What it takes to build a strong marriage
Building a strong marriage depends on being the person you would like each other to be. This means you have to work on yourself to be the person you want to be in your marriage before you attempt to work on creating a strong relationship.
Physical Health
Begin by taking care of your own health when you work on yourself. Eat healthy foods and get the exercise you need to stay healthy. When you are healthy you are in a better place mentally giving you the confidence to be a better person.
Mental Strength
Manage your moods by knowing your feelings. All feelings are fine to have, learning how to control them (i.e. not throwing a tantrum or getting angry quickly) is key to building a respectful relationship. Learn how to not jump to the first conclusion when something upsets you.
Communication
Build better communication skills by listening openly to others when they are talking. If you want others to communicate and listen to you, then becoming a good communicator is another key way to work on yourself. Practice listening intently. Assess and build open communication skills. If you have trouble articulating what you want to say, practice writing down what you want to say.
Generosity
Practice being generous in both how much you give and receive. Relationships are about compromise, about giving more than you take sometimes. Work on being more generous and compromising in situations that might not be as important as others. For example, if your spouse wants to stay home for dinner but you want to go out, compromise by staying home and cooking dinner together or having dinner delivered.
Or maybe the situation is one where you are feeling overwhelmed by all you have on your plate- kids, work, family issues, money. This is a time to take more. I don’t mean taking on more tasks, I mean taking more time for you. Pass off the care of the kids and house to your partner. Put work issues on the back burner for when you are at work and spend some time pampering yourself. It could be a simple visit to the hair salon or a weekend getaway. Or a daily routine that relaxes you.
Good Financial Habits
Are you keeping money secrets or secretly spending without telling your partner? Work on sharing everything, from how much you spent on that new dress to where you are going. Practice being open about what is in the bank account, what bills need to be paid, how much debt you have, how much or little savings you have, and what you are spending every day.
Before you can begin rebuilding a strong relationship, you have to work on your own self. Work on changing the habits you have that might be causing a rift in your relationship so you can begin building a stronger, healthier, more loving relationship.
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