One Key to a Happy Marriage

There was a recent article on being happy in your marriage in a local paper this past weekend. One of the suggestions to be followed for a happy marriage was to be sure to keep up with your appearance. For some this seems to be a no brainer,“of course my husband or wife would want me to continue keeping myself looking and feeling great.” For most people though, they get comfortable and busy with their spousal roles that they do let themselves go. A woman might sacrifice getting ready in the morning for getting her kids ready and fed before school. Men sometimes use the excuse of yard work and working all day as to why they can’t work out anymore. This logic works better in the summer months. However, if you live in colder climates, there is not a whole lot of yard work to be done, so staying active gets to be even more than a challenge.

The fact is that as we get older, there are so many other things happening in your life that require your attention which can take you away from keeping up with your appearance. You might think that your spouse loves you for what is on the inside so you can go ahead and put your efforts elsewhere. If you married a wonderful person, they should love you for what is on the inside but the hard truth is that as human beings, we are still visual people. Of course with love and respect we overlook superficial things that would have turned us off in the dating stages but this doesn’t mean that you stop trying.

It is important to keep up with your health so that you can be around for your family and feel great in the process. It is just as important to not completely give up taking care of yourself to take care of everyone else. When you feel good about you then you will be better serving others. When life is hectic try these few tips to keep yourself feeling great:

1. Don’t skip breakfast

2. Wake up 10 minutes earlier to put some makeup on that brightens your face or assemble an outfit together that looks and feels good on

3. Bring healthy snack options to work so you do not find yourself in the vending machine

4. Make an effort to freshen up before your spouse gets home – care about your appearance so that he or she will do a double take

5. When the weather is nice, pick activities that are fun for the whole family and keep everyone active (hide and go seek at night or kickball)

6. When you’re going out as a family, get ready, don’t just “throw something on”

There are many things you can do to keep up with your appearance but you can start with making a few changes right away that won’t significantly interrupt your routine. Don’t wait to feel great!