Ending a relationship is never a pleasant experience, despite who initiated it. A relationship requires that you invest your time and emotions, so when you fail to sustain one, you may experience a profound sense of loss. Avoiding a breakup requires a mutual desire and ability to develop and maintain a healthy relationship. Cultivating a healthy interaction with your partner obliges you to recognize and actively practice the components that are vital to the success to the relationship--commitment, communication, trust, respect and acceptance.
Step 1
Revitalize your love. Renew the relationship, and remind each other why you first fell in love. When you've been together for a while, your life may begin to take a separate course from your partner's. Schedule alone time for you and your partner. Revive the passion in your relationship through dating and flirting again, says author and dating coach Marius Panzarella.
Step 2
Look for the main source of the problems. Discover the part of your relationship that is causing the most conflict. Frequently, one significant underlying issue leads to numerous other concerns within the relationship. If you don't know where to look, recall the time when you started having arguments in the relationship, and track the course of conflict since, suggest HelpGuide.org contributors Joanna Saisan, Melinda Smith and psychologist Jeanne Segal.
Step 3
Communicate with your partner on a consistent basis. Share your concerns for the relationship. Psychotherapist Barton Goldsmith emphasizes that relationships deteriorate when couples fail to communicate what's "going on in their hearts and heads." Arguments, he says, "stem from our own fear or pain."
Step 4
Focus on your partner's physical, emotional and intimate needs. "Give what you want to get" out of the relationship, Goldsmith says. "If you'd like to feel understood, try being more understanding. If you want to feel more love, try giving more." A relationship needs continuous attention and cultivation. To prevent a breakup, both of you need to make the relationship a priority.
Step 5
Seek couples therapy. If you're unable to communicate effectively with your partner, try couples therapy. A counselor may have some valuable suggestions to help you improve your interaction. Nonverbal communication is also important in relationships, say Saisan, Smith and Segal. They say, "For a relationship to work well, each person has to be receptive to sending and receiving nonverbal cues. Learning to understand this 'body language' can help you understand better what your partner is trying to say."
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