How to be a better partner in your relationship

Human relationships, especially romantic ones, are incredibly complex and never go completely smoothly from start to finish. Many couples will settle into a tolerable level of bickering or outright fighting believing this to be a normal sign of getting used to each other.

While it’s impossible to go through any relationship without conflict of some kind, it doesn’t mean that you can’t try your best to avoid it whenever you can. This doesn’t mean bottling up your emotions, it means being a better partner so that disagreements and misunderstandings don’t arise nearly as often.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so it’s much better to be a good partner from the start then let issues in your relationship fester until something like cheating occurs. Trying to repair a relationship after cheating or getting a divorce is much harder than simply doing right be each other from the start.

Let’s take a look at a few tips you can use to become a better partner in your relationship.

Take care of yourself

Obviously, if you can’t take care of yourself properly then it’s going to be very hard to dedicate time and attention to a romantic partner, no matter who they are. If you are constantly distracted by a poor mood or low self-esteem then this will begin to be noticed by your partner who will likely feel burdened by your depressing outlook on life.

Nobody wants to date someone who’s always down in the dumps and feeling sorry for themselves. If there a ways to improve your life, do them so that you can live happier and in turn share that happiness with your partner.

Don’t forget the little things

How to be better partner in your relationship
Photo: Maridav, Bigstock

In many relationships, the first few weeks and months are always the most romantic as you and your partner attempt to impress and get to know each other. As time goes on, you start to prepare fewer surprises for one another and settle into a routine, only buying gifts on special occasions.

While you don’t need to buy your partner a new piece of jewellery every week, it really helps to remember to surprise them every so often with little tokens of your love. Maybe you could send a surprise bouquet of flowers to their work or even just send them a really thoughtful late night text message like the examples here: https://sweetytextmessages.com/goodnight-paragraphs-for-her.html

The most important thing to remember is that you’re sincere in your expression of love and don’t just say or do something corny for the sake of it. Your partner will really appreciate gifts and gestures that show you know their personality including what they’re hopes, dreams and desires are.

Support them in their interests

This is one of the most crucially important yet most often ignored responsibilities of a partner in any relationship. Supporting your partner’s personal interests and aspirations is how you show them that your relationship isn’t a hindrance to their personal fulfilment in other aspects of their life.

Believe it or not, the hidden secret to long lasting relationships is giving your partner space to be themselves when it counts. Remember that your partner is a human being who is going to have likes and interests beyond just your relationship.

For example, in many heterosexual relationships the male partner may feel like their new female partner is dragging them away from their friendship group. This could be for a range of reasons, but primarily many women don’t like feeling like their partner is having more fun without them or in context where other single men might encourage cheating.

In truth, partners who restrict the social freedom of their significant other for fear of inviting conflict are actually pushing them further in that direction. It’s unreasonable to expect your partner to ignore their existing friendships just because you’ve entered their life.

The best thing to do is support your partner going out and doing what they normally do, while still making time for your relationship. Starting a new relationship should feel liberating and not introduce a new set of unwarranted lifestyle restrictions.

Above all; let them do their thing and be honest about the boundaries you feel are necessary. If they do the same, then you’re on track for a very long and happy relationship.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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