transformative power of Ekam and the energy of Oneness. This blog explores Ekam's role in spiritual healing, offering techniques for incorporating Oneness into daily life, benefits of this practice, and powerful testimonials.
Upcoming Programs and Retreats
More Reading on Couples Counselling
Rekindle your romance with 10 creative date ideas. From hiking and picnics to stargazing and art classes, discover fun ways to deepen your connection and keep the spark alive.
Instead of focusing entirely on surface needs and desires, you learn to recognize the unresolved childhood issues that under-lie them. When you look at relationships with this x-ray vision, your daily interactions take on more meaning.
If you're looking for marriage counselling in Calgary, these essential tips can help you find a relationship therapist who is experienced and empathetic.
Communication is key in any relationship, but it's not always easy. Discover four simple ways to improve communication and strengthen your relationship.
Conflict in relationships is inevitable, but it doesn't have to be destructive. Check out these four tips on how to effectively handle relationship conflicts
A deep connection with your partner is one of the most intimate feelings. But it takes effort to attain and maintain a long-lasting, fulfilling relationship.
