How To Deal With Conflicting Schedules In A Relationship
We all know that being in a relationship can be a wonderful thing. However, everything that glitters isn’t gold and things can get rough, especially between two people with extremely busy schedules. Are you always trying to plan dates but constantly have to cancel due to a heavy workload, challenging classes or just life in general? Here’s how to make conflicting schedules in a relationship a little bit easier.
Calendars Are Your Best Friend
To know when your significant other will be busy, you have to be in tune with their schedule. Luckily, there are many calendar apps that have the ability to sync schedules from multiple people into one. Apps like Google Calendar, Cozi and Family Wall make planning alone time much simpler. They allow you and your significant other to upload your daily activities, making it easier to see which days you have a significant amount of free time available.
Quality Time Doesn’t Mean You Have To Go Out
When you’re short on time, finding a nice restaurant, making reservations, getting dressed and actually making it there may not be ideal. Don’t let anyone tell you that Netflix and chill doesn’t count. Hitting the store to pick up snacks together and watching a movie you both love can be more relaxing and cheaper than sitting in a packed theater snacking on $13 popcorn. It doesn’t have to be anything big; finding an hour where you can meet up to take a lunch break together at your favorite fast food place could be just what you both need to make it through the day.
Communication Is Key
Since your time together is limited, you should be consistently communicating when apart. No, this doesn’t mean that you’re obligated to text and facetime each other 24/7 (who has enough free time for that?), but you should be communicating on some level at least every day. Keeping your lines of communication open is crucial to your relationship’s survival. Sending a cute selfie or funny meme that you saw on social media will let your significant other know that even though you’re not physically with them, they’re still on your mind. This will help to create a stronger connection, and as they always say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.
Make Your Relationship A Priority
If you truly care for your significant other, you have to make spending time with them a priority. It may be difficult to put your work to the side for a few hours, especially if you’re heavily involved with your career or schoolwork, and you may feel tempted to cancel on them to finish things up, but this will only hurt your relationship in the end. If putting your work first is truly an issue in the relationship, consider establishing “off” hours as a compromise; during these hours, you can both agree to focus on each other with no distractions involved. Yes, this means actually putting the phone down, turning your laptop off, and tossing your iPad in another room.
Understand That This Won’t Be Easy
Relationships in general aren’t always full of happy times and sunshine; adding conflicting schedules into the mix doesn’t help, either. Don’t go into the situation thinking that everything will always work out. Both you and your partner should understand situations that can’t be avoided will come up and emergencies can still arise. You will experience some negative emotions such as sadness and anger. When things like this happen, reflect on the reasons why you’re with your significant other in the first place. You desired to be in a relationship with them for a reason, and even though they can’t necessarily choose their schedule, they continue to choose you every day. This is one of the best tips for dealing with conflicting schedules in a relationship!
