What are these rules? How do you define them? And how do you balance the demands of your college life with a relationship? We’re here to help you figure it all out.
10 Great Tips for Healthy Relationships in College
How can couples learn to establish and respect principles to protect and nurture their relationships while remaining connected? It all comes down to a few simple, powerful ideas. We’ve compiled a list of the top 10 tips for healthy relationships in college that will help you maintain a natural and long-lasting connection.
1. Learn to listen and talk
Active listening and excellent communication form the foundation of healthy college relationships, and empathy plays a key role in fostering them. If you tell your partner that you understand him or her, it does not mean that you agree with everything they say but that you can appreciate where they’re coming from. In other words, listen to your partner, try to understand them, and remember that you don’t always have to agree out of fear of a fight or even a breakup. The more freely you can express your feelings easier to your partner, the healthier your relationship is. It helps if you aren’t afraid of speaking your mind, even when it comes to emotions.
2. Fight fair to progress
Eliminate and avoid bad habits, try to break unhealthy patterns, progress, and learn – the more you focus on your individual growth, the stronger and better your relationship will be. “In a relationship, you learn a lot about yourself, just like you do about your partner,” says Elijah Smaltz, a reputable writer at a first-class essay writing service online, “If you recognize that you have a problem or bad habits, unreasonable behavior or anything that bothers you when you’re alone and think about it, try to change it.”
3. Pay attention to details
Little things make life enjoyable, so try to share them with your partner. Talk about a weird chemistry professor, a funny classmate, and the like. This may seem funny and pointless, but sharing the little things helps build emotional intimacy, which, in turn, strengthens your bond.
4. Accept conflict as a normal
Perfection only exists in the movies. Disagreements between partners are not only inevitable but they also help make a relationship robust. Unless you’re involved in serious issues (i.e., infidelity, abuse, addictions, legal problems, or violence), don’t ditch the relationship as soon as you hit the first stumbling block. Trust and commit as you journey through the storms together, and keep your expectations realistic.
5. Give each other space
Even in happy relationships, everybody needs space for themselves. Happy couples can spend quality time without each other, working on their own goals, hanging out with friends, and enjoying hobbies. Don’t worry if your partner is looking for some room or wants to spend a few nights without you. Accepting people and ensuring you regularly focus on yourself also contributes to keeping relationships healthy.
6. Be trustworthy and be trusted
Doubt, fear, and jealousy are the heaviest burdens to carry in a relationship and pose a threat to love. You’re already halfway there in your pursuit of building a healthy relationship if you’re trustworthy. The hard part is trusting partners while they live their lives, spending time with friends, and having fun (without you!). Show that you are faithfully committed and encourage your significant other to find their source of joy.
7. Don’t forget your friends
The fact that roses bloom in college dating does not mean you should reduce your social activities to zero. Make it a point to socialize, mingle with others, and enjoy the experiences that college life brings your way. Even if your partner is your best friend, you cannot limit your social circle to just one person. So, step out and soak up every new experience you can, not just as a couple but also independently.
8. Find new ways to reduce stress
College is full of complicated and stressful situations. Numerous obligations, the pressure of performing well, hopes, and unpleasant surprises often stir up negative emotions. It’s also hard to remain mentally healthy during exams, not to mention navigating the challenges of dating in college. We know it is terrible, but a partner is someone who is closest to us and loves us even when we are at our lowest, right? That’s precisely why you must make it a point to never make your partner the target of your negative emotions and stress. Find other, healthier ways to deal with and relieve stress.
9. Take advantage of the benefits of technology, but protect your privacy
Don’t be a slave to technology by using it to keep tabs on your significant other all the time. At the same time, steer clear of the temptation to put everything that happens in your relationship on social media. Instead, use technology to treat each other with love, but prioritize privacy and keep your relationship private. Don’t make every aspect of your relationship a public spectacle.
10. Listen to your brain, not just your heart
When it comes to the connection between the brain and love, three essential neurochemical components contribute to high relationship satisfaction: practicing empathy, feeling in control, and maintaining a positive outlook. Therefore, in happy relationships, partners try to empathize, care for, and understand each other’s perspectives instead of constantly correcting their mistakes. Falling in love in college is not difficult, but keeping and maintaining love is somewhat more complicated. We often forget important things, characterizing them as trivialities and neglecting that they are basic ways to make relationships happy. If we feel good with someone, if there is fluidity and growth, if we appreciate and understand each other, and are attracted to each other, there is certainly a prospect that it will turn into something long-lasting, wonderful, and fulfilling. Relationships begin quickly, but to grow, build, last, and be maintained, they must be nurtured. For that to happen, partners need to be devoted and flexible.
