here’s no such thing as a perfect relationship. But there is a way to ensure that your relationship is a healthy, working relationship. Every couple is different, but it’s crucial to keep in mind that a relationship is built on a multitude of shared feelings, emotions, and experiences that are only exemplified by things such as trust, respect, honesty, etc. that’s to say that there are aspects of a relationship that are essential for the relationship moving forward.
The most strong basis for a relationship is communication. Without communication, there isn’t a possibility of a healthy relationship between the two of you. Every other characteristic of a healthy relationship is built upon communication. You can only begin to build upon this character with other highly important key points such as trusting another person.
There are many characteristics of a healthy relationship including the ones listed above, that are important to note and keep in mind, such as:
- Communication
- Mutual Cooperation
- Trust
- Friendship
- Empathy
- Honesty
- Loyalty
- Humor
- Compromise
- Respect
Depending on your and your partner’s core values, the characteristics that you look for in a healthy relationship may vary from couple to couple. Whether you believe there are more characteristics than the ones listed above and in this article, or fewer, by communicating with your partner, you can ensure that your relationship is what it needs to be, healthy.
Communication
Communication is the sole foundation for building and maintaining a relationship. A relationship, more specifically a healthy one, will only remain strong if you’ve become comfortable enough and in a good place in your relationship where you feel that you can express your feelings, whether they be positive or negative.
If you feel the need to hide an aspect of yourself such as your feelings, interests, and worries, then the communication factor needs work. It’s as simple as that. Now, the act of communicating, at times, may not be as simple as recognizing that something needs to be communicated between the two of you.
Anything and everything can and should be communicated in a relationship, such as, but certainly not limited to:
- Misunderstandings
- Expectations
- Opinions
- Feedback
Although learning how to communicate may seem unnecessary because you communicate with people every day, therefore you should be a master at it by now. But to ensure that your relationship is healthy and your partner and you are content with where you are and how you treat and understand each other, more than a basic form of communication is needed. Once you’ve established ways in which to communicate with your partner, there needs to be a basis of understanding that is established as well. And if there’s not, then you bounce back to communication and talk it out in order to come to a comfortable and open part in your relationship.
Mutual Cooperation
You shouldn’t expect your relationship to remain healthy if you aren’t cooperating with each other. It has to be a 50/50 relationship with you and your partner giving and receiving the same amount of effort and love.
You and your partner want to understand and see things from each other's point of view. This will allow your connection to be molded and grow in a way that will only make the two of you stronger. If you’re not giving what they are, then you’ve lost that mutual connection that needs to be established in the beginning. It’s important to remember that small disagreements or understanding something from the other’s point of view can work wonders on the outcome of the relationship. A simple give and take is a crucial element to any relationship, romantic or not.
Also, don't try to change your partner. If you’re looking for ways to keep a relationship healthy, this is something that is incredibly important to keep in mind. Although the two of you are supposed to grow together, growing doesn’t necessarily mean change. The two of you can grow in your relationship together, only getting stronger through the ups and downs that you’ve faced together, but that’s expected.
By no means should you or your partner want to change the other. If there’s something about your partner that creates a problem for the two of you, that’s one thing. The need to address issues as such is important and plays into the communication aspect of the relationship. But if one of you is actively trying to change the other person for reasons that won’t benefit the love you share, even if there are minimal changes, if this isn’t communicated, then you’ve lost that aspect of mutual connection that is crucial for a relationship to thrive.
In order for you to have a long-lasting healthy relationship you must respect that the person you fell in love with doesn’t need to be changed in order to fit your standards of what you think they should be or act like. The simple fact is, you should do what you’d expect them to do to and for you and vice versa.
Trust
If you don’t have trust in your partner and your relationship, then this will only create problems. Trust is a crucial part of any relationship, professional, friendship, or romantic, but it’s also something that takes time to build. Having an understanding of trust and how to build trust can allow you to continue your relationship with an open heart and sense of security. Without both of these, you may feel like your loyalties are lacking and this can only be a means of negatively affecting your relationship moving forward.
Once you’ve established trust with another person, this allows your relationship to be more open and free. This can only mean that you’re moving in the right direction in maintaining a healthy working relationship. When this trust is instilled, this ensures the two of you that you don’t aren’t going to hide parts of yourself from each other. This greatly reduces the probability that one of you is going to need reassurance about the stability of the relationship, something that shouldn’t be questioned in a healthy relationship by any means.
If you’ve lost trust in someone, then everything they do or say will be questionable. This might become a problem, having to second guess if something they told you was a lie or if everything about the relationship has been as authentic as you once thought it was. Gaining and maintaining someone's trust, most importantly the person you’re in a close relationship with can make problems that arise in the future more simple. If you have trust in them and a situation arises where one of you questions the trust or lack thereof, this can ultimately end the relationship long-term.
Friendship
A great foundation for a relationship is friendship. It helps to be best friends with the person you’re in a relationship with as this will only strengthen your relationship and the bond you share. This doesn’t mean that you have to be friends with the person before you date, but once you’re in an established relationship, besides being your partner, that person should be above all else, your best friend.
A partner is a built-in best friend, who you share everything with, the good and the bad. There is only a slim chance that your relationship will be steady if you haven’t established a friendship with the person. This strong foundation for friendship is something to build upon romantically, as you can understand each other on a deeper level in both a friendship sort of sense and romantically, making for a deeper love and understanding between the two of you.
Keep These Characteristics In Mind When Assessing Your Relationship
The key to a healthy relationship as an adult looks different for everyone, but can only be created and maintained if you and your partner make a combined effort to maintain the mutual feelings you feel for one another. Once you’ve established the boundaries and a basic foundation for your growing relationship, all the rest should fall into place with time.
