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!
Being always exhausted has caused a lot of relationships to falter. Be careful if you’re constantly neglecting the needs of your partner because something else has been draining your energy.
It’s a little difficult for my husband and I to bond like this because we have 2 kids already. But we make sure that even for once a week, we try to take the kids out and that’s already our bonding time. We just love watching the kids play as my husband and I talk about random stuff. Being parents doesn’t necessarily mean that we shouldn’t keep the flames of our relationship burning. The kids love it when the two of us show affection to one another as well. A happy marriage would always equal to a happy family.
What a shallow thing to say that your relationship will fall apart just because of take outs?!
My partner and I are home buddies. So the activities here aren’t as exciting as it is for the two of you. I do appreciate the wisdom of just doing something together that we’re both interested in. I’m in a happy relationship with my husband but we’ve run out of options to just bond and have fun. Mall and park dates aren’t as fun anymore and we hate spending over something that isn’t giving us the excitement that we’re looking for. Thank you for sharing this article. Bonding is the best communication there is.
This is my problem too!
My husband would rather stay at home and do take-outs. I respect that.
It seems like the activities here are a little expensive and not available for everyone. ?
The first paragraph sounded so wrong. If you’re worried about your relationship plummeting just because you two have been settling down a lot and too comfortable with just sitting in silence, then there’s more to that than just being bored. Personally, there’s nothing wrong with take-outs and going out less even if you two are active people. Life just slows down sometimes and it doesn’t always mean that you’re not investing energy in the relationship. When you’re always worried that your partner will get bored of you, maybe he’s not the right person for you.
I agree. Maybe there’s more than just very little bonding..
This sounds a bit like a guy’s favorite stuff, not a woman’s.
Great ideas. I’m going to show this to my husband and let’s see which one he approves.
I understand the need to ignite the flames. But seriously? whats wrong with just chilling at home? Less expensive, more comfortable and the best thing is you have your partners whole day for your self.