Healthy Relationships

Posted on February 10th, 2008 by olga

Healthy relationship is one that makes you feel good about yourself and your partner. Not only do you get pleasure from being together, but you can express your true self, and permit your partner to do alike. All relationships are special, but healthy ones have as a minimum five significant qualities in ordinary:
Safety: In a healthy relationship you feel safe. You are not anxious that your partner will damage you bodily or psychologically, and you don’t feel inclined to make use of bodily or emotional violence against your partner. You can try new things (such as taking a night class) or modify your mind about something (such as engaging in a sexual activity that makes you feel uncomfortable) with no fearing your partner’s reply.
Honesty: You don’t hide anything essential from your partner, and can express your thoughts with no fear of fault or ridicule. You can admit to being wrong. You decide disagreements by talking honestly.
Acceptance: You and your partner agree to each other as you are. You value your partner’s exceptional qualities (such as shyness or emotionality). You don’t try to “fix” them - if you don’t like your partner’s qualities, you may desire to inspect your motivations for being with them.
Respect: You think highly of each other. You do not feel superior or inferior to your partner in main ways. You value each other’s right to have own views and thoughts. This doesn’t mean you have to tolerate everything your partner does or does not do. Setting limits is a symbol of self-respect.
Enjoyment: A healthy relationship isn’t just about how two people treat each other - it as well has to be enjoyable. In a healthy relationship, you feel energized and alive in your partner’s presence. You can play, laugh and have fun together.
The contrary of a healthy relationship is an abusive relationship. Such relationships engage control, fear, and are deficient in mutual respect. In general, one partner does most of the controlling while the other cowers in resentment or fear. Indications of a rude relationship consist of intimidation, name-calling, blaming, belittling, guilt-tripping, jealous questioning, and outright violence.
If you suppose you’re in an abusive relationship, there’s a good opportunity you are. Possibly you know deep down that you’d be better off with no the relationship but are afraid to leave it. You may depend on your partner’s earnings, you may fear being on your own, or you may rationalize the relationship as “better than nothing.” In the long run, nevertheless, an abusive relationship does far more harm to your self-esteem than the deficiency of a relationship (and the opportunity to find a healthy one).
You may think you have no alternatives, but you almost certainly do. A social worker and/or counselor can help you map out a tactic for leaving an abusive relationship and getting your own life back on track. Your doctor or regional sexual clinic can guide you toward appropriate counseling services.