How Can Stress Affect Your Relationship

 Relationships are like roller coasters, they all go through their highs and lows.  What can make for even more low periods than normal is stress.  Stress can take an incredible toll on two people that are committed to each other and turn it into a rough experience. 

 
Stress can come from a variety of different places: jobs, finances, marital and family.  The stress of a situation can suddenly jump from manageable to outrageous and a breakdown in a matter of moments depending on how situations change.  Someone can lose a job or a parent and the whole world is turned upside down.
 
During times of stress a couple can become disconnected to one another.  They put all of the focus on the one event that is causing them stress and ignore the rest of the world.  It is important to figure out what is causing the stress in your life.  If it is a job causing you stress you need to change your thought process from “I can’t afford to quit” to “I can’t afford to stay here any longer.”
 
What you can do to get through the stressful period in your life is to hold onto the other person in your relationship for strength and support.  Do not run towards the temptation of pulling away, and maintain being intimate with each other.  You don’t want this ball of stress to overcome your entire life and break off something that you value so much and don’t want to lose.  Remember that stress is not a situation or experience; it is simply your response to it.