Member-only story
Will Covid-19 Fracture or Heal Our Relationships?
We’re all jammed in with each other in lockdown, and that’s not a good thing for many couples
Wuhan was the first city in the world to go into lock down, and after it was finally lifted, there was a sudden surge of couples filing for divorce. All those weeks jammed in a little apartment or house together was the final straw for a lot of people. They might have been thinking about divorce before then? Now they knew they wanted it!
All around the world, I have no doubt thousands of other couples are contemplating similar moves. In many relationships, going out to work every day removes the need for you to actually “communicate” with your partner, to have conversations about more than housework and kids and pets and grocery lists (and who left their wet towel on the floor). But in lock down, when your only outlet from each other is to walk alone as you exercise, the strain starts to show. Imagine if you lived in a country where even going out to exercise was banned!
Every day I see articles about couples and families who have “rediscovered” each other. I read rapturous descriptions of cooking competitions, group jigsaw puzzles, snuggle-in-together movie nights and long, heartfelt conversations. That’s great for those who are actually doing it (if we…
