Navigating relationships – 1 of 5

When faced with a serious disagreement in their relationship, couples often turn to their own families or friends for advice or support.

This can be helpful if the people providing such support or advice are mature and objective, rather than loyal above all else.

Most often, family and friends will support us in our complaints against our partners, hoping to protect us from being taken for granted, or treated badly.

This is especially true if we come from a family that has very traditional roles that focus on duty and obligation, rather than mutual contribution towards making a home.

When we are troubled by something that our partner is doing, we must seek to understand why they’re doing that, rather than judging them and rallying support for our position against them.

If you don’t have such maturity and wisdom in your relationships or your support structures, it’s best to identify up front in the relationship who will be your go-to in such situations.

Even if it’s a counsellor, coach, or therapist, be sure to find someone that you both trust when times are good, because it’s very difficult to agree on something like this when times are bad.

If you focus on understanding, being understood will be easier to achieve.

That’s why we should develop a good understanding with our partner’s support structure so that we can trust them to be objective when we need to figure out such issues in the relationship, rather than slipping into victim mode and presenting ourselves as the neglected or abused one to our own support structures, which often contributes to the break down of the relationship, rather than making it stronger.

Choose your advisors carefully.

#relationshipgoals #marriageadvice #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #lifecoaching #zaidismail #silenttreatment #companionship #soulfood #marriagecounselling #conflictmanagement