It has been two years since the pandemic and as we moved into the endemic phase, floods of flashbacks came back with memories of circuit breaker and the evolving social restrictions…we have indeed grown a great deal during these challenging times.
As a lot of us have adapted to the new norm of living during that time, we can’t help by remembering the times when there are tensions at home as we struggled to live, work, play together at proximity in a limited space especially at the start of the circuit breaker.
And we learnt that having a positive mental health definitely makes a big difference in managing relationship with the people around us. A positive mental health allows one to have the power to control their life and overcome the challenges of being a family-oriented working parent. Other than having the heightened ability to focus, feel healthier and more optimistic about life in general, he/she will also more mental and emotional capacity to share their time and love with those they treasure.
Well, to have the mental energy to interact and spend time with your significant other, first of all getting more sleep and exercise, as well as avoiding the usage of your phone for extended periods of time is very crucial. To foster a healthy relationship, one should learn how to avoid compulsive perfectionism and learn how to balance the needs of their partner and themselves in the relationship.
Not forgetting that, it is important to discuss and agree on some common grounds with the following aspects so that it would reduce conflict and promote harmony within the family.
Managing Your Finances
Money is a very sensitive topic, and deciding how your family’s finances will be utilized is an important part of family life. Having a good knowledge of finance managing can build a strong relationship foundation and allows you to plan for the future for the family. When there is differing spending habits with your spouse, you may find that friction in this area of your lives may be developed and may snowball into bitterness in your marriage and thereafter, emotional and mental fatigue for you, which is definitely not an ideal situation for both parties.
Based on moneysense, the best way to manage the family’s finances is to set a budget. By setting a budget, you get to control and regulate each other’s total expenditure and improve your finances. With less stresses on money, you can spend more time caring for your children and family, which will relatively cultivate a positive mental health leading to a good relationship as a whole.
Conflicting Parenting Styles
As you and your spouse have been raised differently, it is only natural there will be different views on parenting your children. When there is conflicting parenting style, the arguments that take place frequently from this factor will drain both of your mental and emotional energy, which will ultimately affect the relationship.
The best way to deal with conflicting parenting styles is with you and your spouse coming together to agree on a certain set of rules that your child abides by. With everybody coming to a compromise and consensus on the rules of the house, both you and your spouse will have little or no chance to dispute these rules as they have been agreed upon before bringing them into effect. This way, your marriage will not be affected by the bitterness of arguments, and thus you will have positive mental health as you will face lesser mental and emotional exhaustion that comes with said arguments.
Juggling Work, Family & Self
And last and not least, if you look at life objectively, our time is mainly spent on 3 different facets of our life – family, work and ourselves. If you think about the amount of time you spend on working as well as time spent with family and on chores, is there really time left for you to spend on yourself?
We find that having to balance your work, family and self is a hard balance to achieve, but it is not impossible, and here are a few ways to do just that. You can start by having a schedule, to make sure that you are not overbooked for each day of the week, every week.
Set aside time for yourself at the end of the day, after all the chaos of the day. Next, you can set a to-do list at work in order to prioritise your urgent tasks, so that you can pace youself.
Lastly, get external help and set boundaries. While it is important to spend time with family, it is also important to have a share of your time for yourself. With proper communication and external help where necessary, you will be able to still ensure that your family is being cared for, while also making sure that you are being cared for by yourself. With this extra time to rewind, you can depressurize your mind enough to prepare to face tomorrow’s challenges properly, allowing you to have a positive mental health which will eventually lead to a good relationship.
Article contributed by Edmund & Jenny, Dating Moments