Let me ask you this… How much time is too much time together in a relationship… what would be your idea of too much time to be spending together with your spouse or significant other?
I ask this of you because… My husband George and I do just about everything together: (this pic of us – is from a few years ago – it’s one of my favourites)
- We live together
- We sleep together
- We eat together (generally breakfast – lunch & dinner every day)
- We work from home together – but in separate offices (I always like to point that one out, as I’m not sure we could work together otherwise)
- We work out together – we take walks and bike rides together too
- We push and motivate each other
- We take holidays together
- We go to conferences together (George does attend conferences with out me too)
- We go on dates together (dinner & a movie – live theatre – etc.)
- Oh and here’s a new one… We started Podcasting together too (our first episode together is titled Running A Business With Your Spouse (it’s my inaugural episode, I was pretty nervous but it was fun too – you should check it out – we’ve gotten much better since that first episode).
- It seems… that we do just about everything together
Is this weird – is this natural – I mean really… how much time is too much time?
I don’t think that there is a definitive answer…
Somehow we’ve managed to make it work (for the most part anyways) but not without our challenges of course. We’re still here (we haven’t knocked each other off yet… lol) and we’ve just recently celebrated our 26th Wedding Anniversary. You might have read the post I did that day titled Marriage is an Adventure…
(and our lives thus far have definitely been series of amazing roller coaster type adventures)
In that open & honest post –
I shared this very same quote by Henry Ford.
It just seems to sum it all up quite nicely don’t you think?
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.”
And I think that’s how we’ve made it all work out… we’re best friends first.
There’s NO Set Rule to say how much time is too much time to be spending together. You just have to figure it out on your own. And you’ll know pretty quick based on how you look at each other and interact with each other – or if you’re ready too throttle each other.
Seriously though… there’s a few key ingredients to surviving all of this togetherness:
(just like you – we’ve had to learn them along the way)
- First and foremost we’re best friends, and I have to say it’s pretty cool to be able to do so much with my best friend.
- Communication is KEY… you always need to be open and honest – this is a big one!
- You also need to have your own space – free time – alone time (and don’t be afraid to take it – you’ll need it to keep your sanity)
- Have your own hobbies independent from each other (although some will be the same or overlap each other – the key is to have something of your own)
- Joining a group for yourself (not together) is beneficial – for me I joined the local Women’s Business Network and I love it (I did it just for me – to get out and meet new people that share some commonalities with me – it’s my 2nd year now).
- In working together – we’ve set parameters and defined our roles in the business which has made our working lives so much better.
- If you work together from home… you also need to get out of your environment – as in get away from the house and home office for a breath of fresh air so to speak.
For us – truth be told – it’s not about spending too much time together (although somedays I’m sure we’d argue differently)… it’s rather about the lifestyle that we’ve created together, that affords us the opportunity to be able to spend all of this time together – does that make sense?
So my opening question to you was this…
“How much time is too much time together in a relationship… what would be your idea of too much time to be spending together with your spouse or significant other?”
In my opinion…
It’s All Up To YOU – There is NO Set Rule – You’ll figure it out as you go!
I’m curious though… Do you sometimes feel that you spend too much time with your spouse – what makes you feel that way – and what are you going to do to change it?
Share your response in the comments below – I’d love to hear your take on this…
I’ll just wrap up by saying that this is one of my “alone times” – my free time to write and share my thoughts, opinions, and point of view… But I’d also like to point out that I’m grateful you’re here – that you’ve stopped by for a while.
Cheers.
