Important Steps to Take When Relationship Stress Affects Your Health

By Your Health Magazine

Humans crave interaction with other humans, and the most intimate form of connection we experience is developing a relationship with another who shares our innermost thoughts and feelings. However, as seems to be the way with life in general, things are never quite so simple. Even when we believe that we’ve found a partner with whom we could spend the rest of our lives, they can still become a rollercoaster of emotions that range from the initial euphoria of the first meet to a steady decline in love as we begin to drift apart as our preferences and desires change over time. Consequently, many relationships can end up causing extreme stress in all involved that, if left unchecked, can eventually lead to serious health concerns either from the stress itself or from the coping mechanisms you utilize to help dull the pain. Luckily, there are steps you can take to alleviate such issues, many of which we will cover in this article.

Try To Move Slowly And Take Your Time

For many newer relationships, it can seem that life is moving far too slowly. After all, you probably want to proclaim your love from the rooftops and let everyone know that you’re ferociously in love with your new partner. While this is a pretty standard feeling, you run the risk of taking things far too fast and trying to tie yourselves together before you really know one another. The best way to avoid this fate is by opting for a slow burn relationship that slows things down and gives you plenty of time to get to know one another properly. We aren’t talking about liking the same foods or movies, but really looking deeply into each others’ souls and figuring out if you are actually compatible or if you simply allowed your raw emotions to take over and make the decision on behalf of your logic. In this case, the saying that the star that burns twice as bright lasts half as long really rings true. So how do you go about this in practice, especially when you’re both madly in love and enjoy the feelings that your emotions are allowing to run rampant? In practice, you can take a step back and inform your partner of your boundaries and what you hope to achieve. We’ll discuss boundaries in more detail later, but by setting them up from the get-go, you can avoid painful conversations later on. It’s also vital to be open and honest, which leads perfectly to the next point…

Communicate Openly With Your Partner

Free and open communication is really the bedrock for any lasting relationship, and without it, it will only serve to see your partnership end in a whimper (or a lasting loathing for the person you thought you loved). Being open with your feelings can help massively reduce any issues you feel, as they will bring them out into the open and give you both time to assess the situation and see if there are any ways around them. In many ways, you can treat it a bit like a cognitive behavioral therapy session, whereby you let out everything you might have stored up, providing you with a cathartic outlet for your grievances. Just to be clear, it’s terribly unfair to simply drop this on your partner without warning, and you need to let them know that you want to speak with them. Just dropping all of your negative emotions on their lap without warning could jeopardize your relationship, and to be honest, it simply isn’t fair. You ought also to allow your partner time to respond without passing any judgment. Hopefully, and as long as the issues aren’t too severe, this frank discussion will be enough to help move you beyond the problems and help you both remember why you fell madly in love to begin with.

Seek Professional Counseling If It Gets Too Bad

In some extreme cases, the stresses that arise from your relationship could be so serious that you are reaching for ways to dull the pain and forget your problems. This can lead to nasty addictions that will only serve to ruin your health and ultimately wreck your life in the long run. If this sounds like your situation, then seeking professional help may be the best option. It is up to you if you want to inform anyone, but you really should let your closest confidants know so that they can support you in any way possible. It can be terribly lonely going through therapy alone, and allowing others into your life can give you a stable base to recover.

Establish Healthy Boundaries

Everyone has certain boundaries, but the problem is that without communicating them effectively to other people, no one will ever know what they are and consistently step over them. Instead, you need to let your partner understand where yours lies (and you ought to know where your partner lies). Doing so will help to smooth over most of the issues that can be a cause of contention between couples. It could be that your partner is too overbearing and is constantly unhappy that you are spending some time with your closest friends to stopping you from pursuing your hobbies. Whatever it may be, you need to consider what your boundaries are, then inform them that these are things you cannot remove as they contribute directly to your happiness.

Practice Mindfulness And Meditation Techniques

Mindfulness and medication have long been recognized as being beneficial to your mental health. They can stabilize your emotions and enable you to think more clearly about your life. This will have a knock-on effect of ensuring you can see all that’s good in life and your current relationship. It also helps you to become more open with the person causing you the stress in the first place and let them in on your feelings. These activities also happen to be even more beneficial if you practice them with your partner and allow it to become a habit that you both perform together.

Nobody ever said being in a relationship was easy, but if you find yourself becoming increasingly unhappy in your current situation, it might be time to reevaluate it. By following these tips, you should be able to reduce some of the more serious issues, but the key is, as always, being open and honest with yourself and your partner.