6 Tips for Improving Your Next Relationship

Starting over is frightening. Whether you’re making a mid-life transition or considering a second marriage after surviving divorce, you might be hesitant to try again if your last relationship ended badly. A relationship coach can often help you set goals for self-improvement and help you find your happily ever after with these tips.

Have Fun Together

Choose to be in a relationship with someone who enjoys doing some of the same things you do. If you both love being outdoors, you’ll find activities you can enjoy together whether you just have an afternoon or you’re on vacation, but if one of you wants to spend all their time inside, it can cause conflict.

Be willing to try things that are new to both of you. Sign up for a cooking class or learn to ice skate. Let date night involve dinner in a nearby town neither of you has ever explored.

Let Them Be Themselves

In early relationships, people tend to think they can change the other’s faults, or adjust to see a partner how they wish they could be. For your next relationship to be successful, accept your partner for who they are. Their habits and quirks are part of the whole. Communicate things that bother you, but realize their differences are what make them unique, and they may be permanent.

Prioritize Communication

If you had previous relationships that failed, analyze why. Chances are one of the reasons had to do with the way you and your previous partner communicated. Think about your own unhealthy communication patterns and learn new ways to talk about what you’re thinking and feeling. Recognize the tone, body language and expressions you use when you’re feeling strong emotions and put yourself in the other person’s shoes.

Address misunderstandings, insecurities and disagreements as soon as they occur. Develop good communication habits early so silence can’t fester into resentment.

Express Gratitude

Find a way every day to express appreciation. When your partner realizes how much you value the things they do, it builds their self-esteem and makes them more likely to repeat the behavior. Establishing a gratitude mindset can also help to improve your overall physical and psychological health. You’ll feel invigorated and less stressed or anxious and can engage with your partner, and life in general, in new and more exciting ways.

Keep Your Support System

When you start a new relationship, sometimes all you want to do is be around that person. Make sure you don’t exclude the friends and family members who were there for you before you met. Pay extra attention to those close to you who are in long-term healthy relationships to see the habits that make their love so successful. Encourage your significant other to spend time away from you, receiving support from those who there before you met.

Additional Resources:
http://public.psych.iastate.edu/ccutrona/psych592a/articles/Sexual%20satisfaction%20and%20marital%20satisfaction.pdf
http://www.couplescounselingchicago.net/15-healthy-relationship-tips-for-couples/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-dance-connection/201310/15-simple-ruies-remarkable-couple-relationship
https://www.extension.harvard.edu/inside-extension/5-tips-healthy-loving-relationships