To find your soulmate isn’t the end of your love story. It’s the beginning of a beautiful journey, walking together through thick and thin. Relationships are quite difficult to navigate and to compound that difficulty, consecutive lockdowns are playing a significant role.
The psychological stress and social restriction have made it difficult to maintain a relationship without any unnecessarily heated occasions. Lockdown relationships and breakups are further screwing up the state of mind. Love is like a glass that breaks if handled clumsily. So, how can your relationship thrive in this lockdown?
Lockdown has proved to be a social earthquake that has shaken the footings of a stable relationship. Lockdown and relationship strains have become too much to handle.
Since the first wave of the virus and the very first lockdown, it has become very difficult in keeping up with the current events. Things have suddenly changed. And we all are trying our best to adapt ourselves to this alien circumstance. With such drastic changes in our lives, our bonds with our lovers have taken a massive toll. Sadly, lockdown and relationships have countess times proved to be a toxic combination in the past year.
Lockdown and its strains on the relationship
The lockdown has radically changed the morals and principles of relationships. Be it a long-distance or short distance. The situation is no longer the way it used to be. This pandemic has been especially hard on the relationships that were not a long distance from the beginning but got converted into one, resorting to the given conditions. Lockdown has already exhausted one’s mental strength and thus has become more restless and agitated. And maintaining a romantic relationship in such a situation especially a lockdown and living apart has become more complex than it ever had.
Lockdowns and living apart arises problems like:
- Trouble in making time
Since everything has become “work from home”, it doesn’t mean that the workload is less. It has maximized as these online classes; rather online academic life has disturbed the entire flow of regular life we once had. Hence, at the end of the day, this exhaustion prevents us from having any kind of conversation. This means that we reluctantly ignore our partner, obeying the body’s need for self-time.
- Misunderstandings
Long-distance relationships always needed extra care and now lockdown. Even the short distance relationship turned into a long distance one. Resulting in dozens of misunderstandings. Due to lockdown, people are already agitated and have become volatile. The slightest unfavourable situation and there you go bursting in anger.
- No personal contact
It agitates the most especially those who crave physical touch and believe in a face-to-face conversation. Lockdown and relationship problems living apart is putting up a massive toll.
- Too stressed to keep calm
Coronaviruses have infamously ended the calm mental state of many. Career pressure, safety pressure, precautions all have stressed the mind so much that it’s difficult to keep calm. Being constrained and are to live within the walls are sure to get stressed. And because of that, your relationship may start falling apart as lockdown and relationship strains might be too much for you to handle.
Coronavirus is not only a health crisis but is continuing to become a relationship crisis. And lockdown’s strains on relationships are too deep. So, will it be easy to conclude that it is impossible to have a healthy relationship during a lockdown? NO. A big NO. Haven’t you heard that— “where there’s a will, there’s a way”?
Following are lockdown and relationship rules that can mend your bond.
If the current conditions are not working for your relationship, then mold yourself accordingly. Don’t give in. Following are lockdown and relationship rules that need to be noted in order to continue having a healthy relationship even during a lockdown
Listen and empathize
The biggest problem often lies in our acute inability to listen to someone else quietly and intensively. And in such a stressful time of pandemic and consecutive lockdowns, listening skills are really important. Listen to what your partner has to say, listen to what’s troubling him/her, ask questions. This is important. Everyone’s going through tough times. There are these tiring online classes, uncertainty in career, illness, weird atmosphere at home due to acute negativity in the surroundings. So at the most, you need to be kind and honest to your partner. If something is bothering you, share it.
Next, express empathy. Understand your partner’s feelings, talk about them, define, and then getting them.
This is the best method of reducing your partner’s stress and make them feel that they are not alone.
Can’t go out for a date? How about an e–date?
Remember that viral TikTok video from last year where a man upon seeing a woman casually yet charmingly dancing on her terrace and sent messages through a drone, and they started dating one another? Wasn’t that video super cute? So what’s stopping you from doing such things? Of course, you don’t have to search for a dancing man/woman, you have your significant half with yourself. So, take out some time and plan a date. Get dressed select menu! It will prove to be a good refresher. Or, you can watch a movie together by sharing a screen. These parodies of real-life dating might sound ridiculous, but at times like this which is full of negativity, such small and simple experiments can prove to be such a mood changer.
Practice new hobbies together
We all know that the biggest problem in being under lockdown is zero social life. And because of that, there’s usually nothing to talk about with your significant other. Thereby, resulting in dry texts and long awkward pauses in calls or during FaceTime. Turn this quarantine time into quality time by doing some activities together. You can try making different recipes, try playing musical instruments like the guitar or try a hand on writing poetry, anything that sounds interesting to both of you. For instance, you guys decided to learn painting. So you bought the necessities and started painting following online instructions. And when it will be the time for the daily call, talk about your progress, show your paintings, joke about it and, so on. This way you’ll definitely be able to have an interesting and fun conversation that will no longer be repetitive and bland.
Lockdown, relationships, and break-ups
Lockdown relationships and breakups are the coldest combinations that’s hurting one’s mind and heart in the most brutal way.
Lockdowns have coldly witnessed numbers of cold divorces and awful breakups. Last week my friend called me and bitterly cried as she had ended up her 5-year-old relationship and there’s room for 2nd chance. She said, “It has become toxic. I can’t take it anymore. ” According to her, lockdown and relationship problems living apart was the death knell for her relationship.
My friend is amongst hundreds of others across the nation who have gone through bad breakups— breakups that weren’t meant to happen. Miscommunication has always been the most nefarious yet stupidest reason for couples to break up.
Conclusion
We all know that relationships and realities of covid-19 often don’t mix. But this doesn’t imply that your relationship won’t be able good stand this social earthquake. It is therefore your responsibility to make lockdown and relationships work. You’ll have to overcome lockdown and relationship strains. The dilemma of breaking or staying, most certainly it depends on you- if you want, you can make this happen. You just need to have enough patience and understanding. Problems will arise if you aren’t meeting one another. Lockdown and relationship problems living apart will definitely put a scar if not taken care of.
Every human being is different and thus has a unique way of having bonds. Hence, there is no such manual for maintaining relationships, especially during the lockdown. Fortunately for the rescue, there are certain tested lockdown and relationship rules and advice that work most of the time. But how to make it work depends on decide to see and handle things. But always remember to be kind towards your significant other. Kindness is the best remedy.
