Coping with stress in a relationship is crucial for our overall happiness as relationships can be a major source for stress. In fact, if we start to feel stressed out about a seemingly small issue, we tend to question the whole relationship. Know the sources, signs and effective strategies for coping with stress and you will be able to enjoy a harmonic relationship, just as it is meant to be.
But first things first: Stress in a relationship is impossible to avoid, let’s be clear on that. Just as we cannot avoid stress in any other area, relationship stress is also something that will definitely affect us. Therefore, the question is not how we can avoid relationship stress, but rather how we can become better at coping with stress in a relationship.
Just as relationships in general, stress coping is somewhat complex and has multiple dimensions. For sure, it has to do with spotting stress early on, knowing how to deal with stressors, but also with how we interpret them. Most importantly, stress coping has to do with how capable we see ourselves to manage relationship stress.
All in all, we can categorize coping with stress in a relationship into these dimensions.
1. Identify the most important sources of stress in your relationship
Being in a relationship is a constant process of learning and adapting, both individually and as a couple. Naturally, all this change forces us into new, unknown situations. Most importantly, it is this unknown acting as a potent source of stress and we need to learn how to deal with it early on. The earlier we focus on the stress sources and see the signs of stress, the earlier we can act. ….CONTINUE READING
2. Understand the top signs of stress in your relationship
Just as important as knowing the sources is knowing when your own relationship has fallen victim to the stressors. If it has, you will see the most important signs that your relationship is having stress issues and you need to act. ...CONTINUE READING
3. Adapt your attitude to stressors in your life
Similarly, coping with relationship stress has to deal with how we see stress in our live in general. The way in which we explain the happenings around us is crucial for effective stress coping, especially in a relationship. ...CONTINUE READING
4. Learn how to reframe relationship stressors
How we then interpret these stressors is the next stage. Whether we see an emotional discussion with our partner as something that is harming our relationship or as something that is helping it grow, for example. I will call this dimension our Filter. ..CONTINUE READING
5. Learn how to master stress with a stress mindset
The sources and signs of stress as well as we deal with and interpret stressors are all external views. The last and most important dimension is your self-image. This is how much you trust yourself to manage the stressors in your life – your stress mindset. You will learn how you can change yourself to relax more and stress less. ...CONTINUE READING
I invite you to deep-dive into the dimensions and pick the strategies that will help you to better cope with stress in your relationship.
If you find this information useful, I will be happy if you leave a comment down below.