To all relationships struggling in this pandemic:

Tania Riosvelasco
4 min readMay 19, 2021

It’s ok not to be ok.

Freerange photo

Lately, meaning the last year since the pandemic started, I’ve had a serious influx of couples looking for therapy. The pandemic has created a sort of alternate reality in which relationships — couples or families — continued to grow on their own, without much contact to others or outside of home.

Whatever challenges that were present in those relationships, had been to an extent buffered by being able to socialize with others, working outside of home, having hobbies, traveling, going out, etc. Sure, there might be some trouble in communication, some lack of intimacy, some disillusionment on the way couples treated or cared for each other but all of that was easier to overlook when we could shift our focus and attention into something else.

Well, turns out it is harder to turn a blind eye to those challenges when we don’t have anywhere to look, or be at. Naturally, those struggles started to become more apparent, and they started to feel consequential. Now more that ever, I’ve heard couples say, “Either this gets resolved or I can’t continue [our relationship] anymore.”

This is where I will say, “Let’s Slow Down.”

“Let’s see what has been going on:
When did you [both] started feeling stuck in this struggle?
How have you tried to get…

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Tania Riosvelasco

Marriage & Family Therapist | Mom | Mexican roots & heart | Stories about mental health and relationships| tania.riosvelasco.com