I know I’ve talked about how great it is to have a supportive spouse, but what about being a supportive spouse?
Sometimes being a supportive spouse is easy, encouraging them to have a guys night, giving them time to work on their ‘project’ encouraging them as the pursue their goals (school, running, weight loss, whatever.) But often its tricky. Kids are great but they take alot of time which makes guys nights and projects harder. Weight loss is a great goal and we can be very supportive but its also easy to cross over that thin line to nagging all to easily.
I want to encourage you to find ways to support your spouse despite these complications.
- Maybe once a month you could take on the kids so that he can have a guys night.
- Work on your budget a little so there is some extra fun money for an activity they enjoy, even if its not very often.
- Ask them how you can encourage them in their weight loss and exactly what they don’t want you to do, and then follow it.
- Have the guys over for a grill out, help with the food and then stay out of the way 😉
- Give them a time and place to study as uninterrupted as possible (I know if you have kids that might not be possible.)
Ok now I’m looking for advice here, how do you support your spouse, what ways have I not even thought of?
I’m actually quite lucky with Jason because he’s very easy to give support to. I guess for me, the biggest support I’ve ever given him was picking up my life in the US and moving to Japan so that he can pursue his dream of working here.
The other day, we were talking about relationships and how we made ours work when others have failed (ie. all his brother’s relationships) and it really comes down to making sacrifices and being each other’s #1 supporter through thick and thin. We’re not the perfect couple but one thing we do really well is standing by each other’s decisions to do things even when everyone else in our family thinks that we’ll fail.
You listed a lot of great ideas 🙂 I do find the the most simplest way I can show my support for Jason is to just pull him aside when he comes home from work and give him a hug and a kiss and tell him that I love him. That always re-energizes him and lets him know how much I’ll always be there for him.