It's easy reach the end of the day where your remaining time must be traded for sleep without trading any significant amount of it for those things that will make your marriage stronger and more joyful. If this happens too often then the relationship will suffer from neglect. If you are finding it a challenge to give your marriage the time it needs, consider the following ways to try and change that:
Obligations, Urgencies and Priorities
Our relationship with our spouse should be a very high priority. Ideally we would spend our time according to our priorities, but that isn't always the case. We have obligations that demand specific blocks of our time even though they might not be as high a priority as our marriage. Urgencies also override our priorities.
Ask yourself if you should reduce the obligations you have. Sometimes when a couple starts to drift apart they can start to fill that void with other interests and activities only to have those things take up so much of their time that it prevents any healing and reconnecting in the relationship. Are there obligations that you should let go of for the sake of having more time together as a couple? Are you trading time for what is good instead of what is best?
If you find too much of your time is spend responding to urgencies, is there something you can do to prevent them? Are there others who can step up to help?
Planning
Having a specific night each week set aside as date night is as important to a marriage as Family Home Evening is to a family. Dates do not have to cost money, it just has to give you time together with minimal outside distractions.
That is not the limit of planning however. There are lots of little things a spouse can do to show their love, but often nobody thinks to do them. Rather than rely on inspiration to hit at the right time, we can make plans for doing those things. Smartphones have alarms and calendar apps that we can use to help. A husband can set a reminder to pick up some flowers for his wife on his way home on Monday and to mail her a card next Thursday, a wife can set a reminder make his favorite meal on Wednesday and to really spice things up in the bedroom next Saturday evening. Both can pepper their calendars with reminders for many different displays of love through the month.
Also make a point of planning ahead for special occasions. Birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine's Day, and Christmas should not be last minute afterthoughts. Be aware of them and plan well in advance how you are going to use the occasion to make your spouse feel loved and appreciated.
Planning specific nights for sexual intimacy was something that really helped my marriage. Leaving it unplanned, then raising the question right at the end of the day when we were both at our lowest energy point was not a good strategy for us. When there are specific days where it is understood that sex will happen there can be anticipation and preparation, spouses can hold energy in reserve for what they know is coming and arrive at the bedroom mentally and emotionally primed. Nor does sex have to happen in the evening. It can happen right before supper, as soon as you get home from church, in the morning before leaving for work, anytime that works for both of you. Make the world wait for you for a change.
Be creative and flexible with your plans. And just because you have sex planned on some nights doesn't mean you can't have spontaneous sex at other times.
Multi-tasking
There are many ways we can combine non-sexual intimacy with everyday life. Send a flirty or romantic text when on a break at work. Go grocery shopping together. Fold laundry together while watching a romantic movie or just use the time to talk with each other. I love to sit in Sacrament meeting with my arm around her shoulder, her snuggling into me. She knows if she leans forward she'll get a back scratch. Be aware of the opportunities you have to include affectionate touch and loving words into each day. This is the start of foreplay.
When we trade our time wisely, it becomes an investment. While the return on that investment won't come in terms of more time, it will come in terms of better times.
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