February Reading Roundup

As the pandemic carries on, more individuals are feeling the effects of social distancing from loved ones, friends, and even colleagues. New variants of COVID may mean another year of separation, and with that comes more advice on how to nurture relationships while remaining (at least) six feet apart.

No matter if you’re looking for advice on how to celebrate Valentine’s Day or reconnect with others in February, we’ve rounded up some tips that could help you rebuild relationships for Valentine’s Day (and beyond!).

Advice for Newlyweds & The Engaged

Being a pandemic bride or groom is less than ideal. So, if you have friends who have had to cancel their wedding , you may want to reach out and show your support. And if you are in that situation yourself or are even trying to plan a wedding for a long-distance relationship , you can always reach out to your friends or fiancée for support, too.

If you find yourself becoming envious of friends and family who got to enjoy more extravagant, pandemic-free weddings, you’re not alone. Talk to your partner about your feelings, and if they’re feeling the “I had a pandemic wedding” blues, too, you may want to splurge on a nice Valentine’s gift or even a surprise date night ! This could help you both remember that the wedding ceremony matters far less than the life you build together after the “I do’s.”

And if you’re engaged, Valentine’s Day may be the perfect time to increase your bond by going through these simple marriage tips from a married couple of more than 10 years! You may even find some useful advice you can implement now, such as learning why you should talk about retirement before saying “I do” or how to talk about finances without fighting.

Nurturing Romantic Relationships

You don’t have to spend a fortune to have a special Valentine’s Day . You can save money by focusing on getting one unique, one-of-a-kind gift, like a flower arrangement made of your partner’s favorite flavors with their favorite colors. You can also plan a cheap (but fun!) date night or shower your partner with love by doing small but thoughtful gestures throughout the entire day!

If you’re trying to take your relationship to the next level, you may have considered moving in together to help your bond grow. Since you trust this person enough to live with them, it may feel counter-intuitive to ask for a co-living agreement. However, doing so can help you bring up issues or concerns you may not have thought of, such as how to divide chores or even pay rent. Being on the same page about even the smallest pet peeves, like wearing shoes in the house, can ensure you have a good Valentine’s Day after moving in!

Keeping in Touch with Family

While you probably aren’t planning on sending your sister or parent an edible bouquet for cupid’s day, you can still channel Valentine’s Day love throughout February by reaching out to family, too! Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to plan a quick weekend getaway with your sibling or finally take that mother-daughter foodie road trip you’ve been talking about for years.

Is the pandemic still putting a pause on your in-person travel plans? You can still enjoy memorable virtual
experiences with loved ones, such as taking a virtual painting class together, watching a movie online, or even just unwinding after a long week and catching up on life .

Recharging Friendships

Is Galentine’s Day more your speed? Galentine’s Day, on Feb. 13, is an increasingly popular unofficial holiday for girlfriends to get together and celebrate their friendship. It’s a perfect way to spread some love near Valentine’s Day no matter if you or your friends are single , engaged or married, since the day is all about friendship, not romantic partners (And, of course, you don’t have to just celebrate with friends of the same gender)!

You can plan a Galentine’s Day trip with friends or, if travel is still not an option, you can plan a surprise virtual birthday party for a friend who is having yet another pandemic birthday.

Did you recently move to a new city? You can use the season of love as an excuse to meet new friends , be it through a city-organized Valentine’s Day craft show or just inviting some neighbors over for a nice dinner. If you’re concerned about seeing people in person during the pandemic, you could also check out some fun things to do while social distancing!

Building Remote Workplace Camaraderie

Friends, family, and romantic partners aren’t the only people we have relationships with. For a lot of people, their coworkers become a pseudo-work family, and being socially distanced from them can be difficult.

Not only that, but working remotely can also be difficult for more practical reasons, like discussing salaries and inequalities that you and coworkers may be experiencing. Being in-person makes it easier for colleagues to bring up issues they’ve noticed, such as discriminatory hiring practices, inappropriate comments, or even pay inequalities. For instance, women and LGBTQ+ workers often find that they get paid less than their male, cisgender counterparts.

To help create safe spaces to socialize and discuss work issues, you can help plan virtual events for coworkers only, no bosses allowed! This could be as simple as doing home office virtual tours to help coworkers get inspired to upgrade their own home offices. You could also plan some free virtual events like a movie watch party through a streaming service most of you have, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Around the Web

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on how many of us view, build, and grow our relationships. If COVID and social distancing have put a strain on your relationships, we’ve rounded up some articles from around the web that could help:

•  Thriving In a Post Pandemic Life

•  How the Pandemic Impacted Our Relationships

•  How to Keep Your Relationship Healthy During the Coronavirus Pandemic

•  How to Reconnect With Friends You’ve Grown Apart From During the COVID-19 Pandemic

•  People are still struggling to replace the social part of office life — use these 4 tips to feel less lonely

The Takeaway

Staying connected with friends, family, loved ones, and even coworkers can be difficult during times of social distancing. However, there are now more options than ever to stay connected virtually without breaking the bank.

But keeping an eye on those transactions is key to making sure you don’t overspend. SoFi members gain access to SoFi Relay®, where they can track their inflows, set up goals, and keep tabs on their spending.

Photo credit: iStock/simonapilolla

SoFi Relay offers users the ability to connect both SoFi accounts and external accounts using Plaid, Inc.’s service. When you use the service to connect an account, you authorize SoFi to obtain account information from any external accounts as set forth in SoFi’s Terms of Use. Based on your consent SoFi will also automatically provide some financial data received from the credit bureau for your visibility, without the need of you connecting additional accounts. SoFi assumes no responsibility for the timeliness, accuracy, deletion, non-delivery or failure to store any user data, loss of user data, communications, or personalization settings. You shall confirm the accuracy of Plaid data through sources independent of SoFi. The credit score is a VantageScore® based on TransUnion® (the “Processing Agent”) data.

External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.