Honestly I saw that article pop up on my feed and thought hey maybe I could steal some tips. Me and my partner ain’t Ben and Jen but we sure could use less arguing about the remote and more… romance, you know?
My Idea Was Simple
Instead of just reading those 5 tips and nodding along, I decided to actually try doing them. For real. No half-measures. Just pick one tip each day this week and make it happen. See if anything changes.
Here’s how my little experiment went down:
The Doing Part (It Got Messy)
Tip 1: Schedule weekly date nights. Sounds easy right? Wrong. Tuesday rolls around. Partner wants tacos and a movie on the couch. I’m like, no way! We gotta leave the house! Ended up scrambling for reservations. Found this weird pizza place. Pizza was okay, but we talked actual words to each other without the TV on. Kinda nice.
Tip 2: Put down the damn phones. Yeah. This one stung. We both promised no phones after 7 PM. First night? Both of us kept reaching for our pockets like junkies. It felt weird just sitting there! Ended up playing cards. Old-school. Got competitive. Partner called me a cheater. We laughed. Progress?
Tip 3: Learn your partner’s love language. Always thought this was fluffy stuff. Did some online quiz together (told you I ain’t perfect). Turns out my partner feels loved through acts of service. Okay… so next day I unloaded the dishwasher without being asked, AND replaced the empty toilet paper roll. Partner looked genuinely shocked. Then pleased. Huh.
Tip 4: Never stop dating. The article kept harping about “keeping that spark.” Felt kinda cringe. But okay. Partner had a stressful day Wednesday. Instead of our usual “that sucks, what’s for dinner?” I grabbed some grocery store flowers on the way home. Just some cheap lilies. Handed them over saying “rough day sucks.” Partner stared. Then smiled a real smile. Cheap flowers for the win. Who knew?
Tip 5: Don’t sweat the small stuff. The timing was perfect. Partner left wet towels on the bathroom floor AGAIN Thursday morning. Normally starts WWIII. This time? I just… picked them up and threw ’em in the hamper. Didn’t say a word. Partner noticed. Dinner that night felt weirdly… calm. Not a single sarcastic remark about wet floors.
Okay, So What Did I Learn?
Honestly? This stuff sounds like greeting card nonsense until you actually DO it.
- Planning a date felt dumb until we were eating weird pizza and connecting.
- Putting the phone down physically hurt but forced us to actually be together.
- Doing a simple chore quietly got a better reaction than a 20-minute rant.
- Cheap flowers beat no flowers any stressful day.
- Shutting up about the damn towels literally kept the peace.
The whole week felt a bit forced at first, maybe kinda awkward. But somewhere between the pizza and the unmentioned wet towels, it just felt… easier. Lighter. More “Ben and Jen”? Nah. More like just me and my partner, less like roommates ready to brawl over the remote. I’ll take it.
