A Healthy Relationship

I believe that for the majority of individuals in a relationship in this world would prefer to have a healthy one. But what is a healthy relationship?

The textbook definition of a healthy relationship would be a relationship that involves things like trust and respect as well as honesty and open communication. To me, that definition is very generalized and does not speak to the many different relationships someone can have.

I believe that a healthy relationship shows no imbalances in love or power. What I mean by this is that one person in the relationship does not overpower the other. That one person in the relationship does not hold all of the love which the other may be using to their advantage.

Each partner needs to respect one another’s independence but should also learn how to make compromises. If a person cannot make compromises in a relationship, then that is a major red flag.

What are relationship red flags?

In a relationship, a red flag can be many different things to someone. Red flags are basically warning signs that show some type of behavior that is portrayed as manipulative or unhealthy. A few red flags that I have experienced in my past relationships are things like drinking to much.

An ex-partner of mine constantly was going out and getting intoxicated but to the point of getting aggressively drunk.

That aggression started to come out even when he was not drinking, which escalated situations in our relationship. These red flags tend to be ignored at first or are not recognized until much later.

Ability to compromise

Another red flag in a relationship is when one individual does not want to compromise. With all honesty, I believe that when I was younger, I was guilty of doing this and I showed red flags to my partner. I was very immature back then and only wanted to do what I wanted to do.

My ex-partner would suggest going to places for fun or to eat and I only agreed to things that I wanted to do.

Unfortunately, they were very kind and I took advantage of that back then. This is what I meant earlier by saying that there should not be an imbalance of love in relationships.

I knew that my partner at the time cared about me and showed more interest than I did which at times made me take advantage of them.

Learning from my past self

Currently, I am aware of my mistakes in past relationships and am currently in a healthy one.

My partner and I have been together for a few months now and we show each other nothing but love, respect, honesty, and open communication.

I have even started to compromise so much more within my relationship by going places and doing things with my partner that he loves to do. I have learned to communicate more about things that I need within my relationship and am no longer afraid to speak my mind and show emotion.

The first step to having a healthy relationship is realizing what red flags you have presented in the past and no longer bringing those into your new relationship.