Another week has gone by and this week’s lesson and discussions were focused on the family and the many different kinds of stresses that it can and will be subject to. Everything that we have talked about before this lesson was focused on specific times or stages in a relationship and in marriage. We’ve talked about how couples face all sorts of different challenges and how heartache and difficulties often arise in this imperfect world.

              According to the Cleveland Clinic: “Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Stress is a normal part of life. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts.” This means that stress is something that everyone, whether in a relationship, married, divorced, or just single, will definitely experience.

              When two people decide to get married, they are committing to a whole new world and way of life that they probably have never experienced before. This means that everything from when and how many children to have to how each of them sleep may be big or small sources of stress to their relationship. Having said this, stress, as mentioned above, is a totally normal part of life and the important thing is how we view them and also how we deal with them.

              A couple can always find out coping methods or mechanisms to help them when they are facing stress or challenges. I also like to look at stress as an opportunity for the couple to be more open, honest, patient, and loving with each other as they can talk to each other and try to figure things out. Through effective communication and love for each other, couples can often times find their relationship being strengthened and create a stronger bond with each other. Couples would also have to know what their weaknesses and strengths are. Two people, no matter how well they get along with each other, will always be different even in the slightest way. This means that they have to be more aware of each other and learn to appreciate each other and find ways to help lift the other person up because of their weaknesses.

              I would like to end this week’s post by sharing a quote by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, who was an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He said this: “Each of us will have our own Fridays -- those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. We all will experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. We will all have our Fridays. But I testify to you in the name of the One who conquered death -- Sunday will come. In the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. No matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. In this life or the next, Sunday will come." This is something I find really positive and helpful because it reminds us that challenges and trials are always short-term. If we are able to endure and resolve our problems in a healthy way, there will always be light at the end of the tunnel. Things will get better and this gives light and hope to whoever needs it, whether they know it or not.