How Your Marriage Can Endure the Coronavirus

Develop a Routine

COVID-19 precautions for social distancing have disrupted the daily routines of nearly everyone in the world. Many news reports have characterized these precautions as “the new normal” until the healthcare system can catch up with the pace of the pandemic.

As a result, establishing a new, consistent routine can help people adjust to living life under quarantine. Such routines can contribute to marital stability for couples, turning what would otherwise be considered mundane tasks into reliable aspects of life. This includes setting aside time to discuss one’s expectations with one’s spouse and children living at home.

Further, developing a regular routine that you and your spouse can respect and accommodate can go a long way toward fostering meaning in life under these new circumstances, and ensuring your marriage endures beyond this health crisis.

Even when you are confident that your marriage will end after the immediate press of the pandemic response, both parties will still need to work together to implement a safe living environment in the meantime.

Put Emphasis on Communication

In all marriages, the importance of communication cannot be overemphasized. This is especially true under these new circumstances as we combat the Coronavirus outbreak. Marriages and co-habitation environments can greatly benefit from periodic check-ins to manage expectations, respond to changing circumstances, and adhere to governmental orders.

The benefit of communication is particularly beneficial in a crisis when each party has a different perspective on events. By fostering an environment that promotes communication, you and your spouse can get on the same page or at least understand the stresses and perspective of the other. This will make you better equipped to survive the “new normal” brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The character of communication is also a significant consideration. In the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, it is easy to become inundated with tragic news and negative information. This can substantially affect the mood of you and your spouse.

For example, writer-editor Molly Tolsky posted on Twitter about her “imaginary coworker” named Cheryl: “Get yourselves an imaginary coworker to blame things on. In our apartment, Cheryl keeps leaving her dirty water cups all over the place, and we really don’t know what to do about her.” Tolsky and her husband used “Cheryl” as a scapegoat for things that annoyed each other instead of creating larger disputes that could easily have gone unchecked.

Compartmentalize Space

Before households were ordered to remain at home, the majority of spouses spent a large part of their weekdays apart. “Shelter-in-place” or “safe-at-home” orders have uprooted aspects of life for such couples.

To address this unique disruption, experts recommend that couples carve out “alone time” as part of their daily routine. This will help ease couples through the transition of leaving home for the office environment to working primarily from home with your spouse as your “coworker.”

Seek Marriage Counseling

In many cases, couples are not used to spending so much time with each other. Although communication is essential, it can be more helpful to talk about one’s marriage with a neutral third-party, like a friend, family member, or marriage counselor.

Talking to a therapist about one’s marriage can help one get a better perspective on the relationship. Merely having an unrelated party to vent to can serve a relationship well. Professional marriage counselors may be in a better position to inhabit this role than friends or family as they do not harbor personal biases.

Counselors and therapists have begun offering sessions via remote technology including video conferencing.

Regardless, whether you marriage survives this unprecedented experience or whether the parties proceed to a dissolution of marriage during or after the pandemic response period, counseling still has many advantages and helps frame the real disputes from those that may seem like a bigger concern during this stressful time.

Consult Drexler Law for Advice

The practice of family law inherently involves intimate legal, financial, and personal issues. If you have questions or concerns about such issues, you can benefit from the experienced advice and advocacy of a professional legal counselor at Drexler Law. We offer remote consultations through phone or video chat.

We understand that this unprecedented event presents challenges; Drexler Law is here to help and can address even the most sensitive of cases and circumstances. Stay safe and don’t hesitate to reach out whether you need immediate legal assistance or if you simply want more information about your options.

Please call us at (719) 259-0050 or contact our firm online for an initial consultation about your legal interests.