As many of us know, maintaining a strong and happy relationship with a significant other when one or both members of the relationship are busy with a separate career life can be an extremely difficult endeavor. With busy schedules, giant career goals, endless side projects, and so much more, a boyfriend or husband can become more of a stress factor than a source of relief for the classy career girl. While preserving a healthy relationship when you are married to your career and aspirations can be difficult, it does not have to be impossible.
Follow these four tips to help manage your relationship and your career without letting either suffer.
Be Flexible
One of the most important aspects of a relationship is being able to relax with your significant other after a long day at work. However, as we all know, relationships don’t always encourage relaxation. Be sure to be flexible and easy going with your relationship on days where work is especially stressful. As difficult as it can be, be sure to leave your work stresses at work.
Come home to your significant other and relax. Don’t stress when plans fall through or don’t go as planned. Your dates are not a work assignment, so you do not have to be a perfectionist about them. Keeping your work stresses separate from your personal life will benefit not only your relationship, but also your work life. Try hard to also keep relationship stresses out of your work life. While compartmentalizing these two endlessly important aspects of your life can be challenging, it is essential to leading a healthy and happy professional and personal life.
Do the Little Things Together
Not every minute that you spend with your significant other has to be a four-course meal and a movie. You have to tone down your expectations. Just because you can’t spend all of your time with him, doesn’t mean that the time you do spend with him has to live up to fairytale status always. Do the little things together, so that you can be together more often.
Plan to go to the grocery store together, make dinner together, have a spring cleaning day together, and get lunch together during the work day. These little events may seem small or insignificant, but they can be key to staying connected to your boyfriend or husband when you have limited spare time.
Plan Bigger Outings
While doing the small things together is important and key for the busy career-oriented couple, planning big outings and events with one another occasionally is important. Find a weekend or holiday that you will have some time away from work and take a small (or not so small) vacation with your beau. Plan a weekend full of big meals and fancy dates. Go dancing. Spice things up and keep things interesting.
As a busy working lady, it can be easy to forget to stop and take some time off for yourself and your loved one. Take a break to really pamper each other away from your professional lives.
