Medical Mondays- How Do You FInd The Time?

One challenge in a medical marriage is finding time for each other. With work obligations, family obligations, social obligations, and keeping the household afloat, how do you find time to maintain your relationship? We try to have a date night each week, and I know that some of you are thinking that is impossible. There is no way you can find the time each week to fit in a date night, but maybe rethink what a date night is. Remember that it doesn't matter what you are doing, as long as you are together. Our date nights are usually spent watching a movie, or catching up on a favorite show, and once a month we try to go out to eat alone. Our date nights are typically nothing fancy (except for when we go out- sometimes we splurge!) but we enjoy our time together hanging out at home after the kids are in bed. We make an effort to make our relationship a priority, and even though the hours at work can get long and the calendar can be full, it is so worth it!

Comments

[Desiree J.]

We are working on this. For us, any quality time spent together is "date" night... and it often includes our 19 month old (we are trying to do more alone, but babysitting is always an issue). Something relaxing for both of us is an evening walk or a short trip to the zoo or the aquarium. With the baby in the stroller, it's almost as good as just the two of us. :) We also cook dinner together and take advantage of after baby's bedtime to watch a movie or tv together. We've been trying to go "out" sans child about once a month. Time together is something we really sacrificed first year and are now working hard to recover and improve our relationship.

[Mrs. D]

This is such a hard thing to do - and more so, I imagine, once you add kids to the mix! We try to always find time - even if it's 5 or 10 minutes - to talk to each other about our days. Even if it's not much time, at least we're making a point to connect.

[Suzanne B.]

My husband isn't even in med school yet. He's working on his pre-requisites and will probably be applying to med school in a couple years. However, with the need for two incomes we both have to work and he sometimes has to put in overtime at the hospital (he's an Anesthesiology Technician). So with him working full time (and overtime), going to school and studying it's taken a toll on our marriage. I am getting a second job just so we have more income and so I have something to fill the time. We try to make Saturday night our date night. However, it's difficult to include our social obligations as part of that. I'm selfish with him because Saturday night is really all I get. Thank you so much for this blog. I really have been feeling alone in this journey.

[Katie]

Thanks for this post. My boyfriend of three years is in his first year. He's busy, but we know it's going to get significantly worse before it gets better so the last thing we do is take advantage of our time together. If there's a time where he's really busy, we plan a time to have a date night. Just last weekend we went to a nice dinner and stayed up to watch Taylor Swift (my favorite) on SNL. I think it's a great idea to plan something. It gives you something to look forward, too!