People get married because they enjoy being with each other and find joy in one another. However, the demands of life can easily suck the joy out of a happy marriage and make it more difficult for a couple to feel connected and enjoy their time together. To avoid this, the couple must constantly do things that bring joy into their marriage.

Relationship Rituals

These are simply social interactions that are repeated often and mean something special to a couple. The emotional significance is what separates rituals from routines.

Relationship rituals can be everyday things such as watching your favorite TV show together or things that only happen occasionally such as working in the garden together. They just have to be things that help you feel connected even when there are a million other things going on around you.

The thing about rituals though is that they don’t just happen. You have to consciously and intentionally create them, assign emotional significance to them and repeat them as often as you can. They need to be part of your marriage goals.

De-Stress

Stress has become a normal part of life so you may not realize just how much it can impact your relationship with your spouse. It can significantly alter the way you talk to and behave towards your husband and wife. If you think about it, you’ll probably realize that you’re more argumentative, frustrated, angry or withdrawn when you’re stressed.

Spouses should help each other de-stress. For instance, if you know your spouse has a stressful meeting at work, you can make plans to help them de-stress afterwards by making their favorite dish or doing their chores so that they don’t have to worry about them.

Keep in mind that it is more important to comfort your partner when they are stressed than to solve the problem that is troubling them. For example,  you may not be in a position to do anything about your partner’s stressful job but you can certainly hug them and comfort them.

Laugh

Laughing with your partner is probably the most straight forward way to bring joy to your marriage. It can defuse tension and soothe hurt feelings.

There are many ways to bring laughter to your marriage ranging from watching comedies together to sharing funny moments from your days with each other. However, you can’t just sit back and expect laughter to come to you. You have to pursue it by intentionally being playful, looking for funny movies to watch together and sharing funny things with each other.

The stress of everyday life can slowly suck the joy and life out of your happy marriage. The only way to avoid this is to continuously bring joy to your relationship by engaging in fun activities for couples.