Even the longest-lasting relationships can be broken down into their simple day-to-day components. By working on building healthy daily habits as a couple, you can unlock the secret to a long-term relationship.
Little things that you can do each day all add up over the course of the relationship and will either spread positivity and happiness, or negativity throughout your partnership. You can make the choice. You can form good habits, nourishing your relationship, and watch it flourish!
Habits, good and bad, take around 21 days to form, so by being vigilant in your daily practices and working together, you can form fantastic habits and have a long and healthy relationship. Take things one step at a time, introduce any of these that you don’t already do slowly and steadily, and start to reap the rewards!
1) Show One Another Respect
This is one of the most important daily habits you could form to create a long-lasting and healthy relationship. By outwardly expressing the respect you have for your partner, you show them that you truly value who they are.
Showing your partner you are willing to listen to them and that you understand them, is an expression of acceptance – you’re welcoming them into your life you are expressing your love and warmth for them. One of the fastest ways of doing this is simply saying “Thank you” to one another daily. Further, when you talk to each other, show that you are listening and understand what the other person has to say – these small gestures of respect can go a long way.
Most importantly, this respect expresses your love and warmth for them.
2) Go For A Walk
Getting out of the house together (but not for work) is ideal for fostering a healthy relationship. Not only does it get you both into the fresh air, giving you some light exercise, but it also promotes quality time together. You can talk together distraction-free, and break-up any feelings of staleness that can start to form when you spend evening after evening in the same room. See what your neighborhood has to offer and do it together!
3) Cut Down on TV
There are much better ways to spend your evenings together than sat down in front of the television. If the TV is on in the room, you will both connect with the screen before you connect with each other.
Aim to cut back on the amount of time the television is on. Talk to each other about your days – your partner is endlessly fascinating. Learn from them and teach them through conversation, it’s a much better way to spend your evenings.
4) Simple Gestures Every Day
Doing something for your partner, no matter how small, provides an incredible foundation for your relationship to grow on. If you wake up before your partner, make them a cup of coffee, if you’re the last to wake up, make the bed ready for that evening.
By showing affection through these small gestures, making each other’s lives a little easier, you will find yourselves appreciating one another a lot more in your day to day.
5) Sing Each Other’s Praises
When you talk about your partner with other people outside the relationship, do so only in a positive light. Sure, we all need to vent sometimes, but don’t make that a habit! Instead, talk to your friends and families about all the things you love about your partner.
This will help you to see your partner in that positive light, remind you of the things they have done for you, and will encourage other people to ask about all the good things going on in your relationship too.
Related to this point, is the fact that you simply cannot allow outsiders to call the shots in your relationship. Only you and your partner know what’s best, and together you can discuss and discover that. Don’t allow conversations with people outside of your bubble cause it to burst!
6) Connect Throughout The Day
Technology is making it easier and easier for us to keep in touch with one another at all hours of the day. There’s no excuse for this one! Be it a text message, email, or good old-fashioned paper notes, showing your partner that you’re thinking about them throughout the day is a brilliant habit that can foster a healthy relationship.
It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant either – just a little “I love you” can suffice.
7) Cook and Clean Together and Have Shared Rituals
By doing simple household tasks together, you communicate clearly to one another that you are a team. You’re showing that you aren’t relying on the other person, or taking them for granted.
This also creates a real intimacy with one another as you synchronize and collaborate to create a delicious dinner or a spotless kitchen!
Further to this, if you share rituals with one another, you can quickly form something to bond over and create a familiarity and intimacy when you complete your ritual together. One example of this might be moisturizing each other’s faces before bed each night.
8) Work as a Team Towards Shared Goals
One of the best things you can do as a couple on a daily basis is to make plans to escape your day-to-day and then work on these together. You should conceive, create, and complete projects together. So whether it’s a holiday or an art project, involve each other in your projects and create a happy relationship.
9) Snuggle!
Make time to cuddle each other every day. Whether you spend time snuggling in bed in the morning or night, or even on the couch in the evening, this is one fantastic secret to building a lasting, happy relationship. Physical touch causes a chemical reaction in the body, releasing oxytocin into your bloodstream, which also helps to combat stress.
10) Practice Self-Care As Individuals
If you can’t love yourself, how are you going to love somebody else? By taking time each day to ensure that your own health and well-being are looked after, you will pave the way for a healthy relationship with someone else. Joy comes from within and by creating joy in yourself, this joy will spill out and flood into the relationship.
11) Realize Your Relationship is Unique
Stop comparing your relationship to other people’s. Revel in your uniqueness! Every couple sets their own rules and their own habits. Work on what makes you both great and don’t worry about what anyone else thinks. By looking at each other as unique people, and reminding yourselves of that fact regularly, you will appreciate each other a lot more!
12) Deal With Conflicts
As soon as you and your partner experience a conflict (and every relationship certainly goes through these) it’s important to address and resolve them as soon as you can. Never go to bed angry with one another – this will only make the anger stew, and you’ll wake up feeling just as angry with your partner, if not worse.
By setting egos aside and resolving your conflicts with your partner, you can move forwards, and grow stronger in the relationship.
So there you have it, get into these healthy daily habits with your partner, and you will find that your relationship goes from strength to strength. The best things in life take a lot of work to achieve and nothing is better than a loving, long-term relationship.
This article was written by The Hearty Soul. The Hearty Soul is a rapidly growing community dedicated to helping you discover your most healthy, balanced, and natural life.
Sources:
1. Lifehackorg. 2016. Available at: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/12-powerful-habits-happy-relationships.html. Accessed September 8, 2016.
2. 12 Daily Habits of Super-Happy Couples. Women’s Health. 2014. Available at: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/sex-and-love/habits-of-happy-couples/slide/13. Accessed September 8, 2016.
3. 20 Habits Happy Couples Have (But Never Talk About). Marc and Angel Hack Life. 2015. Available at: http://www.marcandangel.com/2015/02/11/20-habits-happy-couples-have/. Accessed September 8, 2016.