(L-r) RYAN GOSLING as Jacob and EMMA STONE as Hannah in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy “CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE.” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.
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Why Date Night Is Important

Your 6:30 alarm goes off for your morning run; you hit snooze and roll over; it goes off again; snooze. You have two choices here, turn off the alarm and roll over for a bit more shut eye, or you get up and hit the pavement. I like to think that a relationship is a lot like training.

Whether you’re shredding or bulking, if you want results, you have to put in the hard yards. When you get home post-run you feel energised, stronger and ready to tackle anything, whilst the other leaves you feeling lethargic, lazy and bored.

Training requires a whole lifestyle change of exercise, healthy eating and dedicated mind set and we have goals in our minds of how we want our bodies to look (I wouldn’t mind having legs like JLO #justsaying) but if we don’t put in any hard work, how do we expect to have positive results? The same applies to how we picture our relationship to be.

There’s no denying it, everyone loves the beginning or as some may say the ‘honeymoon’ phase of a relationship and I think I’ve found the solution to keep every relationship in one.

I’m not saying splash out hundreds of dollars each week, what I am saying is make your girlfriend/boyfriend feel special, and show them that you value them in your life.

I remember last year, a really good friend of mine was going through the motions of whether to break up with their partner. I particularly remember them saying they miss the ‘honeymoon’ phase and how the relationship had turned boring. It left me wondering, had both of them been hitting the snooze button for far too long?

Think back to the beginning of one of your relationships. It’s exciting, and both people make an effort for the other. You plan dates ahead of time, and you bring your A game. You dedicate a lot of time and effort into making it work and you don’t want to walk away a loser.

It seems, as I know from my past relationships, we get too ‘comfortable’ and our A game drops to more like a D+ game. We think ‘well I’ve hit my goal weight/time/endurance so I can stop training right?’ WRONG. Having an attitude like this can undo all the hard work you’ve done, instead of the ‘comfortable’ period I now refer to it as the ‘maintenance’ period (which by the way lasts forever).

Over 12 months I’ve lost 13 kg and 2.5 boyfriends so I know a bit about gains and losses. I set myself a weight goal and I finally reached it, this doesn’t mean I can go back to being lazy and eating nutella with a spoon (well not every day, I think I’m managing with every second day).

I am now in the process of maintaining my weight. One of the ex’s and I stopped making time for each other. Our relationship was slipping down our priority list as we were both hitting snooze.

I’m not clever and thought of this all by myself, it’s actually supported by psychologists who assert that if you want to keep your relationship alive, you must dedicate at least one night a week to a date night.

Understandably we get busy with work and other commitments, but there is no excuse for hitting snooze on your +1. I’m not saying splash out hundreds of dollars each week, what I am saying is make your girlfriend/boyfriend feel special, and show them that you value them in your life. There’s the classic dinner and a movie, picnics, walks, going to the beach, art galleries, concerts, theatre… do I need to keep going?

You can’t expect a Victoria and David Beckham relationship if you’re only training for a Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.

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