A long term relationship is unlike any other relationship that you have with your friends. But you don’t necessarily need to have everything in common to be in a healthy relationship. In fact, we’re fairly certain that most relationship counselors would agree that you don’t have to have the same taste in music or movies to live happily ever after. It’s really all about compromise and other things that will allow you both to see a future together. So here are a couple of signs that will totally indicate if your relationship is standing tall and strong.When you’re in a healthy relationship, you and your partner have essentially created a safe bubble where you can both share experiences, feel comforted and guarded, especially when everything else is falling apart.
You choose to appreciate what’s good about each other rather than nitpick and whine and find reasons to end the relationship. In essence, you’re focusing on the pros by remembering the good times rather than wasting energy on the worst sides of each other.
When you’re in a healthy relationship, the urge to check on them goes away. Even when they act a certain way that is unusual from their normal behavior, body language, and mannerism. You still put blind faith in them.
You might have just lost your home in a tornado, a flood, or a fire, but you look at each other and are still grateful that you have each other. A relationship that practices daily gratitude will ultimately produce a positive outcome.
You go to a bar, a restaurant, Disney World, or Paris… it really doesn’t matter, because you don’t need to spend quality time with anyone but the person you love. So every date feels like the first date, and not the last.
It’s a great sign of a healthy relationship when you can be flexible enough to move beyond the anger, let things go, and make up because it shows you’re both easy going and loving towards each other.
You love your significant other for who they were the moment you met them and you never hope, dream, or try to change them, because thinking you can mold someone into an unrealistic image is the wrong way to go.
A great sign of a healthy relationship is based on creative intimacy, connection, and most importantly, positive expression of love through words, gestures, and acts every day.
We’re all going to have those moments where we’re going to disagree with each other. That’s just life. But when you’re willing to put the anger aside and forgive each other to stay together, you’ve really got something there.
If you have it, then it means you also have open communication and honest dialogues about values, goals and expectations about each other and your future together. But they also require freedom of expression with the fear of retribution as well as respect for each other’s differences.
It doesn’t make you weak to share your fears and feelings about big life changes, whether that involves moving in together, getting married, or having children. If you’re both honest and open, you can roll with the punches that life throws at you.
The surprise doesn’t have to be big or overly materialistic. It could be something simple like a love letter in a briefcase or a purse. It can also mean inviting your significant other for a surprise date at their favorite restaurant.
But in a healthy relationship, each individual avoids making big statements like “you always” or “you never”, because you know that one bad behavior should never define them throughout your relationship. So you treat each instance as a unique event instead.
Fights between couples can get pretty heated, but no matter how bitter you get or how badly you might want to walk out forever in that moment, you never use the word “leaving” as ammo to hurt your significant other.
It doesn’t matter if they want to drop everything and apply to medical school, or if they want to play golf every weekend. You’ll be happy for them no matter what and will be a source of encouragement because their happiness is your happiness.
That’s because you know that your partner will share in your happiness, which is something that only healthy happy couples can really understand.
It can be something simple like reading the newspaper together at the breakfast table or wasting the day away on the couch binging on Netflix. In the end, healthy couples simply want to spend quality time together connecting with each other.
You wind up taking responsibility by saying “I’m sorry because I…” which shows that your apology is sincere. Remember, that saying you’re sorry isn’t about trying to make the fight go away, but rather about overcoming the issue with your partner.
It’s also a key to happiness, because a good, hearty laugh relieves physical tension, stress, and boosts your immune system. And you can’t tell us you wouldn’t want to make your partner laugh if it means making their lives a little better.
It doesn’t matter if they want to move to a new city, a new state or out of an apartment and into a new home. It’s all about wanting to make your partner happy without even thinking of yourself. If they truly love you, they’ll feel the same way. So it balances out.
You both know that you might not always agree on the same things. For example, you might be a Republican and your partner might be a Democratic. Naturally, these two sides will rarely agree. But you can both listen to each other and respond with respect and still love each other.
There’s nothing more rewarding than a couple that pushes each other lovingly towards a greater purpose, and a better self in order to develop each other’s potential. So essentially you grow together in other ways than simply aging.
Personal space is a psychological necessity because everyone knows that when couples spend too much time together, they wind up sacrificing time with friends and avoid old hobbies. It’s also a sign of extreme insecurity when personal space isn’t granted. But if it is, then everything’s awesome.
Even when you’re in a relationship, you take time to pursue your own personal life goals and allow your partner to do the same. If you failed to do so, you don’t blame your partner for your failures, because a relationship that gets in the way of your goals isn’t worth pursuing.
Some would argue that the goal of a healthy relationship involves giving and taking. But the truth is that if you avoid putting expectations of getting anything in return, you won’t be disappointed. On the other hand, if you do get something in return, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
