1. INTENTIONAL KINDNESS - Try being intentionally kind like you were when you first dated. Remember, those annoying things you overlooked because you were smitten. Do something unexpectedly even if you don’t feel like it. Just try it for a few days and see… you might be surprised.
2. FORGIVE THE SMALL STUFF - If your spouse only had six months to live would this thing that is irritating you really matter?
3.PRIORITIZE LAUGHTER & FUN - Laughter is good medicine and you know it. Somewhere between work, family and financial stress husbands and wives stop having fun together. Even when life is hard laughter can lighten the load.
4. USE A LITTLE FOOTBALL STRATEGY - Winning football teams are not made by happenstance. They have a strategy to utilize strengths of teammates to work toward the common goal of winning. Marriage is no different. Talk about the “wins” you want to work toward in your relationship and see if you can find a way to work together and reach those goals.
5. CELEBRATE WHAT IS GOOD - When the world is falling around you it is hard to take time to celebrate small wins and milestones but it is important. Reflecting on how far you’ve come…10 years or 20 years? It might be hard but you’ve made it this far! Celebrate what is good in your relationship and call a truce at least for the evening.
*For more tips and stories of couples that struggled in marriage and made it through with encouragement that you can too, check out - Dancing in the Kitchen. Available to pre-order on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, BAM!, Chapter’s , Powell’s online booksellers.