If you’ve been struggling in a relationship, the New Year may be the best time to revive it. You might have thought about the changes you want to make in your own life for 2016, such as losing weight or finding a new job. But with a few small steps you can help bring a change to your intimate relationship too. In fact, by using the tips below, you and your partner can help make this year and the years ahead the most loving years of your relationship. Here are five small steps you and your partner can take to help bring more life and vitality to your relationship.
1. Tell each other you love each other. It might take some courage to say these three small words. But if you can make it a regular habit yourself, there’s a good chance your partner will follow suit. At first, it might feel hard to take the leap in a relationship and do something that you might rarely do, especially if it makes you feel vulnerable. However, once you make it a regular habit, it might become a regular habit for your significant other too.
2. Let bygones be bygones. The past can have some stickiness to it. It’s easy to want to hang onto it. And for some, the past is a weapon to use in arguments. Or it might slip out in a retort when you’re fighting. However, if you’re willing to start fresh, especially with the New Year, then perhaps it’s possible to leave the past where it belongs. Perhaps you and your partner can commit to one another that the past remains where it is from now on.
3. Share your goals with one another. One way that a relationship feels its vitality again is by the active and meaningful lives that each partner has. If each of you has your eye on goals that make you happy, there’s a good chance that your relationship will also feel some of that happiness. In fact, don’t only share your goals with each other; share your accomplishments, your progress, and your path of getting closer to where you want to be.
4. Be willing to compromise. Relationships are going to come with arguments. Because each person has their own likes and dislikes, there are going to be conflicts in the way each of you want to get things done. Therefore, there must be some willingness to change or compromise from time to time. Try to find a middle ground or take turns in letting the other person have it their way.
5. Practice emotional intelligence. One source of arguments in relationships is when a person does not take responsibility for their own feelings. Instead, they blame the other person. However, when you can take responsibility for the way you respond to a certain situation, you’re becoming emotionally intelligent. Emotional intelligence is the ability to know how you’re feeling, when, and why. You’re able to take responsibility for the way you feel versus blaming others. This alone can help ease the tension that relationships might experience.
If you and your partner are open to the above suggestions, it’s possible your relationship could experience its best year yet!
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