9 Signs That You’re in a Healthy Relationship
Signs that you’re in a healthy relationship can be difficult to recognize at first, especially if you’ve never had one before. You may find yourself struggling to tell the difference between normal relationship conflicts and the signs of an unhealthy relationship.
Fortunately, there are many signs that your relationship is healthy and conducive to your growth as an individual and as a couple; these nine signs are just some of them. If you have any other suggestions or additions, please feel free to leave them in the comments below!
1) Better Communication
Often, when people are afraid to speak up, they’re fearful of what their partner will think. Talking through an issue is scary because you have to be vulnerable and risk hearing that your partner doesn’t feel or think like you do.
Being able to share your feelings with someone who really listens and respects your point of view is crucial for long-term success. Also, it’s important not to equate talking about things with being negative.
Being aware of problems and working together to solve them early on saves a lot of future heartaches. Your relationship isn’t perfect if you never talk about issues; it just means you haven’t had any yet!
2) Trust
Trust is at the core of any good relationship, but it’s especially important for couples who have children. Of course, you don’t have to be a parent to need trust; the closer you are, the more important it is that trust holds your relationship together. For example, if you and your partner are in business together or working toward some other goal, trust will be essential to getting along with each other.
If one of you has significant debt or character flaws (like financial irresponsibility), having true faith that your partner will work toward eradicating those flaws is vital to trusting each other and moving forward with the relationship.
3) Know each other
In order to have an intimate, fulfilling relationship, it’s important to know your partner and how they like to give and receive love. In order to do that, you’ll need to know their love language. It’s best described as one of five ways people speak and understand emotional love:
- words of affirmation (compliments),
- quality time (spending unrushed time together),
- receiving gifts,
- acts of service (doing favors for your partner) or
- physical touch.
By knowing what these are, you can better understand your partner’s needs—and create greater intimacy with them over time.
4) Goals
This one might seem obvious, but it’s important to remember that going after your goals doesn’t necessarily mean your partner supports those goals. Being supportive means going after each other’s goals together.
As an example, let’s say you have a goal of graduating from law school and becoming a lawyer, but your partner has no desire to attend college. If they are supportive of you achieving your goal, they will encourage you to work hard towards graduating so that you can apply for jobs right away instead of delaying grad school to raise kids or whatever else may be stopping them from focusing on their own goals at that point in their life.
5) Respect
Do you treat each other with respect? Do you acknowledge your partner’s contributions and value them? Do you think of your partner as an equal or as your inferior, or is it somewhere in between?
Those are good signs that you’re on track. If, on the other hand, respect isn’t exactly what comes to mind when you think about your relationship—well, let’s talk. Lack of respect can often be a sign that there are deeper issues at play.
6) Respect Each Other’ Boundaries
As far as boundaries go, it’s important that you and your partner respect each other’s privacy. If you don’t feel comfortable with how much time or information you share with one another, or if there are certain activities that you feel uncomfortable sharing, then don’t do it. It may seem like no big deal at first, but over time it can lead to some serious problems down the road.
7) Balance Between Independence and Dependence
A healthy relationship doesn’t have to be codependent, but you and your partner should both feel confident and comfortable with one another.
A good rule of thumb is that if you need to ask for permission for every little thing—from dinner plans to what movie you should watch on Netflix—the balance between independence and dependence isn’t quite right. If that applies to your relationship, then work on being more independent.
8) Flexible Expectations of Each Other
While we all have to compromise sometimes, it’s important that you and your partner understand that you don’t have to give up on yourself. No one can expect or even want you to be perfect.
Your relationship is built upon mutual trust and support—and nothing else. If you feel as though your partner is trying to change you into something you are not, there’s something wrong with your relationship.
9) You Feel Happy and Supported
It’s easy to overlook your partner’s influence on your happiness when you’re consumed with work and life. But research suggests that people who have relationships that support their well-being have better psychological and physical health.
Your partner should play an active role in helping you reach your goals and building up your self-esteem by treating you as an equal and encouraging you to pursue personal aspirations, whether they are academic, professional, or creative.
A good relationship will always make room for independence while maintaining a commitment to one another. If you feel like your significant other is stifling you or holding you back, it might be time to reevaluate.
Conclusion
When we get into a relationship and especially when that relationship transforms into marriage, we feel like we are on top of the world. And why not? We have found our soulmate. We finally have someone who understands us completely, someone who cares for us unconditionally, and someone who will support us every step of life. This is true happiness, but there is also some science behind it.
Does astrology help to understand how much favorable planet positions are contributing to your relationship? Is it love or compatibility between you two? What constellation makes your spouse jealous and which one won’t let your spouse cheat you? Love and Marriage Astrology can tell everything about your love life and how long it will last forever. Love doesn’t happen by chance; it happens by choice.