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Every relationship is unique, and people come together for many different reasons. Also, that’s something you’ll only know by talking profoundly and honestly with your partner. However, there are also some characteristics that most healthy relationships have in common. All romantic relationships go through ups and downs, and they all take work, commitment, and a willingness to adapt and change with your partner.
However, whether your relationship is just starting or you’ve been together for years, there are steps you can take to build a healthy relationship.
Here is what makes a healthy relationship:
Tip 1: Maintain emotional connection with each other.
You each make the other feel loved and emotionally fulfilled. There’s a difference between being loved and feeling loved. When you feel loved, it makes you feel accepted and valued by your partner, like someone truly gets you. Some relationships get stuck in peaceful coexistence, but without the partners genuinely relating to each other emotionally. While the union may seem stable on the surface, a lack of ongoing involvement and emotional connection serves only to add distance between two people.
Tip 2: Spend quality time face to face
You fall in love looking at and listening to each other. If you continue to watch and listen in the same attentive ways, you can sustain the falling in love experience over the long term. You probably have fond memories of when you were first dating your loved one. Everything seemed new and exciting, and you likely spent hours just chatting together or coming up with new, exciting things to try.
- Spend some quality time together regularly
- Find something that you can do together.
- Try something new together.
- Focus on having fun together
Tip 3: Stay connected through communication
Communication is a fundamental part of a healthy relationship. When you experience a positive emotional connection with your partner, you feel safe and happy. When people stop communicating well, they stop relating well, and times of change or stress can bring out the disconnect. It may sound simplistic, but as long as you are communicating, you can usually work through whatever problems you’re facing.
Tip 4: Be open to your partner.
It’s not always easy to talk about our needs. However, look at it from your partner’s point of view. Providing comfort and understanding to someone you love is a pleasure, not a burden. If you’ve known each other for a while, you may assume that your partner has a pretty good idea of what you need. Be open to your partner because your partner is not a mind-reader. So instead of letting resentment, misunderstanding, or anger grow when your partner continually gets it wrong, get in the habit of telling them exactly what you need.
Tip 5: Be a good listener
If you can learn to listen in a way that makes another person feel valued and understood, you can build a stronger connection between you. There’s a big difference between listening in this way and directly hearing. Being a good listener doesn’t mean you have to agree with your partner or change your mind. However, it will help you find common points of view that can help you to resolve conflict.
Tip 6: Keep physical intimacy alive
A connection is a fundamental part of human existence. Loving connections boosts the body’s levels of oxytocin, a hormone that influences bonding and attachment. While sex is often a cornerstone of a committed relationship. It shouldn’t be the only method of physical intimacy. Frequent, affectionate touch—holding hands, hugging, kissing—is equally important. This can come down to how well you communicate your needs and intentions with your partner.
Tip 7: Learn to give and take in your relationship
If you expect to get what you want 100% of the time in a relationship, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Healthy relationships are built on compromise. However, it takes work on each person’s part to make sure that there is a reasonable exchange. Relationships are based on 50/50 split.
Tip 8: Don’t make “winning” your priority
If you approach your partner with the attitude that things have to be your way or else, it will be challenging to reach a compromise. Sometimes this attitude comes from not having your needs met while younger, or it could be years of accumulated resentment in the relationship reaching a boiling point. It’s all right to have strong convictions about something, but your partner deserves to be heard as well. Be respectful of the other person and their point of view.
