Perfect relationships exist only in the books and movies, we all know that. Yet we often feel we could be happier, more fulfilled in our personal life. You’d be happy to learn that in many cases all it takes is a slight change of perspective, a little change here and a little change there, that will make you both happier with each other. Here are ten of the things that make a harmonious relationship.
1. Honesty
Many people these days seem to believe honesty means bluntness and either abuse it or refrain from speaking their mind altogether. But a healthy relationship cannot survive if one of you or both are keeping their thoughts to themselves. You don’t have to be blunt to tell your boyfriend that you’d rather stay at home than go out, do you? Same goes for everything else.
2. Compromise
No relationship, romantic or otherwise, can be successful or happy if the parties involved don’t want to compromise at all. It’s equally painful if only one of you yields every times and the other gets his or her way. The key word is both. Both of you should be ready to compromise from time to time.
3. Communication
This is related to the tips above but it’s not the same thing. Communication means not feeling anxious or intimidated to share anything that bothers you, regardless of whether it has to do with the relationship or not. Nobody said that romantic love is all rosy, we also burden our partners with our problems. That’s part of the deal and it makes for a more fulfilling relationship, than if you keep everything to yourself lest you should upset your darling and make him/her fall out of love with you.
4. Surprise
Little surprises can brighten your day and they don’t have to cost you money. Act on a whim, give your man a big hug while he’s watching his favourite TV show and he’s not expecting it. Call your girlfriend at work just to tell her you love her. You think it sounds cheesy? Only if it becomes a habit and the element of surprise dies.
5. Little things
It’s trite, we know, but paying attention to the little things that make you feel happy is one of the few guarantees that you go on feeling happy. It’s these little things that count — that Sunday that you spent in bed is more important than your worry that you haven’t had much time for sex lately, that’s what we mean.
6. Learn from arguments
There’s no eternal bliss in any relationship. Arguments are a natural part of living with another person. But instead of learning from each confrontation, we sometimes tend to hold a grudge and refuse to see the argument in any other light than as something that should not happen again. Well, it will happen again unless you sit down and think about what led to it instead of sulking and not talking to each other for a whole week.
7. Respect personal space
You love each other so much that you share a pillow at night and you can’t keep your hands off each other when you’re alone. Well, that phase usually passes by the end of your second year together, or you might even skip it if you’re very, very independent. But personal space is more than that, it also means leaving your significant other to do things on his or her own from time to time, without making a face or complaining. That’s more important than sharing a pillow.
8. Pamper each other
There’s a lot of relationship advice out there that very much resembles a training guide. Trying to change your boyfriend until he covers each and every requirement you have for the perfect mate, keeping him on a short leash is not part of a healthy relationship. Pamper him, he’s not two years old, he won’t get spoiled.
9. Ignore the small problems
Maybe she stays in the bathroom for an hour. Maybe he squeezes the toothpaste the wrong way (what a classic!). Learn to live with each other’s little quirks and don’t lose time to get angry over them. That’s time you can spend working to get a bigger house with two bathrooms or just popping out and getting yourself your own toothpaste.
10. You’re only human
We’re imperfect creatures but that doesn’t stop us from aiming for perfection, does it? As long as that makes us feel fully alive and happy, it’s fine but sometimes we feel miserable because we don’t live up to our own standards. That goes double for relationships. No relationship is perfect and the sooner you accept this, the better you’ll feel. Appreciate the little things, forget about perfection. It’s the little things that count.
How to become happier in a relationship? What are your tips?
Stay happy, love and be loved!
