Many people have a few goals when they’re growing up: go to college, start a terrific career, and find a loving relationship where they can potentially even start a family. Unfortunately, these goals don’t just stumble into your lap but require a lot of time and work. Read on to learn some tips for fixing a struggling relationship.

Recognize Your Role

When you’re struggling in a relationship, it’s incredibly easy to pin everything on your partner and not recognize your role. Two people make a relationship, and ignoring your role in that equation means you aren’t contributing anything in the first place. Take a step back and look at the relationship from your partner’s perspective.

Questions To Ask Yourself

  • Are you fulfilling your partner’s needs?
  • Are you both aware of the issues in the relationship?
  • Do you want your partner to forgive you for everything, and are you doing the same for them?

When you ask yourself these questions, you can gain great insight into the relationship and see things from a different perspective that you may be neglecting.

Don’t Give Up

One of the biggest mistakes that someone makes in a struggling relationship is that when the other partner wants to take a break, they go out of control. When your partner wants a little break, that doesn’t mean the relationship is over, and you are free to do anything else. It’s a big mistake in burgeoning relationships but also a mistake you must avoid during a marital separation. Marriages struggle too, and you shouldn’t turn your partner into the enemy or do something that can harm the future of whatever relationship still exists.

If it looks like your relationship may be ending, you should:

  • Respect the boundaries of your partner.
  • Be communicative about wants and needs.
  • Try to reconcile your role and their role in the relationship.

It can be incredibly difficult because you want the relationship to work how you envision it, but it doesn’t always work out this way. It can feel like you’re giving up on the relationship when you do this, but it’s a healthy way of leaving things open for potential reconciliation.

Learn To Listen

One of the best things you can do to take care of your relationship is to learn to listen. Listen to your partner’s words, and try to understand the intention behind what they say. Are they trying to make you feel bad and like a villain in the relationship, or do they want you to grow? Listening and understanding are the first steps to creating a relationship that will get through any trials and tribulations.

With these tips, you can better work on and fix your struggling relationship and emerge from the other side with a better appreciation for your relationship. A lot of media has made having a healthy relationship look easy, but it’s something where you need to work and put in effort daily. Give your relationship the attention and care it deserves, and you’ll end up with a connection you’ll never want to give up.