Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
How to Avoid the Worst Relationship Mistakes. Avoid hurting your mate -- or yourself -- by
considering the ways relationships can falter. You will need Stability Communication Personal
space and restraint. Step 1. Surround yourself with good, stable friends. Keeping up and
socializing with old buddies can help you maintain the critical connection to good advice
and needed perspectives. Before starting a new relationship, make sure you are over your
previous one. Step 2. Discuss and work on *** problems rather than ignoring the destruction
that can result. Seek to experiment and challenge discomforts rather than let things worsen.
Step 3. Pull back and recharge periodically, and don't be afraid to say no when life is
getting confusing or too busy. Have some fun once in a while and turn off the brain. Step
4. Stop yourself from rejecting the other person before -- as you might fear -- they
reject you. Learn to accept yourself or your self-doubt and confusion may sink the relationship.
Forgive rather than nurture injured feelings. Sometimes we have to let cherished illusions
go. Step 5. Confront jealousy before trust and intimacy are destroyed. Everyone needs
a degree of privacy, including the desire not to share past lives and relationships.
Step 6. Earn trust and require the other to earn theirs before sharing your secrets and
declaring feelings of love. Respect yourself and take time to know someone. Step 7. Model
a good, healthy relationship for the children. Keep children away from negative situations,
such as a partner if you're planning on ending the relationship -- it will only make matters
worse in the end. Did you know In 2008, there were more than 27,000 marriage and family
therapists in America.