Article for Bethlehem Matrimonial - May 2017
Alex and Nisha were on the
last day of their beautiful vacation. They prepared to vacate the resort and
reached the reception to settle the bill. It was quite a hefty amount, but were
more than happy to part with it since they were quite delighted with the
service provided by the resort folks. The rooms were always neat and tidy. The
food was delicious. Laundry was done on time and had an alluring fragrance
always. Overall the stay was absolutely a beautiful experience that they both
felt pretty much at home!
On their way to airport to
catch their return flight, the couple recollected the warmth of service
provided by the team at the resort. That’s when it struck them! Everything what
they experienced at the resort came with a price tag. Whereas when the same
things happen back home without even having to pay a single penny, they never
even bothered to acknowledge each other.
Alex and Nisha had taken a
decision not to hire a maid at their home and planned their schedules to manage
the house-hold chores themselves. Just like what they experienced at the
resort, their house was always neat and tidy. Nisha creates magic with her
culinary skills. Alex ensure that there was hardly a day when they had a situation
of not having washed clothes and almost has a passion to do the dishes. All of
these and many more were happening as a well-oiled machinery at their home, but
neither of them ever said a thank you for any of these.
Many of us who are married
are not different from Alex and Nisha. For us, the responsibilities we take up
or what our partners handle are all part of life. It is a natural activity in
our daily life and we all conveniently take them for granted. Having said this,
it doesn’t mean that we need to start paying each other and say thank you when
each and every task gets completed. On the other hand, being thankful need to
be reflected in our daily behaviour to one other.
Realize that being a family
means, going through all these activities every other day. At the same time
ensure that each one of them get their roles acknowledged. Thanking your better
half need not necessarily be expressed in kind all the time. It could be a
simple gesture of giving a kiss or a hug at the least expected time and tell
them what that was for. It could also be in the form of doing an activity for
your partner which is usually done by him/her. The whole idea is to bring in a
surprise element which by itself talks out loud about being thankful.
There is a huge challenge about
taking things for granted. We don’t invest in thinking how to bring difference
in our life since these happen naturally and we don’t even realize that we
could do differently. You need to willingly put an effort in doing things out
of the way. Else it’ll lead you to one of the biggest mistakes in life, which
is monotony! Look around and look within yourself. You’ll see quite a lot of
families that lead a carbon copy life. One day is exactly the replica of the
other. Nothing changes ever.
The only way to get out of
this maze of monotony is to think either together or individually on how to
bring in those differences in your life. It can be subtle changes like the
examples I gave earlier or can be larger ones where it may involve a bit of
investment in the form or gifts or planned trips etc. Either which ways all
these will lead to breaking of monotony which in itself is a way of thanking
each other for the wonderful life you are gifting each other for your family!
Lastly, if you’ve not been
doing it, you could also start a practice of gifting yourself. You have done
very well and you deserve to be thanked by a gift for yourself. The magnitude
of the gift is what you need to consider. It could range from as simple an activity
as gifting yourself an ice cream or a chocolate to a more expensive gift that
such as a piece of jewellery on which you had your eyes for a long time. All
what you need to ensure is take care of the family budget and the confidence of
your partner.
Let us learn to be more
thankful to our sweethearts. Just because you are married doesn’t mean that you
take your partner for granted. Give them the credit for the part they play
because they simply deserve it.
God bless you!
