Let us see how I managed these challenges:
Perception The biggest challenge was that I wasn’t used to dealing with my relationships in this new environment (being with each other locked up in a house), but if you look at it, isn’t this something we all wanted, to be home and spend more time with your loved ones? I decided to perceive this challenge as an opportunity to grow and better my relationship with my partner, after all how often do you get so much time to spend with each other? This helped me tremendously as I was able to deal with an extra workload working as a team with my partner.
Willingness In normal circumstances, my daughter goes to nursery so I had some time to myself, but since she was now home, I had to take responsibility about managing relationships both at work and home. I was willing to try new ways as I knew this was a unique situation, and if I don’t grow out of my comfort zone then I will always be stressed. Say for example, becoming more proactive with my diary so I can make time to spend with my partner and my daughter. Not to say I did everything perfectly but the question is, ‘Are we willing to try?’
Flexibility In relationships We know that each of us have certain roles and habits and we get used to these. For example, I was used to cooking every day but with increased responsibilities it was getting impossible for me to do everything. This is where my partner decided to jump in and save the ship. He made it a habit to help me with cooking so that I could stay sane. New habits take a long time to form, right? But when we are facing a challenge we need to act proactively and show some flexibility.
Awareness Although this has come as the last point, I can’t emphasise enough the importance of being aware. All of the above would not have been possible if we weren’t aware of the challenge we are facing. Some of us like to stay ignorant, and then it ends up with us reacting to the challenge rather than responding.
Responsible relationships are only possible when we are aware that we need to nurture our relationships just like we would nurture our work, our health and our kids. It’s not a one-way street – it is only possible if both parties are fully invested into it. Now, one more important thing to mention here about managing relationships is that some of us wait for our partners to initiate the change and ego creeps in. What would a leader do at work, would he or she wait for the team to approach and show motivation, or will he or she motivate the team along the way?
So, are you a leader in your relationship? If you are, then throw the ego out and take the responsibility to take that first step since ‘the way you do one thing is the way you do everything’!
