Can you rekindle a summer of love?

Relationship coach Julia Goodall shares three steps to help you reconnect as a couple

- SALLY SAUNDERS

Is there anything more wonderful than wandering down the beach, hand-in-hand with your loved one, to enjoy an evening gazing into each other's eyes, held in each other's arms, enjoying each other's... well, you know what I mean.

That's a picture we probably all aspire to when we think of what a warm and loving relationship looks like. But what is the reality? After the first year or two of romance and roses, when you're both dealing with real life, kids, older parents or an awkward boss, finding the time to cuddle each other for long can feel like just another task on your to-do list - and these days you probably both spend more time gazing at your phones than deep into each other's eyes. But, do you know what? There's actually nothing too wrong with that! All relationships go through ups and downs, and few people stay in that fiery intensity of new love forever. But if you feel the situation has gone beyond you both just being busy, and your previously loving relationship could actually be heading towards the rocks, psychotherapist and relationship coach Julia Goodall is here to help you reconnect....

Step 1: Find each other again

Firstly, it is helpful to understand that while you might be worrying about the state of your relationship, your partner might think everything is just fine. We are never experiencing the world in the same way, even when we're in the same experience together,' says Goodall. 'We are different people, with different bodies. We've each grown up with different parents (each with their own set of inheritances), different siblings, financial situations, and cultural inheritance.