We’ve all heard relationship advice, “don’t bring your work home,” but it’s virtually impossible to do. Even if you aren’t literally bringing home spreadsheets and profit and loss graphs, what goes on at work affects your home life. If you had a good day at work, you’re more likely to be in a good mood when you get home. If you’re stressed out about an upcoming presentation, you may inadvertently take it out on your spouse. And of course, there are literally times where you have to do work at home because of work overload or an impending deadline, and this can put strain on your responsibilities at home.
Relationship Advice for Keeping Your Relationship Happy If Your Work Life Isn’t
In Houston marriage counseling, I work with people to help them recognize how their mood at home can be impacted by what’s going on at work. It’s totally natural, but it can be beneficial to recognize that what you’re really upset about isn’t your partner, it’s your boss or your co-worker or a client. My relationship advice for this scenario is to take a step back from the situation, take a few deep breaths, and apologize for your behavior.
And of course, there’s the other side of this, if your partner is coming home stressed from work, you can learn to be more patient and understanding. One of the best ways you can help your partner get through this is to check in every day. How was work? Your spouse may not always want to talk about it, but you can be there to listen if he or she needs to vent, and often, even if your partner doesn’t want to share much, you’ll have some insight into their mood.
If you find that your job is putting undue stress on your relationship, you may want to consider a job change. It may make things tougher for a while as you focus on the job hunt every day after work, but get your partner on board. Your goal is to be happier in your work life, so you can be more pleasant to be around afterwards. You can work together toward finding you a new job.
If you need further relationship advice for keeping the emotions that you bring home from work from putting a strain on your marriage, I encourage you to give me a call for Houston marriage counseling.
