Successful Couples - How They Do It

Everyone has seen those couples holding hands and smiling at one another.  In today’s fast paced world where there are so many failed relationships, it is nice to see couples who seem to be happy with one another.

But how do they do it?  When the divorce rate is at nearly fifty percent and it seems like everyone is breaking up, how do successful couples make it?  What are they doing differently?  There are many factors that go into make a relationship work.

First, recognize that it takes work.  You have to be committed to the person who you are with and make an effort to sustain it.  Remember the first days of young love when you couldn’t keep your hands off each other and everything seemed so easy?  That fades.  Then you have to have more than an attraction to sustain a great relationship.  There has to be a solid foundation for couples to make it work.  Successful ones don’t just happen. 

While it is tempting to think that if you love someone it should come easily, the fact is without a solid foundation, it will fall apart eventually.  Love does not conquer all but it does help a great deal.  Be realistic about one another’s strengths and weaknesses before committing to a serious relationship.  Couples who stay together do so despite their faults, not because they are not recognized.  Make time for one another and do things together.

Communication is extremely important for couples to go the distance.  Make sure you treat each other as equals within the relationship.  Have equal expectations of one another and give equally of yourself to your partner.  If couples have a clear understanding of expectations and boundaries, they are more apt to work within those.  Having a healthy respect for one another makes building a life together much easier and the chances of failure diminish substantially. 

Finally, nurture your intimacy.  Being intimate with one another will make the bond within couples grow and flourish.  While sexual intimacy is important and should be maintained so as to satisfy both partners, there is more to intimacy than just that.  Make sure you have some common interests and share those.  Make sure you talk together regularly about world events, your friends, hopes, dreams and your feelings.  Share a spiritual bond if possible. 

Successful couples don’t just happen, they take hard work and dedication.  Make sure you have the foundation of a relationship to justify the work and commitment needed to sustain the relationship.  Communicate with one another on a regular basis.  Love and respect one another.  Nurture the intimate bond you share and you may just end up as one of those couples others envy.