How To Protect Your Marriage from Work Stress with 3 Tips

Because work is an integral part of life, it’s common for on-the-job stresses to affect a marriage relationship. Work stress is often one of the leading causes of failed marriages. That’s why I think it’s necessary to help you find ways to protect your marriage when work stress is causing struggles at home.

In a marriage, one or both spouses need to have the income to manage the family’s financial needs. Whether you own your own business or work for a corporation, jobs often come with stress. Even for families who live and work on a farm, the reality is that work is a part of the family’s life.

It’s not unusual for both men and women to bring the stresses of their jobs home with them. It’s natural because we often need to share our struggles with our spouses. Because there is no one on earth that we trust more than partners, it just makes sense that we want to talk about what’s happening in our work life.

That’s a good thing. Home should be the place where you can unwind. Part of the de-stressing process is to talk about the things we find to be a concern.

But, if we allow it, those stressful situations at work can cause hardship in the marriage. It can become a wall of disunity between the couple. Together you have to work to protect your sacred union and keep outside influences, even work ones, from tearing down your connection.

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3 Tips for Managine Work-related Stress in Your Marriage

You can rest assured that such stresses do not have to mean the end of a marriage. In this post, I’ll discuss how to avoid this give you tips to protect your relationship.

1) Work Supports Your Life It Is Not Your Life

When we live in a society that promotes career above family, it can feel like our work is our life. But that is a lie!

Work, our jobs, is the employment that helps us to provide funds to support our family. It’s how we pay for our home, food, clothing, utilities, and those other things we want to buy.

Ask yourself, what is most important, your job or your relationships? In the end, you’ll either retire, quit, or lose a job, but if you nurture it, your marriage will last far beyond the job.

So be sure both of you are aware of the reality that your job funds your life. It is not your life.

2) Recognize that Your Family isn’t an Interference from Work

It’s easy to become so overwhelmed with work that you begin to think of time at home, with family, as an interference to the work you need to accomplish. Or, that time at home takes away from work responsibilities.

Let me be clear if this is what you think, then your priorities are messed up.

Your life isn’t your work. Let me say that again; your life is not your work.

If you place more importance on work than on your family, you need to refocus your mind. It may be better to give up a job or find a new job than cause division in your family. Think carefully about what is most important to you and begin making decisions that foster the top priorities in your life.

Pray about this! Pray asking for help to prioritize your life in proper order; God first, marriage second, children third, others fourth and yes, your job comes in there but it should be low on the list of priorities.

3) Stress Can Overwhelm Our Thoughts 

When we’re dealing with stress, those thoughts can be the only thing on our minds. But, that is a problem. Stress activates our central nervous system’s response to flight or fight. Stress makes us feel as if we’re in danger. Because of that, your body responds physically to what is mental stress.

When the stress related to our work is overwhelming, we can often bring that stress home. Stress will make you speak with a harsh tone or snap at those you love. It can mean you’re constantly irritated and take it out on those around you. At home, those around you are your partner and children.

A way to manage this work-related stress is to communicate what is happening with your spouse. They can offer you sympathy, help you process the feelings, and sometimes shed light on possibilities you may not have considered.

Then, they can do things to help you take your mind off of work and put it back on time with the family.

Maybe they can offer you an hour of quiet time or a family game night to help you laugh for a while. Perhaps a shoulder rub or a movie night will take the edge off. The idea is to share the stress and then refocus the mind.

If the issue is one your spouse is dealing with, these ideas are things you can do to show them you care.

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Remembering that our work is the way we fund our life and understanding that stress can consume our thoughts, and learning ways to redirect our minds can lead to a fuller marriage.

That relationship can become a place of solace from the stress you experience at work. Recognizing that your family isn’t to blame for what’s going on at work helps you remember to keep your priorities above those that take place outside the home. Remember that work stress shouldn’t be the catalyst that damages your marriage.

Doing this brings more balance into your life and your marriage.

What tips do you have to de-stress from work problems? Share your ideas in the comment section below.