4 Tips to Improve Your Relationship
Whether you’ve been in a relationship with someone for a long or short time and however happy you are, there are probably still things you can do to improve your relationship. To start with, you can read over the suggestions below with your partner and choose which one to work on first.
Talk About Money
This one can be tricky. Not many issues in a relationship are as fraught as financial ones, but if it helps, you can think of this in the same way you would an unpleasant but necessary routine medical procedure like having your teeth cleaned. It may not be fun at the time, but you’ll feel better afterwards, and it will stave off problems in the long run. Unless you don’t live together or share finances at all and don’t plan to, it’s important to be transparent about money with your partner, both your attitudes toward it and your plans.
If broaching the topic feels especially stressful, you may want to consult a relationship or financial professional to help you talk through it–or one of each. You could agree to choose one or more joint financial goals to work on. Maybe you will decide to try to reduce your expenses each month. In addition to sticking to a budget, you could look at other ways to reduce as well, such as seeing if you can refinance student loans. Lower interest rates could mean you pay less each month and in entirety for the loan.
Create Space
It may sound counterintuitive but giving each other some space can be great for the relationship. Whether this means each of you having some time alone at home, going out with friends or even going on separate vacations will vary based on your temperaments and lifestyle, but you will find that reminding yourself that you are both independent beings can enhance your time together again–plus, you’ll have plenty to talk about after indulging in separate pursuits. Space can also be a great way to practice trust, boundaries, and communication which are all some of the top reasons marriages end in divorce that you’ll want to avoid. Even if you are not formally married this can still be a fruitful addition to your relationship.
Mind Your Manners
It can be all too easy to take the people that you love the most for granted, and unfortunately, this can mean that you sometimes treat strangers or acquaintances better than you do your family, close friends, and partner. Simply making an effort to be more polite to one another and give one another the same courtesy that you would anyone else can go a long way toward improving your day-to-day life together.
Have Fun
The last thing that a good relationship should be is another item on your to-do list, and while improving things is great, perhaps the most important thing you should remember to do is to have fun together. Once the initial flush of meeting one another is behind you, it can be easy to fall into a rut of chores, work worries, and other issues. It’s important to remember what attracted you to one another in the first place and the things that you originally enjoyed doing together, whether that’s watching movies, playing games, hiking, going to restaurants or anything else. Be sure to prioritize time together that isn’t productive or goal-oriented in any way and just enjoy yourselves together.
