Making a Marriage Last: Tips to Overcome Struggles
Each relationship will have to face several ups and downs; these problems occur despite how strong your marriage is, or how long you have been married for. What makes you a successful couple is your ability to power through these difficulties, and coming out stronger than before. The only way your marriage will suffer is if you ignore problems at hand.
Actively solving issues in your marriage will make the relationship between you and your partner stronger, sturdier, and healthier. If you have a few problems in your marriage that you don’t know how to address, here are some great tips for you – let’s explore!
Tips to Overcome Marriage Problems
Every couple faces a bit of struggle in their marriage. Some couples fight and make up even after five decades of being together. Just because a problem arises, doesn’t mean you need to abandon it, right? Here are some great tips that will help you power through several marriage problems in your relationship.
Tip # 1: Communication is Key!
One of the most essential aspects of a relationship is being able to openly communicate. It’s important to make sure that you both feel comfortable enough to raise your concerns.
Whether you’ve had a bad fight, or are disagreeing with the other person’s opinion, the only way to settle the problems is by communicating more openly with each other. Make sure that you are comfortable with telling your partner how they made you feel, and be open to discussing your own faults in the relationship as well.
Tip # 2: Recognizing Conflict
No two people can be the same. It’s important to acknowledge each other’s individuality, the difference of opinion, and behavior. Most marital problems start when both people fail to see a situation in the right light. While one partner may find a problem big enough to open a discussion, the other can simply label it a misunderstanding. Whenever a conflict arises, make sure you take a break and give each other some time to process the situation as well.
Tip # 3: Express with Compassion
Aggression has done nobody any good, what you need to effectively solve your marital problems is to use empathy and compassion. Whenever you’re trying to convey your thoughts, ideas, or feelings you need to make sure that you do so without getting irritated and aggressive. A calm composed discussion will be more fruitful than an aggressive one. Remember to tackle the issue at hand instead of dragging old arguments in.
Tip # 4: Try Something New
When you have been together for a long time, the chances are everything seems mundane, boring, and even irritating. Whenever you find yourself and your partner in a difficult spot, try to break away from the routine and incorporate something new. Try new activities, new restaurants, or do anything out of the ordinary.
Tip # 5: Acknowledge Other Feelings
We all want to be heard, but we become very stingy with our attention when it’s the other person’s turn to speak. It is important that you’re as good a listener as you are a speaker. Once your feelings and thoughts have been laid out, you need to relax and listen to the other side of the story.
Be open to their feelings, acknowledge them, understand them, and try to help out. Make sure you ask about ways you can help them.
Tip # 6: Don’t Make it a Competition
A marriage can be a delicate relationship and when we feel unheard, all we want it for the other person to see us and realize what we want, or how much they have hurt us. Whenever you feel like that, it is important to communicate it effectively, but make sure that the discussion doesn’t turn into a competition.
Don’t start listening each other’s mistakes, shortcomings, and more. Instead have an open discussion and give each other the space to share without feeling threatened.
Tip # 7: A Can-Do Attitude
Most people when faced with difficulty choose to give up and move away from the problem. In marriages, you need to keep working on the chemistry between you and your spouse otherwise, you will affect the relationship negatively.
Make sure to maintain a positive attitude, give each other space, talk to each other, and maintain a can-do attitude that chooses to solve problems, instead of adding to them.
Tip # 8: Make Decisions as a Couple
Whether you’re making decisions in the middle of a rough patch, or if you’re deciding where to eat this weekend, make sure to always let the other person weigh in their choices. No matter what kind of decision you are making, it needs to be done as a couple.
Sitting together making decisions will help you to understand each other, your wants, and expectations. Be open to each other’s ideas instead of being persistent with your own.
Tip # 9: Ask for Help!
Some marriage conflicts are greater than all of us. When you feel like the problem between you and your partner are persistent, make it a point to ask for necessary help. You can opt for a mediator who can help you channel your concerns, feelings, and thoughts in a productive manner.
When the issues continue to persist, don’t shy away from seeking professional help. Get enrolled into couple’s therapy and go for a few sessions to determine whether the issues between you two are workable or not. A therapist might be able to extract underlying feelings and help you reach a conclusion with ease.
Every couple has their fair share of marital problems. Similarly, Luis Trivino and narrates in A Notebook of Love, about the several mental health issues his wife and him had to endure including bipolar disorder, PTSD, mental trauma and a lot more. These issues created several drifts between them, but they chose not to give up. Learn all about how Luis and his wife made it through years of struggles by getting a copy of the book, today!