20 Ways Your Relationship Can Thrive in 2022

• April 17, 2022

Relationships don't come with instructional manuals or specific ingredients that result in success. They are all unique, different, and built on a solid foundation of communication, connection, intimacy, and love. The more time you spend together, the more you find happiness. Your relationship can thrive with some small yet meaningful routine changes. Here are some of them:

1. Communicate effectively with your partner

Make sure you communicate effectively with your partner. Communication is the backbone of any healthy and happy relationship.

It is a powerful tool to rebuild happiness in your married life. The spoken and unspoken ways of communication produce an impressive impact on your relationship.

Learn to communicate effectively with your partner when hurt, angry, crying, emotional, depressed, and frustrated. Express your love and appreciation to increase their self-esteem. Listen to them carefully and make them realize how important they are. Give your time and attention to your partner to connect the lost love between the two of you.

2. Watch your words

Effective communication involves more than just listening. It is also about the words you choose to use when speaking to your partner. The selection of correct words can bring your partner close to you. Any wrong word can bring in conflict and misunderstandings.

Try using I statements and avoid using the words always and never, as these are absolutes. These words can inevitably lead you down a rabbit hole argument. So you cannot reach a mutual understanding or resolve a problem are both highly unlikely. Also, ask questions that start with what instead of why. The word why often elicits a defensive response and makes the other person feel awkward, and they have to justify and explain.

3. Take out time to talk

As we mentioned above, communication is the backbone of any strong relationship. Take out time from your busy schedule to talk to your partner. Sit with your partner and reserve some days of the month for effective conversations. This idea works perfectly for working couples who have busy schedules and don't have time to talk. But it is effective for others also.

Weekends are the best options for any conversation. You can pair your talks with a movie, date night, or delicious romantic dinner in your backyard. It can help to resolve any issues between the two of you. You have a chance to express your emotions and feelings and know your partner even better. The two of you can feel connected and loved again.

4. Let your partner spend some time alone

It is not essential to stick to your partner all time to be connected. It can cause a problem if one of the partners is an introvert. Both of you might feel frustrated and misunderstood. You both felt apart and left alone. And your needs are not getting met.

Remember one thing you still get connected if you spend some time alone. A healthy relationship needs to give some space to your partner. After all, we all are humans with specific needs. Time apart allows us to work on our personal goals, get some needs met by other important people in our lives, and gain perspective on why we value and appreciate our partners.

5. Take advantage of this unexpected time together to bond

Most couples complain they don't have time to devote to their relationship. The partners struggle to find time to thrive in their relationship.

If you are staying at home and have freed up some time in your schedule, take advantage of it.

Embrace the time as an opportunity to refocus on your relationship and how you spend your time together.

Think about the capitative options that make your time worthy. Reconsider your partner's favorite hobby, movie, or outdoor activity. Plan it for your next scheduled date night. Or you can do something you want to do for a long time but don't have time for it. For example, cooking dinner or looking forward to a home renovation project.

6. Express your love through your love languages

For a healthy relationship, the partner expresses their love through a love language. The love language is a symbol and token of the love you present to your partner. The love language comprises gifts, acts of service, quality time, words of affirmation, physical touch, communication, and expression of affection and love.

These can thrive in any relationship. If you and your partner do not share the same love language, your relationship is unpleasant. But still want to make each other feel comfy and cared for in the relationship. Sit with your partner, open up to each other and talk about what actions and gestures they like? Patiently listen to the answers of your partner.

7. Maintain a balance in your sex life

Love, intimacy, sex, and romance are the cornerstones of a healthy, loving relationship.

Without these keystones, there is no spark in any relationship. Sex is an integral part of a relationship and a common argument. In terms of frequency of how often you should be having sex. The problem arises when one of the partners is interested in having more or less sex than the other. It can cause conflicts and could build frustrations.

Maintaining a healthy balanced sex life is essential for a healthy relationship. Without a healthy sex life, you and your partner may feel apart and depressed. It may affect your daily life and work too. For better sex life, sit down with your partner talk about how you both want to spend your time. It is better to focus on quality over quantity.

8. Check-In with one another to make sure your partner is doing OK

In order to ensure your relationship is thriving, make sure to check in with your partner at least once a week. A relationship is all about giving and taking. You both have to make sacrifices or give up something you wanted or needed. If one of you does these scarifies, that will make you or your spouse feel taken for granted or ignored. To avoid such situations, spend some time together and clear out misunderstandings between you and your partner.

Ask your partner how this week went for them and whether they felt things were fair regarding work, household responsibilities, and childcare. If things don't feel rightful, discuss them. Make the decision, stick with it, and move forward in a positive way.

9. Plan for the future together

Recently COVID-19 pandemic has spurred significant self-reflection, and many people are reassessing their priorities and future plans. Where will you live long term? Do you want to have children? How do you see your career evolving? These questions can make any person depressed which eventually affects the relationship between you and your partner.

It is better to talk about these questions rather than think about them. Discuss with your partner what you and your partner want. Regularly make a schedule to share, listen and discuss how to make it happen. The better you know your partner, the more your relationship will thrive. And you more try to live a meaningful life together.

10. Schedule a date night and get ready for it

To make your relationship thrive is crucial to plan some days in a week for a date night. Whether you are cooking a meal together or ordering take-out, the two of you make one or two meals a week feel special. Also, getting ready for your dates is necessary as if you were actually going out. That means putting on makeup, trying out a new cologne, or wearing a new outfit.

It might seem pointless and likely a waste of time, but they are necessary to create intimacy. It clearly shows your partner how much they mean to you, and this date night really matters to you. Also, it forces us to psychologically shift out of work or childcare mode into couple's mode.

11. The willingness to work through difficulties and disagreements

Life has different weather so do relationships too. You may face some rainy days, some storms, thunderstorms, and beautiful rainbows. The important is to hold your partner's hand tightly and pass all the situations with love and patience.

You may face difficulties and disagreements as you both are different personas and prospects. It is better not to react immediately after a conflict. Listen patiently to your partner and try to comfort them with your answers. Build the best friendship with your partner and support them in every situation. Always respect each other. You both may find a way to solve things and provide comfort and love to each other.

12. Follow the three-day gratitude plan

We put in an effort and work to maintain our life and relationships. But we lost a healthy balance between work and relationship. We start neglecting things and forget to appreciate our partner's qualities and efforts.

For bringing thrive into your relationship, you may follow the three-day gratitude plan. It started with:

• Day 1: Find three qualities that you love about your partner and focus on those three qualities for the entire day.
• Day 2: Identify three things that irritate you about your partner. Now forgive them for these things.
• Day 3: Speak only kind words to your significant other for the entire day.

13. Use AAAs (apology, affection, and action) to thrive your relationship

Use three magical triple A's and revitalize your relationship. These will help you in a situation when your partner is upset over something you have done. Approach them with these triple A's, and you may find happiness on their face. Here we elaborate more:

• Never feel ashamed of accepting your mistakes. Tell your partner you are sorry for that if it hurt or disappointed them.
• Express your affection physically that will console them emotionally. Offer a meaningful gesture of warmth, such as a hug or a kiss.
• Pledge to take action that is meaningful to them. Make sure you do your best to avoid such things.

14. Be supportive to your partner, give emotional support, validation, and compliments

If you don't feel that your partner likes and respects you, there will not be a strong connection. You need to lift each other up and let each other know the depth of your caring. Express it through the actions that you really care about your partner. There are many ways to be supportive of your partner, including the following:

• Give emotional support: listen to them when they are upset and need to talk.
• Give compliments and praise.
• Give them information that they might need.
• Offer your services when they need them. For example: doing their house chores when they have to put in extra hours at work.

15. Say I love you with your actions

It is not necessary you have to do big acts to express your love. Instead, you can perform little acts of kindness for your partner that let them know you love them. These are may not extravagant as buying expensive gifts or having fine dining at a high-end restaurant. But they sure melt their hearts. Some of them are the following:

• Warm her car on a cold morning may sure warm her heart too.
• Bring home take-out from his favorite Chinese restaurant.
• Get up fifteen minutes before she does so that breakfast is ready when she walks into the kitchen.
• When you are out shopping, get him a little surprise gift.

16. Fight fair with your partner

Learning to fight fair with your partner can help you thrive in your relationship. Some of the tips he offers for fighting fair are the following:

• Know what you are trying to achieve.
• Put boundaries around the discussion so that you don't end up arguing about every negative thing that has ever happened in your relationship.
• Avoid character assassination.
• Practice active listening. Try paraphrasing to make sure that you understood what the other person said and ask for clarification if there is something about that you are not clear.
• Set a time limit.
• Be willing to compromise.
• Reach an agreement on how you are going to solve the issue.

17. Create your own couples rituals

Another way to thrive in your relationship is to create your own couple rituals. These may be little gestures and actions, but their impact quite bigger than you think. They can increase intimacy between you two and bring new life to an old boring relationship.

You can create any rituals just for the two of you. Here are some examples:

• Every Saturday night can be date night.
• Every morning have your coffee together.
• Chat for ten minutes every night before going to bed.
• Cook together something on Sunday morning.

18. Set goals as a couple

Assume you and your partner team seek happiness and share new experiences. Both of you set your goals as a couple rather than individual ones. It reduces disagreements and conflicts as you and your partner are on the same page.

Plus, you gain many things as a couple. Such as a healthy, balanced relationship, trust, and affection. By setting goals together, you will achieve the following:

• You will make sure that you are both moving in the same direction.
• Your wins are their wins.
• You can celebrate together each time you achieve a milestone.

19. Cut back on screen time

Cell phones and other electronic distractions can cause you apart from your partner. Likely you spend more time scrolling on your phone rather than spending quality time with your partner. Social media is an easy way to escape life stressors, but quality time with the person you love the most can be even more beneficial.

That is why it is time to put down the cell phone and turn off the television. Spending less screen time allows you to enjoy real quality time together without the constant distraction and lack of focus that screens provide.

20. Tell your partner when you feel happy

We express everything like happiness or sadness, which shows in our facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice. It also affects your partner because your partner loves you and

cued into your state of mind and reactions. They may feel as if they are doing something wrong. Or they are responsible for how you are feeling.

Tell your partner when you are happy to make them emotionally firm. They are doing their best to make this relationship happy and healthy. It can encourage them to put more effort and work into this relationship.