Whether it’s with family members, friends, co-workers or a romantic partner, maintaining healthy relationships is crucial to one’s happiness and personal growth. Moreover, social connections affect one’s health and ability to manage stress.
And since maintaining healthy relationships is so important, it’s crucial to know about the different ways you can keep your connections strong and stable. Here are the top 6 tips to ensure you have healthy relationships:
1. Accept each other for who you are.
Unconditional love and acceptance are hallmarks of the strongest relationships. Whilst it’s nice to see people grow and mature, not everyone goes through the stages in the exact same way. Therefore, be more accepting of the other and don’t make changing the other person your goal.
2. Communicate with intention.
Avoid going through the motions or making communication routine; else, words will lose their meaning. Speak with intention, listen, ask questions, and share information.
3. Allow for change and growth.
The only thing that’s constant in life is change. Although you shouldn’t set out to force another person to change, you also need to make room for growth and everything else that comes with it. So, be flexible and make room for growth.
4. Be trustworthy and always follow through.
Being reliable is key in any relationship. Just as you want to be able to rely on other people’s assurances and promises, be ready to do the same. Take responsibility for your words and actions and strive to be honest at all times.
5. Practise patience and fairness.
When the situation becomes frustrating or upsetting, be patient and don’t allow yourself to get carried away by your emotions. If you’re angry, count up to 20, 50 or even a hundred until you’ve cooled down enough to not say hurtful things that can damage your relationship.
Be fair. If you’re at fault, apologise and take ownership of your mistake. If you feel you’ve been wronged, speak clearly about what upset or bothered you and see if you can compromise or arrive at a resolution.
6. Love yourself.
You can’t care for another without first tending to your needs and loving yourself. Keep yourself healthy. Remember that relationships thrive when the people involved value and accept themselves first.
Making connections and keeping relationships healthy are important aspects of life.
With healthy relationships, you can have tremendous social support, be happy and enjoy better health.
By following the above tips, you can keep your relationships healthy and thriving through the years.
If this article has inspired you to think about your own unique situation and, more importantly, what you and your family are going through right now, please contact your advice professional.
This information does not take into account the objectives, financial situation or needs of any person. Before making a decision, you should consider whether it is appropriate in light of your particular objectives, financial situation or needs.
(Feedsy Exclusive)
