Why You Need to Spend Time Away From Your Partner
In life it is important for you, the health of your relationships, and your mental health for you to be able to spend time alone or with others. This is not a question of whether you should spend time apart, but why you need to occasionally spend time apart from each other.
Promotes Relationships Outside of Romance
It is important to have a variety of relationships in your life. While having a good romantic relationship with your partner is great, it is also important for the health of your relationship that you can have healthy and fulfilling relationships outside of the romantic aspect. Spend time with your friends, family, and others without having your partner be a part of that equation.
Reduces Codependency
When you spend too much time with your partner you may start to become codependent on one another. By spending time without each other you help to regain your sense of self.
By spending time without your partner you become less needy and dependent on one another. This helps to bring more equality in the relationship, as well as keeps you and your partner from getting bored with or feeling as if they are stifled in the relationship.
Encourages a Stronger Connection
Everyone needs some form of alone time, as it helps you to have a better understanding of yourself. This better understanding of yourself can lead to a deeper and stronger connection with yourself and those around you. Spending time apart also makes the time you spend together much more enjoyable, which also makes the connection between you and your partner much stronger.
Lower Stress
Any relationship, no matter how much you enjoy them, will always be a drain on your physical and mental energy. Even the most extroverted of people will have a point in time when they need to step away from others and enjoy time on their own. By taking an occasional few days to have a break you can significantly lower your stress and anxiety levels.
Helps You Appreciate Each Other More
You may end up taking a break from seeing your partner for a bit to help you realize how much you appreciate them. By taking the time to stop seeing your partner for a short period you have a chance to reanalyze the situation you were in, and it may help you to regain or revitalize that appreciation you have for them.
Gain More Experiences
Experiences with your partner are great, however, there are certain things that each person should experience on their own. Whether this is due to interest, ability, or anything else, by having these separate experiences you and your partner can find new things to talk about.
By having more things to talk about, you and your partner can lay down better lines of communication with each other.
Maintain Your Sense of Self
A big problem with many relationships is that the people in those relationships often think of themselves as being extensions of their partners even though they are their own people. This often leads to one person being completely swallowed by the relationship as the stronger and more aggressive person in the relationship essentially takes over.
By spending time away from each other, you and your partner remain their own person. Which leaves you both open to your own thoughts and feelings.
Helps You Define Your Relationship
Sometimes, relationships evolve because that’s what we think should happen. So, you end up in the kind of commitment that neither of you really want. When you both take time away, you get the opportunity to truly think about what you want, and reflect on your feelings when you are apart.
You may find that things are perfect as they are. The two of you may also decide that you don’t want the level of exclusivity you currently have. If that happens, there are options you can access now to expand your horizons.
Makes it Easier to Work Out Issues
It is often very difficult to actively work on an issue when you are standing too close to it. You may end up focusing much more on the fine details of the issue than actually working on the issue as a whole.
By taking time apart from each other you and your partner will be able to look at the bigger picture more clearly which will help you both when working on problems.
Helps You Prioritize What is Really Important
When there is no cut-off to the amount of time you spend together it becomes easy to forget how important you are to each other. By cutting off the time you spend together you will be more focused on the quality of time you spend together especially as the quantity of time you spend together becomes less and less.
Grow Together – Apart
Do yourselves a favor. Get away from each other, at least for a few hours a week. You won’t break up if your relationship is solid. What you will do is maintain your individual personalities and interests. Remember, those are the things that brought you together in the first place.
