You deserve to be seen favorably by someone. This viewpoint is also shared by your companion. Respect them. Honor them. Identify them. If one person does all the giving without receiving anything in return, the connection will eventually dry up. When one person, and it only takes one, begins to feel irrelevant to the other, the emotional connection will finally crumble. The friendship doesn’t exist anymore, or maybe it never did. Studies show that the first surge of passion and love that comes with marriage wears off after two years; as a result, the best relationships are built on the basis of friendship. The initial passion is replaced by a mature, loving, and sympathetic partnership. Although it won’t always “sizzle,” the capacity for emotional connection is what sustains a relationship over a very long period of time. When life is busy, doing the same things over can seem so easy and attractive, but this could lead to a rut and eventually harm your relationship. No matter how nice the habit may be, no one wants to feel that you are with them just because you always have been. This is difficult if you have little children (or older ones; tell me about it!). If you can only give someone a chance who is a little odd, it will be rewarding. Each partner in a partnership must maintain a healthy degree of independence with their own social network, interests, and pastimes.
