you are here: Renew the Newlywed Bliss
by Brettani Shannon
Newly married couples, dating couples, extra-marital affairs and one-night stands all have one thing in common… energy. Over time, the drab things in life can so easily detract from the flame of a love affair. Sometimes the passion and love we felt at the beginning of the relationship are eclipsed by the more pressing matters of everyday life. There is always hope for infusing a relationship with the energy of new love if you make a conscious effort to do so.
Love with Abandon
Don’t play it safe. Don’t let resentment build up a wall around your heart. Remind yourself again and again that tomorrow may never come, not as a morbid thought, but as a lesson hard learned from those who have lost their loved ones.
Cushion the Falls
Go out of your way to comfort your love when they are sad, hurt, angry or disappointed. A good way to gauge yourself is to compare your relationship to that of you and your best friend. You should be giving your partner at least the amount of consideration and support that you do your friend.
Actually Kiss and Make Up
Make up sex isn’t just for the movies, you know. Loving, physical intimacy does bring you closer together emotionally and spiritually – an absolute must for a happy relationship.
Make Your Own Rules and Make Them Up As You Go
Love doesn’t fit in a box, so don’t try and confine your relationship to one. Attempting to squeeze a person into your one-size-fits-all relationship template is a recipe for mediocrity. The key to a really great relationship is creativity and flexibility.
Wake Up Early or Stay Up Late
Just to be with your partner, to play, touch, laugh and remember why you are so blessed to be with one another.
Keep Formal Romance Alive
Ask your partner out on dates that you plan. There is a difference between going out and taking someone out, the latter being much more romantic.
Keep Yourself Fresh
Learn a new skill, try new things. Continuing in the same old stagnant lifestyle is a big complaint among couples once the newness of a relationship has worn off. Part of that can be forgetting that you were an individual with a life before this relationship. Have you own interests and cultivate new ones. Keeping things fresh in your personal life will help keep things moving in your relationship as well.
Make Playtime a Priority
Don’t let another month or year pass you by without the memory of passion and laughter. Isn’t it everyone’s fear that they will hit a certain age and look back with regret, wondering where the years went? This sort of crisis usually does a real number on relationships, but it is completely preventable. All it takes is play. Be silly, be romantic, and be in the moment.
Make Out
All great relationships began with a lot of making out. Keeping that heat a part of your love life forever will ensure that the good times keep coming.
Meet for Coffee, Lunch, or Drinks
Casual, friendly meetings just because will always help you to stay best friends. Hanging out together should be as much of a staple in your relationship as the six food groups in your diet.
Forget About the Jones’
If you think you’ve escaped the pressure to keep up with the Jones', think again. In every community, every lifestyle, every class, there are plenty of new and hip social pressures to make you feel inadequate. Don’t let yourself get focused on what you wish you had, what you don’t have, or even the things you could have if you work a little harder. One wise man said, “Living in the imagination inhibits your ability to experience the splendor of the present.” Strive to identify your own hopes and dreams, not what is being fed to you, because the consumer-based world around you will always have something else for you to “need.”
Lift Them Up
The love of your life deserves to be honored to their face and behind their back. Compliment them often, tell your friends more good things than complaints about your partner, and never talk down to them or embarrass them.
Fill Your Life with Little Romances
Hold hands, share a piece of pie, kiss your lover’s nose, leave them a love note, and say “I love you” in a million different ways. These little romantic gestures are what you do to ensure your partner to always knows how much you adore them.
Get Excited Often
Get back into the saddle of life. Remember the crazy romantic things you used to do together and do them again. Even the brainstorming and planning can be really exciting. Try this: sit down with your partner and make a collective list of all the things you’ve always wanted to experience with your partner, all the places you’d like to visit, and any adventures you want to have. Also include favorite memories from the past. Dream of the future together and make plans to achieve your goals, one at a time.
