There are a few obvious ways to find out if a relationship is bad for you, for example, if someone is being outright abusive. But things get a little more complicated when you’re trying to figure out whether your relationship is simply unhealthy.
Check out these 5 key things to look for to understand whether you’re in a healthy relationship:
1. Compromise is crucial
We all go through things that leave us crushed or unable to be fully attentive in a relationship. Rather than whining and complaining, people in healthy relationships are aware that sometimes we need to give a little more while our partner is focused on other things. It could be work or personal matters that require their attention.
If discussed in an honest and open way, then it’s alright to give a bit more while our partner’s attention is directed elsewhere.
What is certainly not alright is if such an imbalance becomes part and parcel of our everyday experience. One person cannot serve as the pillar for the entire relationship; the whole definition of partnership points at the participation of another for a shared goal.
2. Accepting your partner for who they are
Accepting the other person for who they are wholeheartedly is a vital part of a healthy relationship. One has to work hard to discover who the other person truly is so that the person can be loved in an unconditional way.
Contrastingly, in a toxic relationship, one partner seeks to change the other and expects them to conform to their own selfish needs.
3. The importance of shared dreams
Upon forming a loving relationship, two individuals should work towards the fulfillment of common dreams. As a natural consequence, the fruit of those dreams will create an even stronger bond and a heightened sense of wellbeing between them.
In an unhealthy relationship, on the other hand, one demands that the other give up their personal dreams. It’s the kind of relationship that does not give – it rather steals.
4. Communication is key
Ignoring your partner when you are upset with them is a dangerous trend that has ruined too many otherwise healthy relationships. People in healthy, long-term relationships understand that effective communication is required in any field of life. Nothing in life can be solved by pouting in the corner with your arms folded. There will always be times when we get upset, argue and disagree with our partners, it’s natural.
But it’s how we handle those tension-soaked moments that determines whether we continue on the path to a healthy and happy relationship or take a wrong turn we may later regret to have taken. We need to be willing to talk about what eats at us.
Your partner cannot possibly know exactly how you feel and how to make you feel better unless you both create a space where each of you can safely share your thoughts and feelings.
5. Privacy vs. public exposure
In a healthy relationship, you do what you have to in order to cover for your partner’s weaknesses. You treat their dark secrets and vulnerable spots as sacred matters, not to be uncovered to anybody, for any reason. In this realm, private aspects of the intimate relationship between the partners are deliberately created so to strengthen it; you never reveal private details to anyone, not even family or close friends. What you have as a couple is only meant for the two of you. You must treat all those moments and details as classified materials.
In a tainted relationship, a partner’s negative attributes become a source of foul jokes – even intimate physical moments are shared with anyone willing to listen.
Do you have any personal advice on how to keep a relationship healthy?
Share it with us in the comment section below.
