If you're looking for success in love, not listening is not an option. So grab a glass of water or vodka and get ready for some big swallows. Two people or three or more committing and living in a relationship is a recipe for disaster, so it's all about averting the iceberg. And as long as you're willing you can navigate.

Speak Up

Putting off ending things for fear of hurting someones feelings is the worst possible idea.

If the relationship isn't right and you know you don't want to be together then sparing someone's feelings in the short term only leads to more pain later down the line. Be honest and front the horrible conversation.

JazzyMcfly1

Value

Not everyone will value your relationship like you do. It's VERY important to make sure you both have the same expectations and values; otherwise like two unequally yoked animals, you will continue to walk in circles over the same ground.

GreenSalsa96

Keep the Circle...

Keeping your friends and hobbies is also good for the health of the relationship, not just in case it fails. It puts less pressure on the relationship to entertain and keep you happy, gives you space, a broader focus and interesting things to talk about. It also helps you be you, who is the person your partner fell for in the first place!

EarthCadence

I see Me...

Losing your identity within a relationship is easy to do. Finding it again isn't. Remember to keep your friends and hobbies.

Ieatclowns

After my last relationship ended I felt guilty for not hurting. I was kind of happy, back in my garage, working on cars with my friends, took a few road trips, my phone was quiet. Crap was cool.

4benny2lava0

People Share The 'Dirty Secrets' That Their Bosses Don't Want Customers To Know

After Her...

I just got dumped by my ex. I couldn't do anything I liked. I couldn't watch the newest pixar or disney movie, play video games or even watch sports. We had to do what she wanted and it got to a point where I was always upset and direct with her and she would never care enough. I also wasn't allowed to talk to my female best friend because we are both nerdy and discussed nerdy things.

It bothered my ex to death that I never talked about nerd passions to her but any time I tried she told me that she didn't care. If it wasn't about her or something we shared in common then she never made an effort to talk to me about it.

OSRS_Socks

See there? That is all a ton of solid advice. As someone who has been single for a decade, I wish I had had a thread like this to read, or I could've listened to my therapists more intently. Oh well, time has passed. In my last entanglement I remember thinking... "But he's just suppose to know all this already. It's Love." Yeah, that didn't work so great. Allow some elaboration.

50! 

At a certain point, you have to accept some particular negative parts of your partners personality or move on.

My husband is almost 50. We've been married for over 20 years. While he will continue to experience personal growth, there are parts of his personality that are likely to not ever change. The same is true for myself, of course.

Tricky-garden

Ups & Downs

The ebb and flow of it all.

As a teen you chase the butterflies high of relationships. As an adult you have to learn that as your hormones settle, you need settle too and not constantly be seeking the highs and creating conflict to achieve them. Even though the highs are addicting. You need to learn to be good with the chill times.. The comfort. The ease. Don't lose the butterflies completely, of course.. But don't create them with negative behavior.

Create them by pulling your partner in for a long passionate kiss instead of the normal goodbye or hello peck. Or by planning a date or a fun new activity to experience together. Keep each other on your toes in a good way. But be ok when things are just as so.

Bajingosisters

Stay Sane...

Eventually love is not being "crazy in love" all the time.

TwoDaysInOklahoma

People not realizing this is a huge cause for divorce I believe. After the first year or two, things settle down and become normal. That's okay. A deeper love will form, but it's not going to be the crazy passionate puppy dog love it was at first. Things evolve and change.

FlexibleBanana

You Knew Boo!

My husband and I have a saying "You knew what you were getting into." When one of us starts getting annoyed with something that is just a fundamental part of who we are our response is always "You knew what you were getting into." Again, we are always trying to grow, but when my husband gets mad that I am not good at cleaning/housekeeping or I get annoyed that he goes overboard with planning for the future we can remind each other that this is who we always have been.

palmaud

It's a Drama not a Comedy...

Once you get beyond the initial lust/heart-fluttery part of a romantic relationship, you begin to realize that love looks a lot different than the rom-com movies. It's not embracing in the pouring rain, kissing under the Eiffel Tower, trying to board the plane to convince them not to go.

It's handing them a box of Cheez-its when they get home from a 12 hour shift and are too exhausted to move. It's driving them to the airport at 3 a.m. for their dream job interview. It's managing their prescriptions when they get too sick to do it themselves.

Relationships are often unglamorous and while a committed relationship can be very rewarding, there's more to it than you and your hot partner canoodling and going on trips for the rest of your lives. Relationships can take a lot of work, some of it that you will never see coming in the early days.

kitty_n

Wrong!

You could do everything right and still lose.

AgnosticPrankster

beyond fantasy...

When you decide to commit to your person, you are sacrificing your fantasy of being with them.

In the crushing or beginning stages of a relationship, we are idealizing them as more perfect than they are. But we all have our faults, and in choosing to be together we are met with reality vs. fantasy.

(From The Fundamentalists podcast titled Engagement).

grumbleabode

"magical moments"

A lot of it is boring. The "magical moments" and massive "I love you so much posts" on social media are like 2% of the time. A majority of a relationship is just everyday living. Your idea of a perfect relationship is the small sliver of it that tv, movies, and social media have led you to believe. You gotta look forward to sitting on the couch in sweatpants after eating so much stir fry you're both farting non stop.

MeatyOakerGuy

Love isn't All

Just because you love someone doesn't mean you should be with them. A relationship needs more than love.

ThisNameBeTaken

A person I know really needs to hear this. They insisted too much on being in something with me when I told them that it wasn't going to work (we wanted opposite types of relationships) that in the end it all ended pretty bad. Some people just think that love is going to make things magically work, without even considering that sometimes people that love each other are just incompatible to be together.

ramen_addict_enby

Be Nice

Your partner should be kind to you and vice versa. It's not okay for your partner to scream at you or curse you out or deliberately hurt your feelings. This isn't to say that it never ever happens, we all are human and occasionally we mess up. But if they are not consistently kind to you, if they aren't sorry when they are mean, and if they repeat it then that's a problem.

If you wouldn't accept the behavior from a friend then you absolutely should not accept it from a partner. The idea that it's normal for your partner to be mean to you is so freaking bad and I've seen way too many people accept crappy relationships because they think love means never having to say sorry and that getting screamed at is acceptable.

missluluh

Too Much Mess

"Fixer-upper," relationships often lead to disaster.

SillyBlackSheep

Also having children to fix your relationship: terrible idea. Just don't. Human up and fix your issues, don't drag a bandaid baby into it.

UnsettlingAura

Halves...

You can't look for someone else to be your "other half", you have to learn how to be a whole person on your own. This means being able to take care of your own emotional needs, too.

necr0phagus

Underrated comment here. You can't be responsible for someone else's happiness. My wife and I enhance each other's joy.

Example. She loves going to concerts and often my schedule means I can't go or occasionally the tickets are expensive and it's someone I'm not a big fan of so she goes without me. But if I can I go and if the tickets are cheap even if I'm not a fan I go. She likes it when I'm there and says it's better but she still has fun without me.

In a good relationship you help lessen the bad and increase the good.

ogier_79

Karma is Coming

They aren't going to magically know you're upset with them. They aren't going to read your passive-aggressive signs. They aren't going to pick up on that.

Be direct. If you are upset, talk to your partner about it. Not your friends. Not you parents. Not strangers on the internet - your partner.

edit : wtf this legit doubled my karma??? thank you all so much.

Frothy_moisture

Watch Scrubs

Not all arguments are worth having.

Yes, communication is extremely important and key to a healthy relationship... but so is triaging the things you nit-pick.

People online will try to make you believe that every little thing needs to be addressed and, if you don't want to address it, you're living a lie... but those people are either 1) in a complete fantasy relationship, or 2) have never been in a meaningful one.

I usually refer to the Scrubs episode with Mandy Moore we an example for people struggling with this concept.

Ssutuanjoe

Give and Take

It takes two to be in a relationship. If one person is putting in all the effort and the other isn't, it's eventually all going to fall apart when the one who is giving the effort stops. Great relationships are mutual.

joiey555

Signs

"When you look at someone with rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags."

It's easy to dismiss toxic characteristics because of love. Sometimes you won't get that clarity until you're a safe distance away.

jitwip

Yuuup. It took me leaving the relationship and a doubling/tripling down of the behavior on his part while he was in the process of collecting his things after moving out for me to realise my most recent ex was emotionally abusive. And the more I move on and examine my memories and the trauma, the more obvious the patterns are that were there all along.

kelzispro

Love is beautiful, but it's also another full time job. Nobody tells you that so allow me to. It's worth it though. With the right person.