Falling in love is the easy part…
Staying in love. Now, that’s the hard part.
Ask Taylor Swift.
Source: Google Image
All jokes aside, that’s probably the obvious truth but what may not be as obvious is the secret to staying in love. I’m no love guru and I’m still learning when it comes to this thing called love but what I’ve learnt from the (few) relationships that I’ve had in the past is that the secret to staying in love isn’t LOVE.
For the longest time, I honestly thought that all you need is love (cue song) for a relationship to stay afloat. No matter what, love conquers all. But I slowly began to learn that no matter how much love you have for one another, it is possible to fall out of love or have that love replaced. And believe it or not, it is absolutely possible to fall in love more than once in your lifetime.
So if it isn’t love that keeps you together, then what does? R-E-S-P-E-C-T! (Again, cue song). The moment you lose respect for your partner, everything else falls out of place. Every decision they make isn’t going to be good enough. In fact, you might not even find the need to confide in them for the lack of trust and faith in their opinions. That will lead to a communication breakdown and we all know that the key to every successful relationship is the ability to communicate with one another. What’s worse is when you start getting annoyed at the tiniest things they do and you question why you’re even in this relationship in the first place. Sooner or later, you forget what’s good.
I’m not saying that love, trust and all that jazz aren’t important in a relationship but I strongly believe that respect is the number ONE factor in keeping a relationship going. When you continue to hold your partner in the highest regard, love, trust and all that jazz will come naturally. No matter how ugly a fight may be or how badly you disagree with one another, as long as you still have respect for one another, you will always remember what’s good. And that will help you find a way back into love (for the last time, cue song).
