Acquiring new proficiencies is essential to individual growth. For this week’s 52 Love tip, I propose a way for you and your partner to develop as a healthy, productive couple: Learn a new skill together.
I’m not just talking how to make ceramics Ghost-style, although that would certainly work. There’s a whole world of new skills available to study together. You could give ballroom dancing a whirl or hone the art of sensual massage. Take archery lessons or develop matching calluses as you both learn to play guitar. Try your hands at calligraphy, then scribe loving notes or poems to one another.
Better yet, learn a new language together. Linguistics requires frequent practice. When you learn with a partner, you have someone to help exercise your tongue’s proficiency. This type of new skill might even inspire a vacation to a country that speaks the language. At home or abroad, it won’t be long before you incorporate your new vocabulary into your lovemaking, spicing up an additional area of your romantic life.
Working together will keep you each accountable and provide someone to celebrate your successes. You’ll sharpen your skills through repetition and competition. When you learn with a partner, it increases the chances that information will stick. You’ll each absorb different pieces and learn more concretely when you review them together. And because you can access that review partner so readily, you improve your opportunities to test what you’ve both learned.
This process creates a sense of teamwork, which builds on the love you share and will carry over to other aspects of your life together. Most importantly, this quality time allows you to learn something new about yourself and about each other which keeps the relationship fresh.
If you try this intimacy tip or have a better recommendation, let me know in the comments. For weekly suggestions on how to show your partner love, sign up for my blog, 52 Love, in the sidebar. (Please choose at-home options until it’s safe to implement this elsewhere.)
