How to Maintain Relationships on a Busy Schedule

6 Tips on How to Have a Strong Relationship

There are only 24 hours in every day, but endless things to focus on: family, friends, career, hobbies, and household chores to name a few. Oftentimes, there will be factions of life that get unjustly neglected. If you’re a career-driven person, it can be a struggle to maintain your platonic, romantic, and familial relationships. It’s easy to sacrifice having dinner at home for a couple of hours of overtime in the office.

Every once in a while, you might feel guilty when you realize how long it’s been since you last shot your best friend a text, or went on a date with your significant other, or visited your parents. We’ve all been there, and it’s never entirely our fault that our busy life goes through antisocial bouts.

But we have to put in the effort to maintain our relationships with our loved ones, so here are some things I do to make sure I am investing time into others even when life gets busy.

Keep up with your loved ones’ lives

We probably all have a couple of message threads with particular acquaintances that only include birthday messages, holiday greetings, and a ‘congratulations’ sprinkled in every now and then.

Only keeping in contact with people when there is a special occasion meriting a text can make the interaction feel inauthentic. You want your friends and family to know that you care and think about them more often than just when you’re sending a mass message for New Years’.

Keep up with your friends and family by sending them a random ‘how are you?’ text when you can. Not only will it make them feel cared for, but it will probably help you unwind after a long day of work to hear what your loved ones are up to.

Make time to call or video chat, too; it will feel more personal and intimate and create a more naturally flowing conversation.

Social media is a valuable tool in staying updated on what’s going on with the people you care about. Try interacting with your friends’ profiles more; be sure to ‘like’ their posts and leave a couple of comments here and there so they know you’re tuned in to the latest on their lives.

Have designated non-work time

It’s easy to tell ourselves that we’ll answer just one more work-related email, and then end up glued to our computer until we’re too exhausted to do anything but go to bed. To break the spell, I self-imposed a rule on myself that I will not do anything work-related after 8 P.M. or on Sundays.

As a result, I have designated free time in which I am able to commit myself to longer activities instead of being in an in-and-out, fluctuating work trance all day. Naturally, this allowed me to be available to hang out with friends or spend a day with family.

When making plans with loved ones, I knew definitively when I would be free, instead of a loose idea which often led to an apologetic raincheck call.

Creating a schedule and having definitive time outside of work and other career commitments will decisively create a divide for optimum work-life balance. But face it, it’s not just work-life: it’s work-life-friends-family-pets-chores-everything.

Have a clear idea in mind of how you want to divide up your free time every week, and how much of your day off you want to dedicate to being in company. When you’re a busy person, planning ahead is your best option for finding the time to nourish your relationships.

Be communicative

The most hurtful thing that results out of our accidental neglect of our relationships is the other person being left to speculate as to why we’re not in contact.

Don’t leave them to speculate, as I can vouch from personal experience that overthinking will result in them weighing the worst-case scenario. Be open and communicative.

Explain to your loved ones the sources of stress in your life, and what is occupying the bulk of your time. But this isn’t to evoke pity out of your listener, it’s to promote vulnerability that will result in mutual understanding, so also assure them that you care about your relationship with them and that you try to weasel in as much time as you can to spend together.

If you do have to cancel on plans that you made with someone, be sure to explain why and suggest a time you guys can reschedule for. If you know that you have an especially busy upcoming week, let your friends and family know prior so that they don’t worry when they haven’t heard from you in a couple of days.

Take care of yourself

It goes without saying that you should be your biggest priority. The adage that you need to love yourself before you can love anyone else applies perfectly in this scenario. You cannot worry about your relationships with other people if you first haven’t paid attention to your own needs and feelings: plus, the more resolved you feel inside, the better friend, parent, child, significant other, sibling, or just person you can be to those around you. Be sure you are aware when you are missing someone or in need of socializing after a long week.

Sometimes we want time to relax alone, especially if we have very limited free time. Do not feel obligated to spend time with people if you’re not feeling up to it, just be communicative, as we’ve mentioned earlier, and your loved ones will understand. They will want you to take care of yourself and get worried if you’re not. The most important relationship to maintain is the one you have with yourself.

In Summary

When you’re a busy person, it’s easy to send yourself on a guilt trip over not holding your end of the bargain in relationships. If you have a lot on your plate, you can unintentionally neglect your most cherished relationships. But as long as you are keeping up with your loved ones, designating time to spend with them, being communicative, and, most of all, taking care of yourself, maintaining your relationships will become a more manageable task in the balance. If you are reading this article, maybe it is time to get on the phone with someone you love.