How to keep the vibrant life in a long term relationship?

My partner and I are both young (both 23M), and we’ve been together for 4 years. We’ve been living together for 3 and have been through many life changes together. We both recently graduated with our bachelors degree, and he went straight to the workforce. He works full time, and I am currently pursuing a graduate degree and working through my practicum hours on top of an additional part time job. My parents support my finances, and my partner and I split bills/expenses. He will usually pay for the “wants” in our budget (my practicum and other work is unpaid).

Recently (the better part of the last year or so), I have noticed that our lives together consist mainly of routine and handling each others’ stressors. I am feeling uncomfortable with the idea that we’ll soon become one of those couples who feel only like roommates who get along well together. I don’t want our only reason to be together to be that we’re just comfortable with what’s familiar. I don’t want to just be with him because it’s what’s safe.

So, how do you keep things fresh and new? Since when has my relationship only become what I do every day but with another person? Where is the fun and spontaneity? I try to initiate different things in our sex life and get shut down because it’s “too different” or out of his comfort zone. I try to ask him to do go on dates and do something we’ve never done before or go somewhere we haven’t been before, but he’s too tired from work. He wants to rest on the weekends and stay at home or run errands that have been neglected due to our busy schedules. How can I bring back that young and new energy to a relationship that has settled and become nothing more than routine? We are both still so young, and I don’t want to reach that settling point in our lives for a long time.

TLDR: How do you maintain the energy and life in a relationship despite busy schedules when things seem to always want to stick to a safe routine and comfort zone?

Submitted December 24, 2022 at 08:04PM by andrew-js https://ift.tt/kW5TFmQ