To ask if you've ever been though a rocky patch with your DH and come back from it?

[TwinkleWings]

Currently going through a very rocky patch with DH and am desperate to get through it. Hopefully we will with hard work and dedication!

But I'd love to hear some stories of people that are happily married that have overcome rocky patches. How did you do it and have you become stronger as a result?

It’s so tough when you have young children, relationships do tend to suffer as other priorities take preference. You can get through it, DH and I have been through lots of ups and downs, financially & health wise over the years, but we have stuck together, been together nearly 30 years now, our children late teens, it does get easier.

Thanks for all the replies. It's lovely to hear positive stories and people that have worked hard at marriage.

I think people are often quick to say "it's not right, leave" on mumsnet. For me though, I intend to stick together through thick and thin and grow old together happily knowing we worked fucking hard at it. I truly hope that will be the case

We had a bad patch just before we got married. We were renovating a house ourselves , both working full time and finances were dreadful.
We booked a spa weekend away on the credit card. Put drinks, food treatment etc all on the card. It was like waking up. We enjoyed each other, we talked, we laughed, got drunk. It was essentially like we were a new couple again.

It cost us about £400 all in and we laid it off quickly. We are now 4 years married, 1 dc and one on the way.

Life has quickly turned extremely stressful again and we have 0 time, money or energy for each other.

But we know from experience we can claw it back. For example we have recently set a "date night" once a month no matter what. We take it in turns to organise. We take help from family when we can and go out for lunch together. We don't sit with each other every night, we give each other space and we try to maintain independent interests.

It helps that we both have the feeling of "in it for the long haul".

Like anything, certain seasons of your life are going to be way harder than others, and whilst dc are small, money worries are big and energy is precious, it's inevitably going to be hard.

Alice Cooper of all people said something so true I'll never forget it "Never stop dating your wife" and it's so true.

It is not unusual to feel fed up or exhausted in a relationship, throw DC, lack of time and stretched finances into the mix and it is tough.
You sound like you really love him, maybe aligned in pity of the stress, once I realised we were both feeling the same it was easier to team up again.