After a consecutive 10-day span of Netflix and Uber Eats, I began to worry that this could be the beginning of the dimming of our romantic flame. I didn’t want our relationship to lose its exciting energy. We were both such active people when we first met, but the stresses and demands of everyday life left us exhausted and it was starting to seem like we’d stopped putting as much energy into ourselves and our relationship as we used to.
I decided it was time to make a change, so we got in the car and hit the road. We decided to approach the day like we were at summer camp — we rented bikes, went swimming in the lake, and played boccie ball at a local tavern.
This action-packed day left us feeling excited, alive and more connected to one another than we’d been in ages (or the past few weeks, anyway). That day we made a pact to break free of our lazy routine every weekend and be more active together through shared hobbies.
Engaging in an activity with your spouse can strengthen your bond and help you create unforgettable memories. To keep things fun and fresh in your relationship, try some of these activities together:
Explore the Great Outdoors
Take the weekend to get into nature and enjoy the serene sounds and sprawling vistas. Spending time together without distractions allows for moments of open communication and opportunities to bring out your adventurous side. Going on biking or backpacking trips can bring you closer together since you have to rely on teamwork to navigate the trails and set up your tent.
If you live near NYC and you’d rather opt for a two or four-hour hike, we love the Storm King Mountain trail, which is about an hour north of NYC, but you can choose your adventure here.
Play a Sport
If you both enjoy being athletically active, take up a sport you can play together. Golf is one you can play together until you’re 90 years old (or so the sales pitch from my golf-loving husband goes).
Tennis is another excellent activity for couples to enjoy, as it can vary in intensity and can be played with just the two of you. Or, if you want to put your tennis skills to the test, play against another couple for a fun challenge. Find couples looking for friendly competition on the USTA site.
For an extra challenge, learn an unusual sport together like kayaking, archery, fencing, or sailing.
If you and your spouse love living on the wild side, try a more extreme hobby like white water rafting, skydiving, rock climbing or drag racing. Drag racing is an exhilarating sport that helps relieve pent-up stress. Around the country, there are weekend drag races happening where cars race at speeds up to 115 mph. To equip your car, make sure it has the proper safety features and high-quality equipment. Then, fulfill your need for speed and some healthy competition by racing against each other.
Find Your Zen
Practicing yoga or meditation with your spouse is an effective way to center yourselves and find your calm. Many yoga studios offer classes for couples yoga, which increase the communication and sensitivity in your relationship.
Couples meditation is a powerful way to relax together on a daily-basis and can also come in handy during times of conflict. If you are new to meditating, there are several mobile apps that provide you with guided meditation sessions that you can practice with your loved one.
Take a Mini-Vacation
Not feeling the road tripping vibe? There are loads of last-minute vacation discounts online. Find one and go somewhere really spectacular. Traveling together is a great bonding experience.
Google Flights and Skyscanner have handy map tools that can help you find the cheapest flight. If your destination is open-ended — i.e., “anywhere with a beach” — use the map to pick the most economical locale.
A travel app I love is Very Chic, which offers curated last-minute deals if you need a romantic place to stay tonight, tomorrow or within the next couple of months. While some deals – especially in the US – are not so good, it can deliver deep discounts in Europe and the UK. BluByn is a new app with a personal concierge that will help you find the best travel deals from across the internet. Here’s a list of more great travel apps.
So take your adventurous spirit, your active lifestyle, and your insatiable curiosity and use those traits to explore and revamp your relationship. Ready. Set. Go!
One of the biggest things I love about my relationship is that we have adventures together. For my birthday once he took me to a place that lets you fly a plane. We have plans for indoor skydiving when we pay off our house. We toured the Biltmore at Christmas. We took a ghost Segway tour in San Antonio. These things take planning. If you want to do them, plan to do them.
Been with my husband for 17 years (dating and married combined) and we make time to shower together everyday. It’s our time away from the kids where we get to talk about our day. It’s our way of staying connected. We get weird looks from other couples we know that find out we do this for some reason.
What we do is always TRY to try new stuff. New experiences make anyone feel alive. New restaurant in town? Go check it out. Never had Thai food before? Find a thai place and go. Go to a fancy/nice gym and ask for a trial week. Go test drive cars just for lols. Invite your friends over for a little party. Go out on a double date. Visit some tourist attractions nearby. Etc.
Camping. Real, no shower, middle of nowhere, tent camping. You learn a lot about your SO in that situation, and its insanely fun!
If you’re both in contact with your families/have nice childhood memories I suggest watching home videos of each other together. Saw my SO in a middle school production of a musical and I’ve never loved him more. He told me everything he remembered about it and how much fun he had. It was so sweet. It’s also a great way to share memories of family members important to you who have passed away, but who you wish you could introduce your SO to.
Wow. Did you drive a Ferarri?? ? I wanted to drive that car, but how can I afford to buy one? How much will it cost to drive luxurious cars?
I’ve been to Storm King Mountain. It’s a great escape from the busy crown of NYC.
We’re not a sporty type of couple. We prefer to play mind games like board games? It’s more fun, and we also invited our friends most of the time.
Oh. I love playing board games! Now that we have kids, we play monopoly every Sunday because that’s the time where my kids are at home, and also us.
It’s nice to relax and be with your spouse for the weekend. After a long tiring weekday of work, it’s right to give yourselves a break.
Good stuff – so easy to put your partner at the end of the line of things that have to be paid attention to. It’s easier if you don’t have kids which can soak up a lot of your energy and time, but even that can be good if you do fun things together with the kids, or plans weekends where you dump the kids on one set of grandparents and take off for a couples weekend. Like most things in life, mindfulness is the key…