How to be more interested in your spouse's interests
Both men and women have a difficult time showing interest in what the other partner enjoys doing. Most men are not interested in shoes, fashion, crafts, or cooking. While women usually do not have a very big interest in cars, golf, business finance, etc. Of course these interests are just examples and there are those couples who enjoy everything that their spouse enjoys. For those couples I say congratulations. For the rest of us, we need to be dedicated to trying harder to show interest in the things that are near and dear to our spouse. After all, we cannot show support and care for our spouse if we make fun of or belittle the things that he or she enjoys doing. These interests are part of who we are as people and we need to learn to love them.
If it is important to your spouse it should be important to you
Many times it makes absolutely no difference what it is that your spouse is interested in, you should be willing to show interest in it because it is something that is important to your partner. This is not to say that you have to develop an interest of your spouse for yourself. But to foster a healthy relationship you cannot belittle what interest's your spouse even if you have no interest whatsoever in what he enjoys doing.
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Take turns doing activities that interest each other
Remember that there are two sides to the coin here, you and your spouse need to take turns supporting each other's hobbies. You need to be willing to go with him to the monster truck rally (without making any kind of snide remarks) and he should be willing to spend an afternoon shopping (with the same positive attitude). Don't you feel better and have more fun doing what your are interested in if your spouse is there keeping you company and spending time with you as well? As a spouse and a friend you have the ability to make a good thing even better if you have a good attitude and really strive to make the time that you spend together enjoyable to matter what you are doing
Be considerate when giving gifts (birthday, father's/mother's day, Christmas, etc.)
Times when gift giving is appropriate are perfect opportunities to show your spouse that you are aware of their interests and thoughtful enough to get them something that they would like. Many times a partnership is guilty of giving gifts that the giver likes but the recipient isn't crazy about. When your gift is intended to reflect one of your spouse's unique interests you can't go wrong.
Listen carefully and respond respectfully
Being more interested in your souse's interests may be learning how to tolerate doing a specific activity at first, but you should be constantly striving for improvement and at least making an effort to enjoy the time you spend together doing what makes your partner happy. Make sure that you are not just tolerating your spouse's interests but that you are listening and responding respectfully during conversations about a particular topic. You can either make the best of a situation or develop your relationship deeply, or you can mope and complain through it and tear each other down. The choice is yours.
Retain information and you start a conversation about your spouse's interests
It may take time but when you can start a conversation about your spouse's interests and keep her or him engaged in the conversation you have really made some progress. By initiating conversation or an activity that revolves around your spouse's interest you are showing them that you care enough to want to do what they enjoy, that you listen to what's important to them and that you like to spend time together.
