In a world where relationships often face challenges, maintaining a long-lasting healthy relationship requires communication, commitment, and continuous effort from both partners.

From personal experience, making sure you can balance everything such as a job, school, sports, friendships, or even family matters all at once is a challenge. One that can test the strength of your connection to one another.

What matters most in a relationship is how you bounce back and allow your love for each other to heal. That’s what makes it work. However, what most people forget is that there is more than one way to keep a relationship going. 

Communication

Effective communication is the cornerstone of any successful relationship. You and your partner must openly express thoughts, feelings, and concerns while actively listening to one another. According to betterhealth.gov, “Communication allows you to explain to someone else what you are experiencing and what both your needs are in a relationship.” After arguments, communication can assist in and strengthen the emotional bond between partners and can lead away from many small arguments that chip away at the relationship’s health. 

Trust

Trust is a core factor of any relationship; whether it be platonic or romantic. According to women’s health, “If you want a healthy, long term relationship, you will need to prioritize building and maintaining trust without it, other things such as emotional connection can not fall into place.” Trust creates a healthy environment where both partners feel secure in saying and acting as they are. If you have insecurities, be open and upfront. This is a healthy way to deal with them, there is no need to hide things. Telling your partner builds trust and helps prevent misunderstandings.

Compromise and Teamwork

Oftentimes, you will find that you and your partner will not see eye to eye on things.

However, you can always meet in the middle. According to the source.org, “a one-sided compromise is common in unhealthy relationships where one person does most of the heavy lifting…Be willing to give up something to reach an agreement. And get creative—the perfect solution is not always evident.” Both parties should compromise from time to time. It should never feel one sided. Again, communication is key.

Make Time for One another

 In today’s fast-paced world, spending quality time together is often overlooked. Carve out moments of shared time such as shared activities, date nights, and genuine conversations. Quality time strengthens the emotional connection and reinforces the importance of the relationship. Quality time plays a large factor and fosters other necessary components. According to psychologies.co.uk, “It gives you distraction-free time to talk, and helps you stay current with your partner and what’s going on in your lives…try to set aside a few hours during the day if that works better for you.”

Overall, no relationship is perfect. Conflicts are inevitable. Patience and forgiveness are essential tools for overcoming challenges. Learn to navigate disagreements with respect and empathy, and be willing to forgive and move forward. Building a long-lasting, healthy relationship is an ongoing process that requires dedication and effort from BOTH partners. 

Nothing worth it is easy. If you love and want to stay with the person you are with, you have to put in the work.