5 Ways to Strengthen Your Relationship This Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is a week away and while flowers and chocolates are nice, they don’t have a lasting impact on your relationship. This year, consider forgoing the cards and teddy bears and give your relationship’s strength and communication a face lift! Luckily for you, we’ve chosen our five favorite easy ways to strengthen your relationship this Valentine’s Day and every day after.
1. Know and practice each other's love languages:
We all have different ways we like to give and receive love, this is called our “love language”. There are five main types of love languages: quality time, giving/receiving gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation, and physical touch. Understanding your partner's love language is imperative to making sure the gestures you make for your partner will actually be something they want! If you’re unsure what yours or your partner's love language is, take the quiz here!
2. Try and find an activity to do with your partner
Pick an activity to do with your partner. This can be anything! Going to the gym together, reading the same book, watching a weekly tv show, taking a ceramics class, anything! Carving out a little bit of time each week to spend quality one-on-one time with each other will help you feel more satisfied and secure in your relationship.
3. Practice gratitude
Every so often or whenever you feel like your relationship needs it, sit down with your partner and each write down three things you're grateful for or appreciative of in your partner. Then, read what each other wrote and talk about it! Discussing these moments of gratitude can help you feel more connected and understand each other and yourself better.
4. Hold hands more
Hand holding is an often overlooked intimacy in a relationship. Try finding more opportunities every day to hold your partner's hand, even if it’s only for a few minutes at the breakfast table. When you have the time, try discussing things that may be bothering you or causing anxiety while holding their hand, the closeness can help bring things into perspective.
5. Work on your communication skills
Communication is one of the most important things for any relationship. If you’re not understanding each other, how can you grow? Working on communication can look like a dozen different things like doing communication exercises (look at our Instagram for inspiration!), going to couples counseling (book your consultation with Mayra here), or just simply talking to each other more. When communication is there, there're few battles you won’t be able to get through.
Valentine’s Day isn’t the only time of year you should be thinking about the inner workings of your relationship. But, it can understandably be hard to know how to start strengthening your relationship. That’s why we’re here though! Hopefully you found one or more of these tips helpful in your relationship!