How Couples Can Grow Together in Tampa
Author: Dr. Mary Perleoni, Ph.D., LMHC
Published Nov 9, 2020 | Updated March 1, 2025
Why Growing Together Matters More Than Ever
It can be easy to drift apart when life gets busy (especially if children are in the mix), but with intention- you can grow together instead. This updated guide blends clinical psychotherapy research with practical tips to help you strengthen your relationship, whether you’re navigating daily stressors or dreaming of a deeper connection.
It Starts With Open Communication
Open and effective communication is essential for a healthy relationship. This means being able to share your needs, feelings and emotions with your partner, while ensuring you are able to do the same with your partner or spouse.
Dr. P’s Tips
Make time for check-ins. Try setting aside 10 minutes daily to talk without any distractions.
Try practicing active listening with your partner. Reflect back what your partner says with your understanding to ensure you are hearing them.
Try replacing “You” with “I”. Swap statements like “You never help” with “I feel overwhelmed when I’m juggling everything alone.”
Try a no-screens rule during conversations. With remote work, digital overload, and day to day life in Tampa or St. Petersburg, miscommunication can skyrocket. Keep the focus on each other.
Support Each Other’s Growth
Relationships thrive when partners cheer each other on. By supporting each others individual goals, relationships are strengthened, and it can go a long way in fostering mutual trust and respect.
Dr. P’s Tips
A&A - Ask and assist. Try opening up a conversation with “What’s your next big dream? How can I help?”.
Celebrate wins together. This can help your partner feel supported, and allow you to share in each others success.
Balance between me and we. Find your own personal passions, and discover mutual passions or hobbys to grow together with.
Learning to Navigate Conflict
As a Tampa therapist, mother and mother, I can ensure you from personal and professional experience that conflict is bound to happen. Frankly, as a therapist I’m so more concerned when I hear that couples have no conflict at all. It is an entirely normal aspect of relationships but how it’s handled can make all the difference.
Dr. P’s Tips
Stay issue focused. Try to avoid statements and criticism like “You’re so lazy” and replace them with communicating your feelings about the issue, “I’m upset the dishes piled up.”
Learn how to take timeouts. If tempers start to flare, I recommend stepping away for a moment to calm down and collect your thoughts. It can also be helpful to set parameters like “I need 15 minutes to step outside and take a breath”.
Aim for understanding over “victory”. Remind yourself that no one wins if someone ends up feeling slighted.
The Importance of Emotional and Physical Intimacy
Both physical and emotional intimacy fuel long-term happiness and lasting relationships. If you’re interested in learning more, I invite you to read our guide to emotional intimacy.
Dr. P’s Tips
Small gestures can have big impacts. A hug, a compliment, or a quick text goes a long away. Especially when it becomes a regular aspect of your relationship.
Be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to share your fears, feelings or dreams. This can go a long way in deepening trust and emotional intimacy.
Play together often. Laughter and spontaneity (emotional intimacy) often lead to physical intimacy.
I have heard couples saying that they are ready to leave their relationship, need several days apart, or express wanting to give up. I recommend attending therapy prior to making any drastic decisions.
Exploring Couples Therapy in Tampa
Therapy can involve individual therapy in Tampa to improve mentally on your own so that you can be a better partner or couples/marriage counseling.
If finances do like allow you to attend therapy, here are a few suggestions to try within your relationship.
First and foremost, it is important for you to enjoy your relationship and partner again. Just because the world is chaotic does not mean that your relationship has to be. Remember, romantic partners should be your safe space and should be the place where you can escape to when feeling overwhelmed in life.
Enjoying each other just merely means spending time together that does not involve pressure or stress, and just having fun. This can include:
going to dinner,
creating a date night at home,
cuddling on the couch, playing a game,
whatever you did prior to quarantine that you enjoyed with your partner. Making time for romance and fun with your significant other will improve your mood and interactions within the relationship.
When you begin to enjoy spending time together, communication and intimacy will improve, and resentment will decrease.
Communication is important in any relationship but especially in times like this. Communicate about what is going on in your head, what your fears are, what you’re unhappy about in your life, relationship, occupation, etc.
As a partner you need to communicate your emotions but also be receptive to your partner’s emotions, needs, and wants. I always suggest starting out a conversation by saying, “on a scale from 1-10 in happiness, with 10 being ecstatic and 1 being miserable, where are you in your life.” When your partner answers, you follow-up with “what would need to change to have that number reach a 10?,” and finally, “how can I as a partner support you in reaching that 10?
Finally, intimacy is significant in any relationship and I am aware that intimacy may be at the bottom of your list right now. So let me say that intimacy does NOT mean sex (but it definitely can include sex). I am talking about cuddling on the couch, holding hands on an afternoon walk, having a deep conversation that results in a substantial hug. It is important to feel this intimacy with your partner to again, enjoy their company but also feel safe in their presence.
To recap, focus on enjoying time together, communicate your emotions about your relationship and position in life, and improve mental and physical intimacy. Just know that many couples are going through very similar scenarios and are feeling hopeless in their relationship due to outside circumstances that WILL eventually change. You are not alone and with couples focusing on these three domains of their relationship I have seen immense improvement. Do not give up on your relationship or marriage because of this difficult time, if anything your partner needs you the most right now and vice-versa.
