1. No one is perfect. The sooner you realize that, the better your life with your partner will be. Learn to embrace the flaws your partner has because remember, you’re not perfect either. So, if you give room to compromise, your chances of meeting and staying with your soulmate are better.
2. You and your partner have to work together. Ignore all the arguments because in the end, you want the same thing – to be happy.
3. Find out what your partner loves, and try to fulfill it. Maybe they don’t want flowers and romantic getaways. Maybe all they want is to come home to a clean house after work or a cute message saying you miss them.
4. What counts is that you enjoy spending time with each other even if you are bored as hell. If you don’t have anything to do, but you still want to be by each other’s side, that’s a win.
5. Relationships take a lot of work. You can’t expect to just be in a relationship and let everything else take its course. You have to work on it every day and put constant effort to make it work.
6. Sometimes the two of you aren’t just meant to be. Sometimes, you may love each other but you can’t be with each other. It simply doesn’t work.
7. Love is not all you need. Patience, trust and hard work are the top three if you want to make it work.
8. Sometimes your partner is going to be in a bad mood, and usually, it won’t have anything to do with you. People have bad days, don’t make it about yourself, but try to find out what is bothering your partner and try to help him.
9. Learn how to be alone before you enter a relationship. Don’t be ashamed of one-night-stands and casual hookups. Just make sure you have protection all the time, and test yourself for STD’s. Fuck what everyone else has to say. Enjoy!
10. Pay attention to what you say in the heat of the moment. You might say things you don’t mean, but your words stay carved in people’s mind. They may say they forgive you, but they will never forget.
11. If you are married, it doesn’t mean that the two of you have to be together all the time. You are two different people who have their own interests. And when you want to do something alone, you should. Give each other some space.
12. Never cheat on your partner. If you don’t love him, let him go, but don’t break him emotionally.
13. Never turn down an apology, and never fail to apologize.
14. End up with someone you don’t mind doing everyday stuff with. Most of your life is going to be just everyday stuff. Spectacular things are not going to happen every day.
15. Never end up with someone out of guilt. If you think you’ve wronged that person, don’t try to make up for it because you’re only going to make things worse. End it while you can, and perhaps the both of you can get to meet your soulmates.
16. Some relationships aren’t meant to last forever. Some relationships are just a journey you have to take and an experience you have to learn from. They are like a prep stage for the serious thing. Don’t keep those people in your life by force. You’re not doing them or yourselves a favor. It may seem hard, but it will get better.
17. The honeymoon phase doesn’t last forever, so don’t expect your relationship to be peachy from the beginning to the end. After a while, you ’re going to have problems, and you’re going to have to solve them. After a while, you’ll truly see if you’re meant to be together. It’s easy to be happy when everything is okay, but it’s not so easy to be happy when the real problems kick in.
18. Don’t force yourself to be in a relationship. If you’re not feeling it, you’re not feeling it. You can’t force love.
19. Don’t let your parents meddle in your relationship. They have a life of their own. They have no right whatsoever to make decisions and choices instead of you.
20. If you’re not sure that the person you’re with is the right person for you, move on and find your happiness. Don’t torture yourself by thinking it’s going to get better. It’s not.
21. Don’t start a fight if you’re feeling agitated. Don’t argue over the phone. Don’t discuss anything until you feel better. If you do it anyway, you’re definitely making things even worse. You’re going to say things you don’t mean which you’ll regret later.
22. If the person you like is your best friend, I say go for it. Usually, people tell you not to date your best friend, but what can be better than that. When you are in a serious relationship, you become friends. Isn’t it better to be friends already and before you start a relationship you know everything about each other?
23. A successful relationship is not dividing the hard work in half. Sometimes you have to give a lot more because your partner can’t. When your partner is feeling distracted or something is bothering them, you have to step up to get them out of that state and help them bounce back.
24. Never lose yourself. Keep your opinion because your opinion matters. Don’t transfer from “I” to “we”.
25. Help your partner go through a difficult time, but don’t take all the burden. You can’t fight someone else’s battles. You have to let them fight with their demons because in that way, they are growing emotionally. They are learning to deal with everything their life throws at them. You can only be their rock to lean on.
26. Wait for the honeymoon phase to end before doing anything serious with your partner.
27. Everyone makes mistakes. Don’t think that your partner is never going to hurt you or do something stupid. Never expect you’re going to be perfect either. Neither of you wants to hurt the other on purpose. Usually, we do that unwillingly and unconsciously.
28. Be there for each other in the good and the bad.
29. Your partner should make you want to become a better person. Your partner should inspire and challenge you.
30. Sometimes you have to date wrong people to actually realize what you deserve—or better said don’t deserve. Don’t panic if it takes years for you to realize that. That process is a lesson your life has to give to you. That pain and discontent are there for a reason, so you can truly know what you want and need.
