Covid hit us all pretty hard. For people who lived alone, often the loneliness took a toll. For people who were in a relationship, they found out that being together 24/7 was really hard. Couples had a hard time communicating about this because it is hard to tell your spouse that you are sick of them. It’s kind of like if you got to eat your favorite meal every single day, 3 meals per day for the last 2 years. My guess is that you would be sick of it. I use this example to show that just because you are sick of your spouse, doesn’t mean that they are somehow no longer right for you. It is just a matter of moderation.
Tips to getting back to liking your relationship after COVID:
- Don’t stop having time together, just make it less often. Make sure you have a discussion about how often you saw each other pre-COVID and try to get back to that amount of time spent together.
- Hang out with friends. Even if you are still being super careful with COVID, you can see friends on Zoom (they have a free account) or go hangout outside with your friends.
- Get involved in an activity. There are lots of outdoor activities including outdoor painting/art classes, sports, a book club, or a walking club. Try googling “outdoor activities near me” to see what comes up.
- Have alone time. If you have been stuck in the house for a prolonged period of time WITH SOMEONE (no matter how much you enjoy their company), you probably have had less alone time than you would have normally. Think about getting out of the house to do something alone (take a drive, take a walk, go sit at the beach or a park) or ask your spouse if you could each arrange to get out of the house so that the other person can have alone time.
If you are still struggling with recovery from COVID life, think of giving us a call. At Long Beach Therapy, we have worked with a lot of different clients who are coming in for various issues related to COVID. We have been working with people who haven’t had any alone time for 2 years, we have been working with people who have been alone for 2 years and need to remember how to socialize and everyone in between.
If you live in California and are looking for a therapist, please give us a call at Long Beach Therapy: 562-310-9741.