Refresh Your Relationship with 10 Minute Dates!
Simple ideas you can incorporate into your regular routine
When your schedule gets to be chaotic, taking time to invest in your relationship gets put on the backburner. Neglecting your relationship can be a dangerous path and painful for both of you long-term. However, you don’t always need a big romantic gesture to get back on track. Sometimes, incorporating small, intentional moments back into your week is the most manageable way to refocus on your relational health and happiness.
Date 1. Indoor Adventure
For this date, you’ll need some kind of Internet-connected screen that’s bigger than a phone or a tablet— (the bigger the better). If that means you have to kick the kids out of the family room, that’s fine. They will be okay.
Decide whether you want to hang out in a virtual coffee shop or sit in front of a digital fire, and then make sure you can access one of these YouTube videos on your screen (you don’t want to waste any of your 10 minute date trying to get the video to play):
It’s time to enjoy a little peace and quiet by the fireplace or the coffee shop.
The next 10 minutes are about you and your spouse. Be present with each other. Here are some questions to ask:
- What is currently your biggest fear?
- What is currently your favorite thing to do?
- What’s something you’ve seen or done lately that’s reignited your passion for life?
Date 2. Dream Home
During this date, you’ll take a virtual tour through some dream houses. Since you’ll be talking about your dream home, each of you should spend a few minutes looking through the following virtual homes. Decide which is your favorite and save the link so you can get to it quickly on your date.
During your date, each of you spend five minutes walking your spouse through the dream house you selected. Use these questions to have a fun conversation:
- Why did you pick the house you picked?
- When you imagine your dream house, what features are essential, and why?
- What kind of place do you imagine us living in during our golden years?
- What stuff did we agree on as a couple?
Date 3: Three Things I Love About You
We all need affirmation and reassurance. We all need to know that we’re not going it alone, that we have someone in our corner supporting us and cheering us on. Your spouse wants you more than anyone else in the world to be that person for them.Three Things I Love About You is a simple way to put your thoughts about your spouse on paper, and then communicating them. It’s a practical way to live out your role as your significant other’s number one cheerleader.
Step 1: Three Things
Write down three things you love about your spouse—skills, talents, personality traits, physical characteristics. They could be anything. They just need to mean something to you.
Step 2: Why Your Love Those Things
Jot down some notes about why you love those aspects of your spouse. How have they made your life better? How might they help you grow? How might they offer strength in areas where you’re weak?
Step 3: Tell Your Spouse
On your date, go for a walk or brew a cup of coffee and talk your spouse through what you wrote down in Steps 1 and 2. Tell them what you love about them and why. Let your spouse know how much it means to you to share life with them.
When you add something as simple as 10 minute dates into your weekly routine, your relationship will benefit from the consistency and joy of regular connection!
