Whether you’re single or part of a committed partnership, your relationships play an important role in your life. In fact, they’re central to the social support system that helps you maintain healthy physical and mental well-being. Despite the immense variety of types of relationships, there are a few key elements that characterize all healthy connections.
Emotional Growth: Healthy relationships can help you better understand your emotions and learn healthier ways of expressing them, which can have benefits in other areas of your life. For example, being able to articulate your feelings can help you develop more emotional intelligence, which can improve your work performance and other professional interactions.
Companionship: Being in a relationship can provide an emotional and spiritual foundation for your life, giving you a sense of meaning and purpose. Being with someone who shares your joys and sorrows, supports your endeavors and cheers you on when you’re struggling can be incredibly rewarding. Having a partner to call your own can also give you the confidence and self-assurance to take more risks in pursuit of your dreams.
Sharing a Passion: Healthy relationships allow you to enjoy activities that you both find exciting, such as cooking, traveling, reading or exercising. This can be a fun and fulfilling way to spend time together, but it’s also important to have space for your own interests. Being secure enough in your relationship to allow each other to pursue your own interests is a sign of health and maturity.
Balanced Relationship: A balanced relationship is one that provides equal amounts of affection, energy and love in return for the same. This can be a challenge in a romantic relationship, but it’s important to consider the ways that you both give and receive in your relationships. It can also be helpful to examine the ways that your needs and theirs overlap, and how you accommodate each other in times of conflict.
A common problem in relationships is that we rely on others to meet our emotional and physical needs, when it’s actually up to us to do so. It can be easy to get stuck in unhealthy patterns, which can make it hard to break free when necessary. Some people stay in relationships that aren’t very healthy because they’ve heard that it takes work and that marriages should be difficult, but this can lead to burnout and resentment. It’s important to know when you’re putting too much pressure on your partner and to seek out the resources you need to make the relationship better.
