Retirement Blues: Not Knowing Your Partner

We all do our own thing and we all go about life in our own ways. Being in a relationship doesn’t change that as much as you’d think it might. Most couples have to get used to the fact that, though they may live together they’re not going to be able to spend that much time with each other. Conflicting work habits, raising kids or differing hobbies can make it very difficult to maintain a friendship within the relationship. It’s almost always a total shock to the couples in question too, the fact is you get used to each other and that comfort and normality can be your downfall. While your life has been going on, so has your partner’s and when you both finally stop to take a breath you might find that the old ties no longer bind as tightly as they once did.

When retirement finally rolls around a lot of couples have quite a few issues. You find that you’re different people from who you were when you met and suddenly having to spend so much time with each other can be daunting to say the least. Finding yourself confronted by a familiar faced stranger, one who you’ve spent so much of your life with can be jarring on a level which will rock you to your core.

You might find that you’re just not on the same level that you once were and cannot connect. However, if you work at it and have some patience you should be able to work your way back to where you were. It could be just like dating all over again, the joy of getting to know a person you already know you love. Patience is key though. You’ve both suddenly got a lot more time and it’s easy to get irritated or even irritate even the people you love the most when you’ve got nothing better to do!