Every couple is bound to experience some type of disagreement throughout the entirety of their relationship. However, as holiday season quickly approaches, couples who tend to experience less issues with their partner, might begin to deal with excess stressors.

Within the United States alone, the average family typically spends upwards of $2,000 on the holidays. With that in mind, if money issues plague your relationship outside of the holiday season, you might have to delicately navigate more issues as these seasons approach.  Tackling issues within your marriage, especially those that might come up during the holiday season, can be difficult on your own.

Marriage counseling is not for everyone, however, in order to keep your relationship healthy, it can become a beneficial tool for even the most stressful times of the year. Unresolved or un-communicated issues can cause cracks in your marriage’s foundation. Your partner and you can achieve a healthy, productive communication space by seeking the help of an unbiased third party.

Here are some of the issues you and your partner might face this holiday season:

1. Separation, Kids & Different Traditions
2. Money & Holiday Spending
3. Heated Arguments with Family
4. Difficulty with Time Management

Separation, Kids & Different Traditions

When it comes to the holiday season, whether you’re currently separated from your spouse, or dealing with the yearly stress together, marrying different traditions can be challenging. If you and your spouse have recently dealt with an infidelity, or a breach of trust, this can lead to even more issues surrounding this season. With separation, kids, and much more time spent with family during the holidays, you and your spouse or ex-spouse are bound to deal with some issues.

Whether you’re trying to effectively manage differing traditions between your two families, or you’re trying to coparent separately, a marriage counselor can help you work through these holiday season stressors. Even if you and your partner or co-parent do not seem to struggle with any challenges outside of the holiday season, the added stress of this time of year can wreak havoc on your relationship.

With so much family time, and different perceptions of how to spend that time, together or not, your relationship could suffer major consequences. In order to balance your time, learn how to better co-parent, and learn how to effectively communicate during the holiday season, a marriage counselor can help you to overcome these blocks in your relationship. Therapy for couples is meant to offer partners a safe, open space to explore everything their marriage offers – its strengths and weaknesses alike.

Money & Holiday Spending

With all of that in mind, one of the biggest causes for holiday season arguments often has to do with money and spending issues. As we stated before, your average American family is bound to spend a lot of money throughout the holiday season. Couples counseling can help you process all the turbulent emotions involved in managing money.

Whether you’re recently married and working to combine the traditions and typical spending habits that you’re used to, or you’re an older couple struggling to make decisions on gift spending for your grandkids, money centered around holiday spending can bring up some marital issues.

Depending on how you have experienced and spent money in the past, you may struggle to deal with money related issues, especially during the holiday season. Finances are often viewed and handled differently by each of us depending on our past experiences, and a marriage counselor can help you come to a mutual understanding.

Looking to understand the inner workings of your spouse this holiday season? Connect with Dr. Phil Chanin today!

Heated Arguments with Family

As we all know, what comes the holiday season is often spending more time with extended family members. This alone can stir up uncomfortable conversations, heated arguments and much more. The stress that these situations can bring up within yourself and your relationship can lead to difficulties around this time of year. The experience of small, unproductive arguments is a part of every relationship.

As you and your partner have experienced two different types of upbringings, you will likely have different life perspectives, even if you have been able to bring those two together and make your relationship work. However, as you spend more time with extended family, those differences can often be heightened and can create a divide between you and your partner.

Even though disagreements in and of themselves are not always bad, they can become toxic when they become unhealthy screaming matches, or inflammatory situations. Therapy for couples can help you calm disagreements in a healthy and respectful manner, especially around the holiday season.

Difficulty with Time Management

When it comes to Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, and various other holidays around the end of the year, finding the time to spend with your partner or family can be difficult. From differing work schedules and time off to different notions on when and how much time to spend together, dealing with holiday time management can bring up a lot of marital issues.

Taking the time to nurture your marriage and effectively communicate during these more stressful times within the year can be extremely beneficial. Couples therapy provides a safe, healthy environment in which to resolve problems as they arise during the holiday season.

You and your partner can work to get the reassurance you may need, as well as cultivate a general understanding of how you intend to spend your time, money and even interact with various extended family members. Couples counseling can give you the insight you need to support your relationship this holiday season.

Dr. Phil Chanin

Dr. Phil Chanin’s work in couples therapy and marriage counseling in Nashville, TN utilizes the theory and practices of Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT), developed by Harville Hendrix. Imago theory helps to explain how the choices we make, in whom we fall in love with, almost guarantee that we will eventually find ourselves in difficult and painful power struggles with our partners.

If you and your partner are looking for marriage counseling services to re-energize your relationship, contact Dr. Phil Chanin today!