Maintaining Relationships During Hard Times
By Catherine Livigni
Sometimes life gets hectic. Things pile up, your to-do list gets inexplicably longer, and the world becomes very internal. Maintaining relationships with those close to you is challenging all the time. It’s difficult to reach out to others when there’s so much on your plate. But it’s especially challenging now, during a global pandemic. All of our lives have simultaneously changed dramatically. Simply living day-to-day life is overwhelmingly different and difficult.
Many people have told me that they’ve lost touch with someone since moving back home and starting quarantine. I am guilty of the same. I have recently seen numerous articles on how to maintain stable relationships with those living in the same house as you during quarantine, but I believe that the same care for relationships should extend to your outer circle as well. Strong relationships don’t just happen. In order to have a flourishing relationship, you have to do the work, but it doesn’t have to be difficult. I’ve compiled a few ideas that I have come across to help you as they have helped me…
1. FaceTime, But Make It Fun
It seems to me that people have already begun to run out of things to talk about over FaceTime, at least in my experience. Understandably, it’s hard to keep conversations exciting and new when life right now is the exact opposite of that. An easy way to combat this while also staying up-to-date with friends is to get creative with your FaceTimes. Play a game, do a craft, or even work on your homework at the same time. If you can’t come up with something, there are tons of lists with ideas out there for fun quarantine FaceTimes!
2. Use Structure to Your Advantage
One of the biggest pieces of advice that you’ve probably heard during quarantine is the importance of structure. Structure helps maintain balance and is definitely something that you can use to your advantage to maintain a sense of order in your life. Create a daily structure or schedule in order to block out time for yourself and time for others in your life. By doing so, alone time and social time will become more ingrained into your daily quarantine routine.
3. Break Out of the Norm
Spending time with your family or housemates will become monotonous at some point. However, remember that socializing is also important during quarantine. So, to alleviate the monotony that will set in, try to break out of your typical activities with them. Now is the best time to try out new hobbies and an even better time to do so with others!
4. Just reach out!
One text can go a long way. Check in and see how someone is holding up, or set up a time to talk over FaceTime. Whether it’s to a friend, family member, or your significant other, one text can mean a lot.
Whenever hardship overtakes ordinary daily life, maintaining relationships with those around you is a way to keep your ground. Reach out to your friends, stay connected with your family, and try to find solace in your companionship and conversations. Tough times, especially one that we are all experiencing together, are incredible and unseemly opportunities to create close bonds with those around you and make those times a little easier to handle.
