With the fast-paced, loud, and generally overstimulating way people are expected to operate in modern society, there is very little brain space or time left to explore intimacy and connection. As a couples therapist, I have found in our work-from-home era couples are spending more time in the same space and feeling more disconnected than ever before, likely because being in the same room is not the same as being connected. It’s time to take a step back and reconnect with your partners, reminding yourselves of the special energy that exists only between the two of you. One way you can honor this energy and your relationship is by getting away. I partnered with Getaway to explore how spending a weekend in one of their locations off the beaten path can help improve and enrich relationships by decreasing distractions, providing opportunities to connect, and sending you back to daily life with improved patience and affection for one another.
I couldn’t have hand-picked a more conducive environment for embracing connection and intimacy. The simple but elegant cabin is a window to nature, urging guests to come back to the present moment, without screens and schedules and to-do lists. Have you ever noticed how people often have their “spiciest” intimate moments on vacation? This is likely not because people become a different person on vacation, but because those deliciously erotic parts of people which have been lying dormant under the crushing expectations of day-to-day responsibilities are finally given space to breathe. With stacks of dishes and piles of laundry out of eyesight and replaced by starlight and campfires, the ways you have always desired and admired your partner come back into clarity and shine.
With a greater sense of clarity and admiration, people are much more apt to respond to their partner’s attempts to connect. At home, “look at that bird!” might elicit a grunt or nod of approval, while at the Getaway cabin it might turn into a mutual appreciation of nature, a smile, a laugh, a touch. When the smallest gesture once dismissed turns into an opportunity to connect, intimacy unfolds like a warm rush, easy, effortless. These small moments are infinite in a space like Getaway provides, but the connection you experience there won’t stay isolated in nature.
Although people easily return to routine and monotony, the ways the “relationship cup” was filled on the excursion will aid partners in having more patience and kindness for each other when conflict arises. Think about it like coins in a cup. Spending time in connection adds coins, while arguments and irritation, takes. When the relationship cup is empty, that’s when people pay up with scowls, scoffs, and snide comments. Paying attention to your cup and assuring there’s extra to go around, can help prevent those sharper edges of ourselves from coming out to cut and scratch. If your relationship cup is running low, have confidence the Getaway Houses are there and ready to provide the perfect opportunity to slow down, connect, and embrace love once again.