By Liam Ohm
Spending time away from each other is often important to the long term health of a relationship. As well as helping to keep things fresh, spending time apart can remind both partners about why they’re together. At the same time, being apart on a regular basis can help to maintain healthy relationships with friends, and can enable you to get over an argument, while leading to a position where one person is not dependent, or co-dependent on each other. More on these strengths can be found below:
Keeping Things Fresh
Sometimes it’s a good idea to keep things fresh by not spending whole days together. In this context, it can become hard to say something new, and you end up running out of conversation topics. This can be a particular problem at the start of a relationship, where it can be difficult to find new subjects to talk about. Taking the time to be apart from each other can mean that you can see friends, enjoy different experiences, and then come back to share them with each other.
Reminding Yourself of Why You’re Together
Time apart can make you realise why you miss the other person, and can also enable you to value the time that you do have together. In this way, you may realize that you took things for granted, and that the time apart makes you re-appreciate individual qualities in the other person. This time apart might be as the result of making a business trip, going away to visit friends or simply having to make a few important trips alone, and can be anything from a few days up to a longer period of time depending on work commitments.
Healthy Relationships with Friends
Relationships with old friends can suffer if you’re in a very close relationship that doesn’t see you spend a lot of time apart from each other. It’s important to give time to friends, especially if you haven’t seen them for a while due to your romantic relationship taking up a lot of your time. Making the time to go away with friends, or even just meet up for an evening away from your partner, can help you to meet new people and have some independence outside of a relationship.
Related Link: ‘Hope Springs’ Is This Summer’s Guide to a Healthy Relationship
Getting Over an Argument
Arguments can develop simply as a result of spending too much time together, whereby small issues get blown up into more serious problems. In this context, it’s important to take the time to be away from another person. Doing so can mean that you can calm down, and start to see things from a different perspective. This might mean visiting family and friends on your own, or just taking a trip to clear your head, and allow both you and a partner to come back together in a calmer mood.
Related Link: 10 Signs You’re Dating a Jerk
Not Becoming Too Dependent
One of the problems of not spending time away from each other in a relationship is that you can become dependent on the other person for constant emotional support, and can end up over investing. This can be a particular problem at the start of a relationship, and can lead to unhealthy emotional attachments. Having regular amounts of time away from another person can mean that you remain independent, and that you appreciate what each person brings to a relationship.
Liam Ohm is a regular writer for a range of relationship websites. He highly recommends Boutique Hotels Mallorca for a great way to celebrate being together in luxury.
