7 Things to Make Your Relationship Last

There are seven things that I believe are totally necessary in a relationship to make them work.  After several failed relationships, I am compiling a list that I can refer back to down the line.  It's essentially what both parties need and deserve, in my humble opinion. (This is written from a woman's perspective but applies to both)

1.  Honesty/Trust There is nothing more important than honesty, in my opinion, because honesty equals trust.  Trust is required for any relationship from friendship to family and so on.  If you can't trust someone, your relationship goes nowhere.  Now I'm not proposing that if her meal is not the best thing you've ever tasted, you go for the jugular.  What I AM saying is that there is a very clear line between a little white lie to protect her feelings and a big lie to protect your ass because you're acting a fool.

2.  Encouragement Encouraging each other creates an intense feeling of happiness and love in your hearts.  You'll BOTH benefit from encouragement because she will feel better about herself and therefore encourage you.  And vice versa.

3.  Time together Expecting a relationship to blossom when you won't spend the time to cultivate it is nonsense.  You can't expect something to bloom from nothing.  You  have to spend the time together.  And YES that means she does things she doesn't like for him and he does things he doesn't like for her.

4.  Time apart (aka with friends, to yourself) It's all about balance.  You still need time to yourself but you need to know that when you come home, you can come home to the love of your life.  With that being said, you need to be responsible when you're out.  That means don't do something that you know she wouldn't approve of or that would hurt her.

5.  Commitment to only have eyes for her  I'm not suggesting that you can't ever admire a pretty girl.  That IS to say that you make the commitment to tell her that she's the only one that makes you tick.  That IS to say that you commit to not looking at porn (which gives you an unrealistic idea of what women are like).  That IS to say that you commit to not gawk in public or talk about how someone is prettier.

6.  Physical Touch Hold her hand.  Give her a kiss.  Behave like you're courting her  no matter how long you've been together.

7.  Never Stop Courting Her and Falling In Love with Her Falling in love is called that because that's what it is...falling.  It stops eventually.  You need to make it your priority to keep courting her.  Keep finding out who she is and what is going on in her life.  You need to make it a priority to let her know that she is loved all the time.  It's a guarantee that if you BOTH commit to this, all the rest falls into place.

You'll not that I didn't put love on here.  That's obvious.  Love is a decision though.  These are choices you can make to make your relationship work.